Vermicomposting - a better way to compost

The practice of using worms while composting to help break down material into a richer soil

Earthworms can eat their own weight in organic matter ever day

What it is all about:

While organic waste can be composted year round you will find many home owners do now want to take a trip outside in the middle of winter. Also there are plenty of home owners who do now want a large bin full of decaying matter on their property in the first place.

I had a wicked batch rotting in a 5 gallon bucket that I would leave outside...unfortunately I had to move before I could try it out but I will be trying again for the spring time.

Worms have been the recyclers of dirt since soil was soil. Their populations can double each month which is good because they have to do all the tunneling and digesting.

Using an earth worm bin could be your choice for keeping organic rich soil inside without all the stench and icky bugs.

The Process:

Be warned...dealing with rotting material is quite disgusting and not for the weak of heart. These worms will eat and digest and eat and digest food scraps until the material looks like dirt and is full of worms. Once the material passes through the worm it becomes saturated with nutrients and is referred to as 'casting'. These 'castings' or worm manure is the nutrient rich 'vermicompost' that plants love. Use this worm soil as a mulch or a mix with regular soil.

Is it worth it?

Depends....if you are already into composting and would like to speed up the process then vermicomposting would be extremely valuable to you. Worms digest plant material much faster than traditional composting.

Traditional composting can take weeks or even months if the conditions are poor.

Another advantage of vermicomposting is the time release capabilities of the castings. The worm castings have a mucous coating which takes time to break down.

Casting contain:

5X more nitrogen

7X more phosphorus

11X more potassium

than plant soil

(The three main ingredients that help plants grow)

From Forest to Coal a geologists tale

Stages of Coal

 The fossil fuel that we still use today known as "coal" was not always a black rock. In fact coal begins its adventure way back when there were massive forests and giant dinosaurs roaming pangea.

Anthracite

Stages of Coal

As you can see from the diagrams coal starts off as a lush forest or a swamp land. The trees die and land on top of one another beginning a thick layer of mushy carbon rich soil. The process begins when that original mushy layer of carbon rich material gets covered by another layer of sediment....sand or potentially a clay rich layer from the incoming and outgoing sea transgressions.





The carbon rich layer begins to compact and lose moisture. The coal goes through four main stages as it loses moisture and other trace material.

The most primal form is still mushy and loose. this is called peat, then to lignite, bitumen (or bituminous coal) and finally anthracite.

Aloe Vera a healing plant

I have an aloe vera plant in my room and it's been outgrowing the pot. It is not quite as bad as the one in this picture but you get the idea. Some of the leaves have even fallen off. I was curious how I could use the leaves before they shrivel up.



Aloe Vera  also known as the true or medicinal aloe, is a species of succulent plant in the genus Aloe that is believed to have originated in the Sudan.

Apparently this plant is very beneficial for your skin.

To use the plant for skin care you simply cut the leaves and use the gel to cover your skin.
Any affected area on the skin can be healed by the gel.
Sunburns and rashes...even helps with acne!
Aloe vera leaves contain a range of biologically active compounds, the best-studied being acetylated mannans, polymannans, anthraquinone C-glycosides, anthrones and anthraquinones, and various lectins