Pet Worms

Okay, what did you think of when you read the post title?  I for some reason thought of Screech from Saved By the Bell.  Didn't he have pet worms?

This warm weather has be so excited for Spring and Summer!  So much so that I spent a good portion of my Research Methodology class this weekend* plotting out my garden.  I'm sure its going to be a huge success this year, mostly because I'll have lots of organic compost to get things started right.  It has to be good, right? 

However, things in the compost bin haven't been moving very fast.  Probably because it has been so cold.  But the thing is, when we built the compost bin, we were maybe supposed to get some worms to put in there to speed things along.  Then I read that worms will just find their way on their own.  So I thought I'd just let nature do her thing.

Well, I decided nature needed a little kick in the pants.  So I went in search of worms.  I did my research and knew that I needed Red Wiggler Worms.  I called around to a bunch of bait shops in the area (why do we have so many bait shops in the area?) and none of them had red wigglers. 

Lucky for me, I found the cutest little organic farm right here in Kansas that would ship me my very own red wiggler worms.  

Yes.  You heard right.  I ordered worms.  Off the internet.

Never thought I'd say that.

Well, the little guys showed up on my doorstep today.   

Someone call Screech.

The puppies were very excited for their new pets. 

"Hello?  Who is in there?"

"You are my pets and you can sleep in my crate."

I was so freaking nervous opening this box.  I did not know what to expect.  I'm an online-worm-buying-virgin. 

They were packaged all nice and comfy in a little bag of dirt.  I was so relieved I didn't have to touch them.

Say hello to my little friends.

I put the worms in their new home and let them go to work.  These little guys will eat their body weight in less than two days.  That means my one little pound of worms will eat a pound of food every two days. 

Good thing I got the worms to safer pastures when I did.  Ari snatched the empty worm bag from me and took off with it.  He and Mya tore it to shreds in a game of tug-of-war.  They aren't very responsible pet worm owners.

So there you have it.  I guess you can order anything off the internet these days.  Hopefully these guys will work their magic and in a few months we'll be on our way to a happy vegetable garden!

*If anyone ever ever tells you that it is a good idea to take a weekend class, they are lying.  It is a very very bad idea.  

Look on the Bright Side

Here's a random composting tidbit: to encourage your compost to compost faster you can add an "activator" to the mix. My book told me to use dog urine as an activator (but not dog poo). Okay, sure. We have lots of dog urine around here. Hell, the basement totally reeks of it. But how do you harness the power of dog urine?? I decided I'm pretty satisfied with a slower compost and will just avoid the use of any one's urine to speed the process along.

Fast forward to last night. I was knee deep in a crate full of dog urine when a light bulb went off. I'd gone through almost an entire roll of paper towels trying to sop up this mess (Hello! The guy turned three last week. Shouldn't he be able to hold it for a couple of hours???) and was feeling extremely guilty about the wasted paper. Then it dawned on me... I can use this dog pee soaked paper as an activator to encourage quicker compost. Genius! The fact that some good came out of this situation totally negates the fact that my hair now smells of dog potty. No really.

Harvesting Rain

In an attempt to actually do stuff together* Drew and I signed up for workshop to build our own rain barrel. Not sure what a rain barrel is? Well, that's what I'm here for.

A rain barrel is a barrel that... wait for it... collects rain. You direct your gutters to pour into the barrel and then you can use that water for your garden and lawn. Some info on rain barrels:

• A house with a 1,000 square foot roof harvests 600 gallons of water from a 1 inch rainfall.
• A rain barrel diverts water from leaking into your home's foundation.
• It reduces city-wide water consumption and reduces storm water run-off.
• The barrel provides free, high-quality water for your garden and lawn.

Our workshop was put on by Shawnee Parks & Recreation and Bridging the Gap. Bridging the Gap partnered with Pepsi to get the barrels. These barrels were originally used to hold soda. Pepsi used to just grind them up and throw them away. Now they are being put to good use, collecting rain!

There were about 25 people who attended the workshop. The first 30 minutes were spent answering people's questions like, "Should I add bleach to my rain barrel?" "How do I decorate my rain barrel?" "What if a squirrel gets into my rain barrel?" "Can I put fish in my barrel?" As we usually do at things like this, Drew and I sat in the back and made fun of people. One of our favorite things to do together is to be bad people. We especially liked how everyone kept talking about "harvesting the rain". I guess we're all a bunch of rain farmers now.

Putting the barrel together was actually a pretty simple process, once we got done with the Q&A. We picked a Mountain Dew barrel and Drew drilled the first hole.

While we waited for the next drill, I attached a fiberglass screen to a flower pot with a bicycle tire tube (all recycled materials) to make a strainer which keeps out leaves and junk.

Then I got to tackle the drill and add a hole to the barrel. Umm... yes. I was very excited to use the drill.

Next we added a hose to one of the holes we'd just drilled for the excess water to flow out of.

Then came the little spicket guy where the water comes out of. You just turn it on and off like a faucet.

And tada! We have a fully functioning rain barrel!

I had the parks & recreation guy take our picture and then he took one with his camera that he said may end up on the website. He asked if we were from Shawnee and I think if we'd said yes he would have made us the official spokes-couple of the City of Shawnee. He loved us.

If you'd like to make your own rain barrel, check out http://www.bridgingthegap.org/. You can also thank us for the lovely weather we've had the last couple of days. We were pretty sure that by making a rain barrel we would cause a massive draught that will leave our barrel empty for months.

*We do stuff together all the time: 24 on Mondays, Glee & BL on Tuesdays, The Office & Community on Thursdays, The Soup on Fridays. I guess we're just trying to do stuff together that doesn't involve sitting on the couch.

Happy Hippy Day!

Or, Happy Earth Day!

Things are getting dirty over here. Dirty as in... hippies. We are dirty hippies. I'm sorry, but you had to have seen this coming, right?

Drew built me a compost bin!

You may notice that he isn't as excited about the transition to tree-hugger as I am:

Composting is super easy, and so good for the environment! Not to mention that when next Spring rolls around and I go to plant my veggies I'll have super-soil which will give me super-veggies. Its a win-win here.

Drew built the box, I filled it up:

Dirty! You can compost lots of stuff including: old nasty leaves from under your deck, grass clippings, and kitchen waste like fruit and vegetable scraps. I didn't realize how much kitchen waste we actually had until I started collecting it. It is a lot.

You just dump the stuff in there:

Then you toss in some worms (I know, right?), cover it up, and let nature do its work. You kind of stir it up once in a while too. Easy as that, you're a hippie.

Fun Facts:

• Composting keeps organic materials out of landfills which frees up space for the rest our junk.
• Up to 50% of household waste is organic, and therefor compostable.
• Keeping organic materials out of landfills prevents the build-up of methane.
• Methane contributes to the greenhouse effect 21 times more than carbon dioxide. Hello climate change!
• Composting prevents the pollution of water sources.

So, if you aren't converting to hippie-ism, what are you doing to celebrate this Earth Day? Are you making any changes to help the environment?