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Miscellaneous Articles

How to Compost With an Earthworm Farm

Want to compost easily in small spaces, reduce food waste, and nourish houseplants? Learn how to start a simple DIY worm farm for rich, healthy compost!

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Miscellaneous Articles

How to Compost With an Earthworm Farm

Want to compost easily in small spaces, reduce food waste, and nourish houseplants? Learn how to start a simple DIY worm farm for rich, healthy compost!

The Best Way To Compost In An Apartment

Composting in small spaces, like an apartment, can be difficult. Compost can get smelly, and if you eat like Jon and me, you’ll have way too many vegetable scraps to deal with. I’ve tried composting in our apartment many ways, and most of the time, I give up. We end up with a smelly fruit fly breeding ground, and I have to throw it all away.

Enter the magic of vermicomposting. Vermicomposting is the use of earthworms to degrade fruit and vegetable scraps rapidly. Generally, vermicomposting is a less stinky, cleaner, faster way to compost. I throw so many things in our earthworm bin like paper, cardboard, banana peels, eggshells, hair from my brush and the dog’s brush, green tea leaves, all vegetable scraps (except peppers and citrus), and old house plant clippings that can’t be propagated. This results in the compost I use for my container garden, succulents, and house plants.

How to Compost With an Earthworm Farm

So how do you make an earthworm farm for composting? It’s really simple! First you’ll need a few supplies.

  • Large Plastic Rubbermaid Container (about 10-gallon size or larger if you plan to compost more)
  • Worm Bedding (I used a 1.4 pound coconut coir brick and worm hobby bedding)
  • Worms (I got 350 European Night Crawlers)
  • Paper and Cardboard
  • Drill (for drilling small holes)
  • Vegetable Scraps

I got our worms from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm. They’re the leader in vermicompost supplies and delivering healthy worms right to your doorstep. I started with about 350 worms, and they’ve already doubled their population.

Directions:

  1. Drill a lot of tiny holes on the top of the container. You want to keep the holes small so that other bugs and creatures don’t find their way inside and so the worms can’t get out. Do not drill holes at the bottom.
  2. Add some cardboard and paper to the bottom of the bin.
  3. Add in the worm bedding. I used coconut coir brick and worm hobby bedding, both from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm. You’ll need to wet the coconut coir brick to hydrate it and break it up.
  4. Sprinkle some water in the bedding. You want the bedding to feel like a wrung-out sponge. Damp but not wet.
  5. Add in the worms and the vegetable scraps.
  6. Watch everything turn to compost!
  7. For visual directions, see the images below. For care directions, see the section below.

You can keep your worm bin indoors, on an apartment patio, or in your yard. Just make sure it’s a cool, shady spot out of direct light. I kept mine indoors for a while, but adding banana peels to the mix resulted in some fruit fly issues, so I moved the bin to a cool, shady corner on our apartment patio.

Worm Bin Care and Collecting Compost

  • Do not feed worms citrus or peppers. They breathe through their skin, and the compounds in citrus and peppers can harm them.
  • Make sure things don’t get too wet. Excessively wet conditions can suffocate the worms and cause undesirable microbial growth. If the bin is wetter than a wrung-out sponge, add more dry materials like paper and cardboard, and cut back on adding food scraps for a few days. You can gently toss the compost around, being careful with the worms, every few days.
  • Do not put meat or fats in the bin. This should be pretty obvious, but do not add fats, meat, or animal feces to the bin.
  • Be aware of fruit flies. If you wash your fruits and vegetables when you get home from the store, this shouldn’t be a problem But if you throw in a lot of unwashed fruit and vegetable peels, you may get fruit flies breeding in the bin too.
  • To harvest the compost: Sift through the worm bin and find any vegetable pieces that haven’t been decomposed yet. Shove all the dark soil in the bin to one side, and start filling the other side with paper, vegetable scraps, and any vegetable pieces you found that haven’t been decomposed yet. Over the next few days, the worms should all migrate to the vegetable scrap side, leaving the other side ready for compost harvest.
  • In the first few days of having your worm bin set up, you may notice the worms trying to get out of the top during the night, this is completely normal. Hence why some worms are called “nightcrawlers.” As you add more food to the bin, the worms will settle in and adjust to their new home.

Easy Compost for Container Gardens

After harvesting the compost, I put it in a little bucket and feed all of my plants and house plants the compost. It’s such a rewarding process. I eat nourishing and delicious plant-based foods, let my pet worms turn my waste into compost, and then complete the cycle feeding the compost back to plants.

I mainly grow succulents and houseplants, but sometimes I grow my own food in pots on my patio. This vermicompost works great for all!

Easy and Cool Soil Science Experiment for Kids K-8th Grade

I made a worm bin with my niece, Rayne, this summer! She is in kindergarten and had a blast making one. She feeds her worms scraps, and it’s even encouraged her to eat more fruits and vegetables so she can feed her worms! This project makes a great soil science experiment or homeschool unit study for kids k-8th grade.

For an extensive science experiment, try growing some plants with worm compost versus chemical fertilizer and see which plants are bigger and healthier!

Using Kitchen Scraps for Zero Waste Compost

The best part about building and caring for a worm bin is decreasing waste. Food waste is a huge problem in our country, and composting your food scraps can help curb greenhouse gas emissions. It may not seem like a lot when you think about composting, but if everyone composted their waste, the planet would be healthier! Compost is also way healthier for plants. Compost created with the help of worms is robust with microbial life, important for plant health and soil regeneration.

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Kaitlynn Fenley Author, Educator, Food Microbiologist
Kaitlynn is a food microbiologist and fermentation expert teaching people how to ferment foods and drinks at home.
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hey i’m kaitlynn, i’m a microbiologist and together with my husband jon we are cultured guru.

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  1. Tadd Frye
    01|08|2021

    Hello Kaitlynn,
    Are there any temperature parameters to try to maintain? Summer/Winter
    Thank you 🙏

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      01|08|2021

      Yes, the temperature is important. You just want to avoid extreme temperatures. I have my bin on the patio, but I bring it in when the temperature drops below 40 degrees F. In the summer I just make sure the bin is always in the shade and never in direct sunlight. In the hotter months, it’s just important to make sure things aren’t too wet in the bin.

      Reply
  2. Ed Durivage
    10|30|2021

    Hi Kaitlynn,
    I have fruit flies/gnats. How can I get rid of them?
    ED
    PS: Please reply to my e-mail address. THANKS

    Reply
    1. Kaitlynn Fenley
      11|01|2021

      I got a lot of fruit flies in my bin this summer too. It happened when I put a lot of banana peels in. There’s not much you can do. You can try attaching a sticky fly ribbon to the inside lid to trap the flies before they escape. I have a patio at my apartment, so I moved my bin outside.

      Reply

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✨Google✨ “jalapeño sauerkraut” and you’ ✨Google✨ “jalapeño sauerkraut” and you’ll see my recipe, it’s the first one. 

#jalapeño #sauerkraut #fermentation
feeling anxious 👉 fermented pickles Recent res feeling anxious 👉 fermented pickles

Recent research has shown that shifts in GABA levels, both in the bloodstream and the brain, are closely linked to changes in gut bacteria. These changes play a significant role in our mental health.

Simply put, a higher proportion of GABA-producing microbes in the gut leads to better mental health and a much lower risk of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, dementia, and Parkinson’s.

Interestingly, much of the GABA found in our bloodstream comes from both our gut microbiome and the food we eat. Studies have identified GABA-producing bacteria in the human gut, including Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Bacteroides, as well as in fermented foods, such as Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Leuconostoc, and Weisella. These microorganisms are now being researched for their potential as probiotic therapies to support mental health and combat neurodegenerative diseases.

While the use of fermented foods in mental health care shows promise, more clinical studies are needed to fully understand how these probiotics work and their true impact. Researchers are diving into how specific strains, their metabolites, and the overall composition of fermented foods can affect brain health.

But I think it’s no wonder I feel my best when I’m eating a variety of fermented foods every day!

#pickles #mustard #fermentation 

Sources 👉 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-024-00253-2
Peach preserves in kombucha was a success! Flavo Peach preserves in kombucha was a success! 

Flavoring a peach kombucha with peach preserves takes a little longer to carbonate than a secondary ferment with pure fruit juice. And that makes sense!

There’s is a little bit of available fermentable sugar from the peaches in the preserves. But mainly, the microbes have to first enzymatically breakdown the sucrose in the preserves into glucose and fructose, before the yeast can ferment the fructose into CO2 (aka the bubbles) and acids. 

I included directions for using bottled juice, fresh juice and preserves (or jam) in my summer peach kombucha recipe! Get the full recipe with all the options through the recipe index, linked in my bio. 🍑🫧

#peach #kombucha #fermentation
sourdough discard 🤝 cottage cheese combined tw sourdough discard 🤝 cottage cheese

combined two of the best fermented foods to make the best pancakes. And yes, you can ferment the batter overnight in the fridge for easier digestion. 

My recipe makes 15 pancakes and each serving of 3 pancakes had 17 grams of protein! 

Get the recipe from my recipe index, linked in my profile✨

#sourdough #cottagecheese #pancakes #fermentation
It can suppress overgrowth of Candida albicans, wh It can suppress overgrowth of Candida albicans, while boosting good bacteria in your gut! 

Roasting garlic increases beneficial garlic compounds like diallyl sulfide and diallyl disulfide — or DADS, for short. Both of these compounds have been studied for their anti-inflammatory (anti-cancer), antioxidant, and antifungal properties.

It’s definitely a sauerkraut you should keep in your rotation.

To get the recipe google “garlic sauerkraut.” and you’ll see mine it’s the first one.

Sources:
PMC8777027 (Diallyl Disulfide (DADS) Ameliorates Intestinal Candida albicansInfection by Modulating the Gut microbiota and Metabolites and Providing Intestinal Protection)

https://doi.org/10.3390/fishes9100401 (diallyl disulfide (DADS) shows a substantial increase, with concentrations rising from 1.6 mg/g in non-fermented garlic to 4.8 mg/g in its fermented counterpart, suggesting enhanced bioactivity through fermentation)
✨Cottage Cheese Ice Cream✨with Brown Butter an ✨Cottage Cheese Ice Cream✨with Brown Butter and Vanilla

I know, I know, I’m making everything with cottage cheese right now. But how can I not? Cottage cheese is one of the most protein-rich fermented foods.

If you love ice cream and cheesecake-like flavor, you’ll love this recipe. it’s high in protein, requires only four simple ingredients, and does not require churning. So, you do not need an ice cream maker!

A half-cup serving of this ice cream has 12 grams of protein, making it a healthy and balanced sweet snack. Get the recipe from the recipe index linked in my profile. 

#cottagecheese #icecream
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