This morning after turning on the coffee pot, I walked outside to examine the garden, which I hadn't seen in daylight since Sunday morning. I've had a busy couple days at work, returning home after dark from full days of welcoming students back to the university where I work and tabling at community events. I had been watering the plants at night before bed or early in the morning, both times of darkness when it's hard to tell what the plants really look like. They looked great this morning, and I actually find it fun to wait a couple days to see them in daylight because then the effect of their growth seems magical!
On Sunday, I had fed the worms in their worm bin a lot of food, and they seemed really happy. It also seemed like there were more worms in there, so I think they had begun reproducing. With my busy days and coming home late, I had kept them in the back of my mind, thinking they had plenty of food to munch on.
Well, this morning when I peeked into the bin, I noticed that many of the worms were attempting to escape, a sure sign that something was wrong in there. I peeled back layers of moist newspaper and saw that all of the food had been eaten! Since it's been a busy couple days, I didn't have any room temperature food scraps on hand (the Thai place down the street is often too delicious to say no to).
So, with only 10 minutes to spare before I had to leave to catch my bus, I turned on the oven and put some frozen food scraps in there. We don't have a microwave, so I couldn't just zap them into warmth. I had read to only put room temperature food in the bin, but given that I wouldn't be back until 6:30pm, I wanted to give them something.
I added the semi-frozen/semi-warmish food into their bin, trying to avoid putting any food right on top of worms in case the cold bothered them. I also had collected a really ripe fig on the Tour De Coop ride on Saturday for Green Guy, but he didn't seem that interested in it and I'm not a huge fan of figs, so I split that open and put it in there, too.
Hopefully that will tide them over until tonight, when we will be serving them some delicious leftover acorn squash rind! We'll be eating right out of the squash, so there will be some oils in it, but I think if I wash it out before I give it them, it should be fine.
If you keep a worm bin, have you ever had to feed them in an emergency moment? I thought about feeding them corn meal since that's an easy thing to throw in there, but I wasn't sure it would help that much. If you have suggestions for what to do next time--aside from being more attentive to their daily needs--please post in the comments!
Thanks for reading,
Green Gal
Well, this morning when I peeked into the bin, I noticed that many of the worms were attempting to escape, a sure sign that something was wrong in there. I peeled back layers of moist newspaper and saw that all of the food had been eaten! Since it's been a busy couple days, I didn't have any room temperature food scraps on hand (the Thai place down the street is often too delicious to say no to).
So, with only 10 minutes to spare before I had to leave to catch my bus, I turned on the oven and put some frozen food scraps in there. We don't have a microwave, so I couldn't just zap them into warmth. I had read to only put room temperature food in the bin, but given that I wouldn't be back until 6:30pm, I wanted to give them something.
I added the semi-frozen/semi-warmish food into their bin, trying to avoid putting any food right on top of worms in case the cold bothered them. I also had collected a really ripe fig on the Tour De Coop ride on Saturday for Green Guy, but he didn't seem that interested in it and I'm not a huge fan of figs, so I split that open and put it in there, too.
Hopefully that will tide them over until tonight, when we will be serving them some delicious leftover acorn squash rind! We'll be eating right out of the squash, so there will be some oils in it, but I think if I wash it out before I give it them, it should be fine.
If you keep a worm bin, have you ever had to feed them in an emergency moment? I thought about feeding them corn meal since that's an easy thing to throw in there, but I wasn't sure it would help that much. If you have suggestions for what to do next time--aside from being more attentive to their daily needs--please post in the comments!
Thanks for reading,
Green Gal
Those worms are fast eaters! It may be time to consider hiring a worm sitter to come by and check on them, sort of like a person who walks dogs! Thanks for sharing this latest episode with the worm farm.
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