I’m Junior, joining you from Senegal in west africa. I’m passionate about sustainable agriculture and I’m starting with my own garden, where I’ll be growing organic vegetables and herbs. My long-term vision is to use this small-scale experience as a foundation to explore how agroecology, renewable energy, and smart practices can help build more resilient and accessible food systems. I’m here to learn, exchange ideas, and connect with others who share the same vision for healthier soils and communities. Looking forward to contributing and gaining insights from all of you. Warm regards,

Many of you know that I got into worms before i got into soil biology and then Living Soil. Well here was my first GIANT experiment to see if Living Soil is a real thing ❗❗ SPOILER ALERT ❗❗ It works great! Here were the goals: 1. Get raised beds to grow plants 2. Turn brown grass to green 3. Add 200 sqft of new grass 4. Interplant veggies, fruits, flowers and trees This was a huge undertaking for 1 person that started in Nov 2024. From left to right Jul 2021, Jan 2024, Aug 2024

Just set up my worm tower a couple days ago with the worms i got from @Dennis Wichter (thanks again!). I used some of those grocery store storage bins that you can see in the photos. They work great but i am a little worried about their weight and compacting the soil too much. I’ll let you know as i figure it out. This is a 5 tier system that i am running as follows: Basement: no drain holes. This is just to catch any drainage. 1st floor: dry cardboard shred to catch and absorb drainage 2nd floor- older, moist shreds. This will be the next feed bin. 3rd floor- active feed bin 4th floor (penthouse)- former feed bin When rotating, harvest the penthouse. Fill it with fresh dry cardboard and insert it as the new 1st floor. All other levels move up one spot. Leave light on the new penthouse to encourage worms to move down 1 level where the new food goes. I do have 2 questions for yall… i am debating between 30 and 60 day rotations. What do you think? Also, if i leave the penthouse roof open, i know the castings will be more quick to dry out. Will this further encourage the worms to migrate down? Or will i risk killing my worms? Also, if the castings dry out, will that negatively impact their benifits in the garden? Ok, i guess thats 3 questions

Y'all know things grow crazy after a good rain. Guess I'm cutting the grass tomorrow.

Please congratulate team Rise of the Root Rebels @Mary-Heather Fajardo and @Samantha Gahm It really came down to the wire!!!