I just added a Worm Castings category, and this seemed like the perfect first post for it! I recently sent about a cup of my castings to Scott from Hungry Worms for analysis. I’m a huge fan of what he’s doing, and I know some of you are too. He recently started offering castings and compost testing, where he analyzes a sample under the microscope and provides a report along with videos of what he finds. This was my first time ever seeing my own castings under a microscope. My results showed they are very bacteria dominated with very little fungi, which makes sense since I don’t use many wood chips or leaves in my systems. I suspect my outdoor bins would likely have more fungal activity. Scott told me my castings were phenomenal! That was definitely encouraging to hear and got me excited all over again about continuing to improve the quality of what I produce. There are so many beneficial microbes living in healthy castings, and those microbes are a big part of what helps support healthier plants and soil. I’ve linked Scott’s testing service below if you’d like to send in your own castings and see what’s living in them. Keep up the great work everyone! https://hungryworms.com/cherenesgreens

I’ve seen some of your wormery and bin setups, which had been super helpful as I start my journey. 🪱 What has been successful for you? What hasn’t been so successful? What are your goals (using up food waste, gardening, worms for fishing, selling castings, selling worms)? Can some of you include where you purchased the items for your setups (shelving, bins, builds, etc). Show me the good, the bad, and the ugly of your journeys. I could use some inspiration. 💖

In this video I feed some watermelon rinds to my European nightcrawler bin. It’s important to pay attention to the moisture level. Knowing the food will add moisture after it defrosts plays into how much moisture I add or don’t add. Keep it like a wrung out sponge!

I set up this cocoon nursery about a month ago with 30 cocoons and there are some little “wormlets” as my dad likes to call them 😂 keep your cocoon nurseries cozy, warm, and undisturbed if possible. Let them do their thing! You’ll have many worms in no time!