vermiculture

Making food for the worms starts with collecting several bags of cow manure from the area, wetting it down, and beginning the process of crushing it to bits.

Chilo inevitably gets done twice what I do in the same time.

Add some juicy local leaves for added nutrition, in this case a few young banana trees.
(Don´t worry, they grow back!)

Water and stir.

Pile it up and chop away some more.

It´s starting to look more like something useful now.

Haul it over to where the worms are.

Load it in to the near end of the worm bin, where most of the worms are.

Here are the worms in their already composted habitat.

The new food has been loaded into the right side of this photo, where most of the worms are. In addition, Chilo has carved a small trough and filled it with new food, to attract the few stragglers hanging out in the mostly digested (composted) left side. We will then remove the compost to dry in the sun and sprinkle on the newly planted gardens.

Chilo will also collect the urine from the worm bin, mix it with water and use it as an added nutrient on some of the other plants on the farm.