Worm Cafe

Check out the experiments that another Amy is doing--she's set up a Worm Cafe experiment with her son as a science project. She's filled a glass jar with layers of food, added worms, and now she's photographing the jars every week and weighing them. The weight of the jars is dropping each week--can we assume that's because the worms are eating the food and converting some of that food into energy? Tune in for further developments!

She also has some great photos of worm species, including Eisenia fetida, the worm most popular for composting, and P. excavatus, a worm with a bluish sheen that is found in more tropical climates.

Henry Homeyer writes in today's New York Times about the problems he's had with fruit flies in his bin. Mary Appelhof, worm composting expert and author of Worms Eat My Garbage, offers some suggestions for him. Although my bins are not indoors, I do get fruit flies from time to time. I find that it helps to keep the food well-covered by a thick layer of shredded newspaper or computer paper. If the food is exposed to air at all, other critters will find their way to it.

The Earth Moved got a nice mention in the Santa Rosa Press Democrat this weekend. I also did an hour-long interview with Austin's John Dromgoole, host of the KLBJ AM radio show Gardening Naturally. He has a store in Austin called The Natural Gardener, where he sells all things organic--if you're in the area, stop in and say howdy.