Greetings from the Homestead!

Even though the weather is still in the upper 80's during the days, the shorter days and cooler temps at night are signaling that it's time for Fall, which just happens to be my favorite season! There is just something about the brisk fall air that makes me want to spend time outside, build a big ol' campfire, and invite friends over.

This year, we didn't get any apples from our trees - chalk it up to a weird late freeze and the drought, but at least we've been able to enjoy some wonderful apples from a local orchard. Do some of you have apples coming out your ears? Well Crystal Miller from The Family Homestead and Crystal's Country Store has some wonderful information and great recipes for enjoying this Apple Harvest season.

Is your garden ready for Fall? Check out the Fall Garden Cleanup Checklist from Farmer's Almanac. I had a lot of fun wandering around the Farmer's Almanac website. They've got a handy Gardener's Guide to Frost and estimated peak dates for Fall Foliage too.

And what about worms? They're good for more than just bait. Here's a great article about a man who had a 160 acre self-sustaining homestead and the role earthworms played in his farm's success. It's a fascinating look at a well-running homestead from days gone by. But if you want information on earthworm farming as a business today, that information is on the page as well.

And finally, we've got a great article right here for you about how you can start raising worms right in your kitchen - that's right YOUR KITCHEN!

So cozy up with a cup of tea and enjoy a little bit of Homestead reading!

When I had heard a friend of mine had worms that she fed her garbage to, I was very curious about the whole idea. But after hearing all about it, I was instantly hooked. (I use this term sparingly around my worms!) I came home with a small container of worms and have been raising worms ever since. The Converse Worm Operation has since expanded considerably and I'm going to tell you how anyone can have a small scale, in-home, vermiculture operation.

Raising worms makes sense. It is economical and the result is an excellent plant food and planting medium - literally made from your kitchen or garden waste!

My suggestion is to start with a small worm bin. A plastic bucket with a lid, under your kitchen sink, works great! I started with one of those plastic buckets that cat litter comes in. You will need common surface dwelling redworms, (Einsenia fetida), which are usually found in the duff layer of the forest. You can purchase them in better garden supply stores or online. Try www.wormdigest.org. Night crawlers and other worms that burrow in the soil are not adaptable to your worm bin, since they need a soil environment to survive.

The worm bin needs to have air circulation holes poked in the sides. The lid on the bin will keep flies from making this their home as well. To start, you will want to collect some old leaves, or you can use shredded paper, and moisten it (to the point that if you squeeze a handful, drips come out, not a gush of water).This bedding should be at least 6 inches deep. Add the worms. Your redworms will eat the potato, carrot and apple peelings, old bread, shredded mail and newspaper, etc. that you feed them (No citrus please. No fatty foods or meat. This will cause the bin to smell). To feed your worms, dig a hole in the bin about 6 inches deep and plunk in the scraps you wish to feed them, and cover it up with bedding or the resulting "soil" in there. The next time you feed your worms (at least once a week), dig a hole in a different spot and place your kitchen or garden waste there. Redworms do not like to be disturbed, and will migrate to the spot you put the last "feeding", which is why the feeding spots are alternated in the worm bin.

In a matter of a few weeks you will notice that the past feeding spots are replaced by dark looking soil. This is what is known as worm casting, a very valuable gardening medium! Redworms take organic matter and eat it. The resulting excrement (I am being polite here), is the worm castings - a very clean and highly nutritious mulch for your house and outside plants! The worms take organic matter and turn it into something that plants can immediately use. No need for chemicals. No smell. You can just plant directly in it.

Once your worm bin starts to look as though it has mostly worm castings in it, it is time to harvest the resulting "gold" . This means that you have to separate the worms from the castings. "EWWW!", you think! Good news! You do not even have to touch the worms if you don't want to. The process is simple and not very messy. (And children like to help with this process!)

Just dump your small kitchen bin out onto a large garbage sack which you flattened out on your kitchen floor. Shine a lamp onto the pile. Since worms do not like light, they will burrow down into the pile, and you can scrape off the top layer of castings. Wait a few minutes and do it again. Repeat this process, until you have only a small pile of "stuff" from your bin in which all the worms are hiding. Then just start your bin as before and let the worms get back to work!

The harvested worm castings make an excellent plant food and planting medium. This is the best gift to give a friend who is a gardening enthusiast ( a bag of castings, a set of garden gloves and a packet of seeds or a plant start in a basket make a great gift set). You can even sell your worms, which will increase in population, to places that sell fishing bait. Best of all you can get rid of your kitchen and garden waste, and get a valued product in return. This is a great project for children. A homeschool mom can use this to lead into all sorts of experiments and fun studies!

Deanne Converse lives in SW Washington with her husband Tim and sons, Elijah and Simeon. She is a homeschool mom with a small herd of packgoats and a dear friend of our very own Crystal Miller!

If you want to work from home and have a minimum of 20 hours a week to put in, talk to Mari over in our Sales Department.