Worm Bins are Coming Home!
If your child is a car rider or walker, we've already begun sending home worm bins. They can still come by our classrooms on their way out of the building any day.
We cannot send worm bins home on the bus or to ASP/clubs/daycare/other homerooms.
So we need another plan.
We'll bring the remaining worm bins to our EOY Celebration on May 21. You can pick it up from there.
Otherwise, please email me to make arrangements to get yours.
Enhanced Potting Soil
Each student will bring home a small bag of our enhanced potting soil, also called Black Gold! This is a mixture of regular potting soil and worm cast. Worm cast is what's left after the worms have eaten all the things (fruit, vegetables, scraps, dead leaves and weeds, and paper) we put in their bin. After we separate the worms from the "dirt," we use that dirt (it's called cast) to steep our worm tea and also to enrich potting soil with a more concentrated mineral mix.
We let the cast dry out some because the worms like it much wetter than we can use it. Once it's dried, we mixed it with potting soil you sent in. Thank you so much!! Although it's not scientific enough for exact measurements, we use a 5:1 (potting soil:cast) ratio to make the soil even more nutrient-rich. This soil is perfect to grow your herbs, fruits, flowers, and vegetables.
It's okay that you'll see some remnants of food still in it. That will continue to decompose after it's used, so don't give it another thought; use it as is.
Worm Tea
Your child will bring home a small bottle of worm tea. It is LIQUID FERTILIZER and not at all for human consumption.
To use this "Black Gold" in your plants and/or garden, simply add a capful or two to your watering can and water as usual. Try to water the soil only, avoiding watering the plant leaves with this fertilizer.
When I use it myself, I just use it as constant fertilizer. Every time I use my watering can, I've already added a little bit to it. Our worm tea is safe for all plants as long as you're not putting it on them full strength.
Worm Tea is made from two of the components we harvest from our worm compost bin. It starts off a water drain off. Then we "steep" a stocking full of worm cast in warm water for a few hours (overnight). We then remove the worm cast from the tea and dilute it enough to fill our pitcher. Then we can use it as is. We poured it off into the empty bottles with lids you sent it. Thank you so much!
For future reference, we will continue these fun lessons with next year's 2nd grade Target classes, so you'll get refills if needed. I hope you enjoy its benefits as much as I do.
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April 13 & 20
Worm Bin Update #1
At this point in our Vermicomposting journey, we've gotten our classroom worm bin looking great! We've rotated the trays and harvested a very large amount of cast that we can now use to enhance regular potting soil! You see, as the worms eat the paper, fruits, and vegetables we feed them, they magically (actually it's very scientific) turn all those scraps into nutrient rich soil that can be mixed with regular potting soil. But we have to separate the worms from the cast before we can use it that way.
In addition to our community bin, most of the students have brought in materials for their own personal worm bins to take home at the end of the year. They are loving this experience so far. Thank you for all your support with our weird science explorations! Here's what it looks like for us right now:
How do we separate the worms from the cast?
This is an easy, multi-step process that is perfect for students this age! Our first step begins with adding a new tray on top of the one where the worms are currently living. Once we have a new tray with just bedding (no food yet), we wait for the worms to eat as much of the food left in their tray as possible. When we notice they're finished, we start feeding the top tray to encourage the worms to move away from the tray with all the worm cast. When they've made their journey to the top, we take away the middle tray to harvest the worm cast.
Harvesting the worm cast?
Yes! Once most of the worms have moved, we focus on separating the last worms from the tray. We do this by making little mounds of cast. The worms burrow to the bottom of the pyramid while we scrape off the top layers until there's just a big worm ball left at the bottom. We add those leftover worms back to the worm bin, and we can use our cast to make worm tea at this point and/or mix it directly in with potting soil at this time. I usually mix it in using a 7:1 ratio soil: cast.
Worm Tea?
In addition to the worm cast that we've harvested, the students have learned how to use the water drain off to make "Worm Tea," an incredibly useful liquid fertilizer.
It is not human consumable. It's for plants.
Basically we pour the water that drains from the bin over some cast from the bin. We simply let that sit for 25 hours then it's Worm Tea! After draining the water away from the cast, we dilute it half and half with clean water. Now it's a perfect addition to your watering can! Just drop a capful or two into your plant/garden watering can and water the soil (not directly on plants). You'll never buy commercial fertilizer again!
Is it too late?
We've told the students they can bring in materials through next week, April 27. After that date, we cannot set up any worm bins. We need time to teach the students how to maintain them before sending them home. And the worms need time to adjust to their new mini home. Therefore the deadline to create a personal worm bin in class in April 27.
There's one more week to act if you want your child to bring one home.
It's not as gross as it sounds
Worm bins are actually very clean and helpful. I've had this bin for over four years and it's incredibly fast at composting. It smells like clean earth. The key is to bury the food when you feed the bin. I also never bring things in from outside and put them straight in the bin. That could cause insects to grow there too. So I put leaves and stuff I pick up from outside in a sealed ziploc for a couple of days before adding it. The bin needs dried things just as much as fresh, so I try to add equal parts greens and browns.
Sometimes our veggies sprout and start to grow inside; I just pull them and drop them in loose. It won't hurt it at all. I feed my bin when the food has disappeared, usually once or twice a month. I check its moisture level much more often.Things we'll feed our worm bin:
- fresh fruits and vegetables including cores and stems and butt ends...all of it can be added
- dried flowers
- shredded paper
- cardboard
- clean egg shells
- coffee filters and grounds
Things we'll NEVER put in our worm bin:
- meat
- oils and butter
- dairy
- citrus
- onions
Yes; We Have a Worm Bin!
The kids really enjoyed my introduction to "vermicomposting" this week, and I look forward to sharing this fun hobby with them the rest of the semester. If they continue beyond this semester, you will love watching how the worms multiply so you can have lots of fertilizer for your garden and plenty of worms for fishing.
I offered to help each student who has permission to set one up for home. We'll set it up here, and I'll teach the kids how to maintain it. A worm bin is so easy to keep! I practically neglect mine, and they still thrive. The most important thing is to check their moisture level occasionally and give them a squirt when needed. I feed mine only about twice a month. If your child brings one home, it will be small and covered. They will be so excited to teach you something they think you think is gross! LOL
Here's a quick explainer video I created; I hope it helps you understand why we're taking on this "yucky" endeavor!
If you want to stay updated throughout our unit, follow our blog. I'll post updates throughout the rest of the year so you can follow along with how we're progressing in our vermicomposting explorations!
If you do want your child to bring home their very own worm composting bin at the end of Target this year, simply send in two plastic shoe boxes with lids (I buy all mine at the dollar store). I'll vent them as needed and teach the kids all about care and maintenance before I send them home with it.
Thank you for always supporting us and having an open mind as we learn so many fascinating things about our world! You are the best!!
Ms. Zentner