A Great Escape of Worm factory workers, fire the manager! Worms workers made their feelings know by fleeing the worm factory.
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| Worms hard at work in the Worm Factory |
Great Escape from the Worm Factory
For a couple of years I have recruited worms to do my dirty business, turning kitchen waste into soil. They were housed in a Worm Factory 360. They were good factory workers, working 24/7 composting my old veggies, egg shells, coffee grounds and fruit.
The Worm Factory was easy to set up.
This year I moved the factory into the garage.
I added a blender mix up the bio waste.
The worms were doing a good job making soil.
The worm workers of the factory seemed to be happy at their tasks and even found time to make more worms.  |
| Separating the worms from the soil. |
The Worm Factory had a spigot at the bottom to drain off the excess water/liquid:
The Great Escape!
The liquid made a good fertilizer for my flowers near the garage. Eventually I learned online to leave the spigot open to increase the air circulation in the factory. Every few day I would empty the collection of worm waste.
As summer approached, the amount of liquid waste decreased even as I increased the amount of liquid going in. I assumed it was evaporation as the temperatures in the garage went above 90 to sometimes over 100 degrees F. I was wrong.
As the temperature increased, the worms crowded near the spigot outlet. So many were there that the outlet was blocked, then one day the worm dam broke, and weeks worth of smelly, sticky worm waste spilled out, over the top of the container, and spread out over the garage. I turned off the spigot and cleaned as best as I could (Eventually it required a pressure washer to clean the mess).
A few days later you could hear the worms on the move along the sides and the lid of the factory. Little did I know what they were up to. They escaped! I found the worms when lifted a nearby package of cleaning wipes.
It was clear that the worms did not like my factory management. Those that survived the great escape were moved into the garden. I dismantled the factory got it ready to sell to another manager.
I still collect my coffee grounds for the garden, but for the time being, the other vegetable waste goes into the trash. The State of California requires all food waste to be collected separately and disposed with our "green" waste collection.
When I win the lottery, I would love to try the Lomi: Food waste in, compost out in hours!
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