The Wormguy

Wednseday September 9th 2009
We are running a special on worm castings. A 20 pound box for $24.00 prepaid. I am also looking for some used fishing equipment.
Fall came in awful fast up here in Maine, the nights are getting pretty chilly. It will be time to start the woodstove pretty quick. Im really behind this year i still have wood to cut and split.
As you probably know by now worms are the gardeners best friend. These little creatures are Mother Natures soil condtioners. Worms aerate the soil and the castings they leave behind are one of natures best fertilizers that you can use on about everything you grow. if you would like a regular supply of worm castings( black gold) as well as plenty of extra worms for your garden. You might want to start a worm farm. You will need some Red Worms or Euro nightcrawlers. You can get either from our website at www.berwickwormfarm.com. The common garden worm that you see after a good rain are not suitable for worm farming as the dont like the controlled enviroment.
Worms farms are supper easy to start and make. You can make it out of any suitable container. All you need is 3 ior 4 stackable crates or some other kind of container, made of wood or plastic or any other suitable lightweight and water proof material. your worms will live in these containers and slowly make their way up from the bottom tray into the container above it. The worms will be able to smell the fresh food in the container above it. this fresh food usally consists of fruit, vegetables, and other scrap food that otherwise go into the landfill. As the worms eat their way through these scraps they leave behind those castings which are a wonderful fertilizer sought after by so many gardeners and farmers everywhere.

Wednesday Sept. 2nd 2009
Well here it is the start of a new month and most of the children are back in school, the deer hunters are sighting in there rifles already. The leaves will be falling any day now and snow will be falling. The weather up here in Maine has been your typical fall weather. It seems that summer ends all of a sudden the first of September.
Has anybody found out why the people on social security did not get a raise this year?
Back to the subject at hand worms.
One of the first things you should do if you are going to start raising worms for what ever reason. you should purchase your worms and I cant stress enough buy from a farmer that counts his worms instead of selling by the pound. red worms and Euro nightfruits , vegetablescrawlers can be purchased from a large number of farmers you can find on line or bait shops. Next you should wash out your bin. Make sure you drill some holes in the bottom for drainage and in the sides for air.Now you can add a good amount of bedding at least 6″. Add some food, vegetables, fruits, lawn trimmings, crushed eggshells and what ever. it takes about two or three months for the worms to eat the bedding and the food. Now you should notice the bedding and food have mostly turned to compost. Now you can start your first harvest. To do this simply move all of the compost to the other side of the bin and add new bedding and food to the other side of the bin. In about two to three weeks the worms will have migrated to the new bedding and food and you can remove your first compost. You can use this right away or let it dry out and store it untill it is needed.
Well my finger is sore again so ill sign off for today. The thought for the day. If we all threw our problems and troubles in a pile we would soon be taking ours back.

Thursdat August 28th 2009
Its another beautiful day up here in Gods country, the way life should be. looks like we are going to get a tropical storm Saturday. Just what we need. Its almost back to school time and then comes hunting season.
Before we get to worms I would like to ask a question. does anybody know why Social Security recipients did not get an 8% cost of living raise for the first time in 35 years. That great president of ours is bailing out everything from banks, insurance companies, auto dealers and manufacteres why not the poor people. I whis everybody reading this would email or phone there reps and ask the same question. Write AARP and any other organization you can think of. If you think of any organization that might help us, let me know and Ill pass it on.
Yesterday i finally got in touch with acorn stairlifts and they have know recondtioned lifts as advertised but will sell me one for $4500.00. Lots of luck pal.

Back to my favorite subject Worms. today iI would like to start a discussion on why growing and raising worms is becoming so popular. Raising and growing worms may be used as a way for fishermen to keep a steady fresh supply of fish bait or for gardeners to make fabulous fertilizer. Imagine if you have a garden and fish. You get the best of both worlds. of course you can always sell live fishing bait, the castings and the worm tea for another added benifit. Worms can be sold to farmers, gardeners, fishermen, pet stores and bait and tackle shops. but one of the most popular reasons fopr growing and raising worms is composting. In some cases ” worm growing” and “composting” are used interchangeably as far as meanings. Because composting is more popular than ever, I shall discuss worm growing and composting as one in the same
When worms consume their food scraps, the scraps become compost as they pass thru the worms body. then the compost exits the worms body thru the tail. this results in a powerfull fertilizer that can be used to help grow your plants and vegetables to their maximum potential. This compost is such a pwerfull fertilizer because the worms eat nutrient packed fruit and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are not the only thing they eat. They eat newspaper, cardboard, pasta, eggshells, lawn trimmings just about any aged manure, anything but dairy products and meat. When the worms eat they turn it into nutrient rich compost.
Well my finger is getting sore again so I shall continue this discussion tomorrow.
Thought for the day All that truly matters in life is that you have once loved.
Feed your worms and starve the landfill.

Wednesday August 26th 2009

Senator Kenneday died today. He was one of the best senators ever for the people.
Well its another hot and muggy day up here in the state of Maine, the way life should be.
Yesterday Acorn stairlift was advertising on this page , saying the were selling rebuilt stairlifts so i sent them an email asking for information. I havent gotten any responce so far.
Today I would like to talk about worm castings and the benifits of worm castings.
The analyis of worm castings reveals that they are many times richer in nutrients than the most fertile of soils. These rich worm castings are water soluable and will slowly release their nutrients to your plants and vegetables, making them immediate available as a plant food. we use our worm castings and have noticed a dramatic improvement in both growth and production of our plants and vegetables. Worm castings are usually P.H. neutral, making them safe for all plants and they will not burn the most delicate plants. you can sprinkle the castings on the soil surface and water in well. Fruits and vegetables not only grow faster, but are better tasting and more healthier than plants treated with those nasty chemical fertilizers, which can make them more bitter due to the salt content that is present in the most nasty chemical fertilizers. because worm castings are produced from recycled waste you are also contributing to a cleaner and healthier enviroment. You will notice a big difference in the colors of flowers due to the high potash contentof the worm castings. Because of the better growth of your plants with worm castings they are less likely to succumb to disease and pests. The high essential nutrients in worm castings they make the perfect potting mix for all of your plants and vegetables.

Thought for the day.Your children will only get one childhood.

Monday August 24th 2009
I have been very lacks lately on my blog. The weather has been so hot and muggy up here in Maine that I didnt feel like doing anything.
I made contact on facebook with one of my relatives I never met that lives in Sweeden. That was quite a nice feeling.
I went to the Dover Elliot Bridge Friday to go stripper fishing but there were no bait fish that were biting so no strippers. The blue fish are in the river now. They are a good fighting fish, but I dont like to eat them, to oily. does anybody have a good recipe for Bluefish
I am looking to buy some fishing lures and spinner baits. I am running out of them.

If you are looking to start your owm worm farm you will need some breeders. When we went thru our large bins we noticed that the worms of about the same size were mating with each other. It was very rare to find a one inch worm mating with a two inch worm. I soppose that is because of the location of the reproductive glands. you can normally verify the age of your breeder worms at about ten to twelve weeks of age. So you can find red worm breeders that are in there prime for laying eggs and reproducing.
Thought for the day Get rid of anything that isnt useful, beautiful or joyful.

Wednesday August 18th 2009

Sorry i havent written in a couple of days but ive been hot and busy.
The temps up here in Gods country have been in the 90s and high humidity for the last three or four days. Its 92 degrees right now.
I received an order of $900.00 last friday for 50 pounds of worms. So Ive been real busy with the worms. I had to make sure I could sell that many without putting myself out of business for awhile but I filled the order and now Im working on replenishing my stock. The order was from a lady in Virginia that sells plants and trees and good bugs. Now she is adding the worms to her stock and going to use the castings for the plants she sells. The castings should really give those plants a shot in the arm.
Winter is coming on quick and dont forget that the Euro nightcrawlers are good in saltwater and for ice fishing.
Did you know that when using red worms for fishing as you put them on the hook they excrete a yellowish fluid that will attract fish.

We raise our red worms in plastic bins indoors our bins are kept under control by removing the castings and placing them together in a separete bin. This keeps our bins from becoming overcrowded and keeps the worm size pretty uniform.
Thought for the day. Stay out of the hot sun and take a deep breath it calms the mind

Wednesday August 12th 2009

Its another beautiful day up here in Maine. Temps in the 80s and low humidity. We had some severe thunderstorms yesterday. Thank god they only last about 1/2 hour if they lasted two or three hours we would be in real trouble.
I recieved an order yesterday for 75# of red worms, that was a $900.00 order. This morning I called the customer and asked if they generate enough garbage to feed 75# of worms. That order suddenly dropped to 10#s. They also said that they have the worm bin directly under there rabbit hutch. I said that wasnt a good idea because the rabbit poop is mixed directly with the rabbit urine. Rabbit urine can burn the worms. There is a lot we can all learn about raising worms. If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to ask. If I dont know the answer maybe some of my readers do.
I still havent got my website bacxk on line. What a mess and hassle. I moight have to change my website domain name. I really dont want tpo pay the reinstatement fee but I might have to. It means a lot of work to change the website address, business cards, emails, notify all my customers and lost revenue. That is why the fee is so high.
Thought for the day. Start saving for your retirement with your first paycheck.

Tuesday August 11th 2009
Well we just had a wicked thunderstorm and it didnt help much. very sticky and temps in the 80s. The garden is really growing now. I picked cukes, tomatoes and string beans yesterday. The summer squash is coming right along.
Here I sit writing my blog and waiting for Alpha one to remove my stairlift. I stiill dont know what to do about a new one. Yesterday afternoon in all that heat I did some more staining on my back deck. I also separated some worms and dried some castings. I have been using 5 gal sheetrock buckets for my worm bins but from what I understand the sheetrock buckets dont have enough surface area to support a lot of worms. There is still a lot to learn in this business. All we can do is share our experiances with each other.
Sorry for the delay but Alpha One was just here, I think. It was the same repair people only the had a different truck and a different name on the side. Adapted Home and Business. They arrived at 9.30 and were done at 10.00. After talking to them they suggested I go to Acorn stair lift. The lift is gone anyway and now all I have to do is get a new one. Any ideas?
If you are considering an outdoor pit, one way is to dig a pit 3′ wide by 2-21/2′ deep and as long as you want with gravel or hard clay bottoms and concrete walls. The walls should be 4″to 6′ above ground level to keep the surface water out of your pit. This type of pit is only ggod in southern areas. Tomorrow we shall discuss other outdoor methods.
What did you learn from your worms today?
Do you use the worm tea that comesfrom your bins?
I use it to keep japanese Beetles away from my plants and trees.
Thought for the day. Its alright to get angry with god, he can take it.
Remember my website is down until I get my domain name back or get a new one.

Monday August 10th 2009
Well its hot and humid up here in Maine. Temps in the 90s and humidity in the 70s
Today lets talk about domain names. When I started my website I went to Homestead.com and after many hours, phone calls, emails and payments.I was finally told that my server was not compatible with theres. Try calling the Homesteads cancellation number, nobody answer the phone. So I went to City Max with no problems. I was told by City Max that I had to transfer my domain name to them, before anything could be done. I havrent been getting any hits on my website, after doing a lot of research and phone calls I was finally told my website domain name had been cancelled on July 17th. Nobody told me that my domain name would be cancelled.
Now Im told by Homestead trhat my domain name was never transfered and that I had 40 days to renew my domain name. I emailed Homestead asking for a transfer and asked City Max for help. Do you want to bet it will cost me money or the domain name will not be renewed until after 40 days?
Now back to my stairlift. I recieved another nice letter from Senator Snow Saturday, saying I could get a loan or wait the year or two until money was available Big help.
Saturday was my yard sale day and business was slow. Like I said before i am starting to get regular customers and I get to listen to the fishing stories. Ill have to tell you some of them later on.
Does anybody have anything to say about Domain names, stairlifts, Burnham Boilers, Eden Pure heaters, etc. This is the place to say it.
Thought for the day If you have to cry, cry with somebody else its more healing

Thursday August 6th 2009
Its a beautiful day up here in Maine Temperatures in the low 80s and low humidity.
I find it hard to believe that I have written 58 blogs and only to comments.
Well lets see what this does. Did you know if you get your prescripition drugs from the Veterens administration they will send you to Wal Mart because Wal Mart buys cheaper than the US government. Something is wrong with that picture.
Well back to worms.
The basics of worm composting is very simple. Most people know that they can compost fruit and vegetables, leaves, grass clippings and lawn trimmings. But what about the tea bag you used this morning or the coffee grounds and filter?What about the fur you get when you brush your cat or dog? That fur is loaded with nitrogen.
I have made a partial list of the items that can be composted and I have 75 items on that list so far if anybody is interested ask and I will publish the list. Not every item on the list is for everybody. Imagine how much trash we would save from going into the landfill if people started composting a few more things. The effect on the enviroment would help reduce the Methane gas, global warming and what leaches into your water supply.
Thought for the day. You dont have to win every argument, you can agree to disagree.