It Wasn't Discusting Until Now

ONE WEEK LATER:
We make discoveries in the bin. I only remember ordering worms.
(If you haven't read the first post about this click here before continuing.)
I believe the tiny white larvae are fruit fly larvae. The brown, I don't know. The large one about to beat the worm in a race is called a Black Soldier Fly Larvae, or BSF. The resulting flies are harmless and live for just a few days. They must have snuck into my bin and laid eggs while I had it outside before introducing the worms. My bad. Way my bad.

(Larvae image found here, Fly image found here.)

The BSFLs (larvae) are harmless to the worms, *cheer* in fact some people have PURPOSEFULLY attempted to attract BFLs to their bins. Ew! (Read more on this here.)The BSFLs are such voracious eaters—the little oinkers—that they can down a whole melon in a matter of days! We can hear them smacking and crunching under the compost.
Because the BSFLs go through food so fast, (click here for a video) their bodies don’t process it completely, allowing the worms to come after them and process the droppings—which works out perfectly for all involved. Consequently this is why people like to have both vermin in their bins—it speeds up the process super extra double time.

SO HERE’S THE FIRST DILEMMA:
First, and worst, the tiny larvae are escaping the bin, through the air holes, and the bin is inside. Yeah. Not good. You should see what we’ve collected in the vacuum. Or not.

Put it outside you say?


It’s too hot outside for the worms. When I tried, they made an exodus en mass. (At least I know they're still alive, sheesh.)
SECOND DILEMMA:
Eating what we feed them, the BSFL produce very wet...pee. Good for plants, and exactly what I want, but the stuff STINKS. Enter gag reflex. And remember I had wanted this in the house. (Are you dancing around saying “ew” yet?)

THIRD DILEMMA:
We like to eat but we certainly don’t produce enough kitchen scraps to feed these monsters. That’s why I wanted nice, quiet, smell good, slow worms in the first place.

SOLUTIONS?
I have a few in mind. One is giving up. The other is starting over. And there are a few in between—maybe involving chickens. . . . I’ll keep you posted. Meanwhile, you might not want to visit us for a few days without a nose-plug, but feel free to bring your leftovers.

Introducing Larry, George, Micah, Edward, Missy, Lana, Penelope, Spike . . .

They finally arrived . . . my little vermicomposting worms! I was convinced to compost with worms while reading an interesting blog published by a gardener in Australia. I love the idea that my kitchen scraps will feed the worms which will eventually feed my plants via compost tea (liquid from the bin) and castings (poop). I couldn't stop thinking about it; after a lot of research I talked Adam into letting me have a few pets. . . .

250 worms arrived today in a little bag. The package had been crushed during the trip (eek!) but only a few were dead. I gave them a drink and then into the bins they went.

Worms Love: watermellon rinds, corn cobs, cantaloupe rinds, pumpkin
Worms Like: coffee grounds, tea bags, vegetables, fruits, crushed egg shells, banana peels
Worms Tolerate: citrus, onions, garlic
Worms Hate: oil, salt

I'll bet if humans ate like worms we'd be pretty healthy!After introducing the little wormies to their bin, I covered them with wet shredded paper. After only 20 minutes they had begun exploring their new home. They are active little beasties.

I hope they survive. I caught one trying to escape through a breath hole, so I've already had to start problem solving—I'll keep you updated on my little science experiment.

California means Sly Park

I think it is becoming tradition to visit Sly Park Lake while we are all at home. It's relatively close to the house and area is so nice. The lake water is surprisingly warmer than the pool too! Who would have thought? I didn't take as many photos as I thought so here are just a few—and they are the last of my vacation photos. Sad.

Dad sharing rocks with Zuki

Dwynne and Mo in the middle of the lake—gotta love that mattress!

Mom and Natalie watching from afar

A photo of Adam taken shortly after he showed up to surprise me

Trivia: The Mormon Emigrant Trail is just on the other side of the lake. It's got some fun 4-wheeling and provides a great hike too. There are places where you can see where wagon wheels left marks in the rock and places where fires were built to crack the boulders to make them passable by wagon and handcart. Click here for a bit of history.

California means a Zuki Size Zoo

There's a small zoo in Folsom, perfect for families with little kids—so of course, now that we have a Zuki, we had to try it on for size.


All the hens, roosters, and peacocks were out and about in the open. It was fun watching them run around our feet. One peacock prefered to chase a rooster all over. "Watch out, on your right!" It was actually quite funny watching the chase as they weaved around people.

It's actually a pretty little zoo too with plenty of greenery. A lot of the animals are things like, cats, skunk, squirrel, parrots, chickens etc. But surprisingly they also had tigers, black bears, cougar, eagles, and monkeys.

Below: Michael and Mom.

Below: My cute Dad desperately searching for the barn owl.

Anna, Michael, Dad, Mom, Zuki, Mo, Nat

It was a good day. EVERYONE enjoyed the Zuki size zoo.

California Means The Little Things

Visiting home was about all the little things too, like Mom's sour dough bread treats and Dad's fresh baked bread. . . .
Helping Grandpa get ready for a moving sale. . . .(His new apartment is pretty nice. He has good neighbors too. Maybe I can get Dwynne to post pics sometime.)
And cleaning out old food storage—dumping water, bloated cans of food, and spreading old grain around the property—I'm sure the wild turkeys are having a feast right now.

(Mo, Michael, Mom, Natalie)

Aha! You thought I was done blogging about our vacation didn't you? There's still more to come!

California means A LOT of Pool Time

I spent last week at home with my family—mostly swimming. At least twice a day. Mom even had the whole week off and I LOVED it. Adam showed up mid week as a surprise and that made my vacation complete.

We Bled

It was my first time donating blood today. I was nervous, but it was a cinch. Although the size of the needle shocked me a bit. I must have gasped because the technician laughed and said, "yeah, we don't use tiny needles here." And it was also very strange to watch the bag fill up with my very own blood. . . my life essence. "Ew." I said, when they held it up for me to see.

Incentive? We wanted to know our cholesterol levels. Adam has started a fitness program with a bunch of work buddies and they needed a starting point. When you donate with Carter, you get the numbers for free. We'll look them up in a couple of days.

Dad

Grandpa found this photo of Dad (Anna's Dad, Stan) while going through the boxes in his garage. Cute huh? Fantastic hair too!