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Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 | Author: admin

Our planet is a host for several creatures. From the tiniest to the biggest, there are countless number of worms, reptiles, animals, birds and even greater number of species under each category. There are roughly around 4400 species of worms on Planet Earth. Out of this number, there are about 2700 species of earthworms.  Red wrigglers and Nightcrawlers are the most commonly found earthworms and are present everywhere in the universe. Red wrigglers and Nightcrawlers are most commonly found in the earth’s soil. They also survive in trees, under the rocks, along rivers, ponds and springs. Earthworms burrow themselves deep in the soil and these burrows are very important for the plants. They serve as a path for water, air and other soil nutrients to pass through.

The physical structure of worms has a few vital features that assist the worms to survive on this planet. One of the main features is the absence of lungs. This is the reason why the worms, including your composting worms, are so slimy. Due to the absence of lungs, earthworms breathe through their skin which needs to be moist at all times so as to facilitate breathing. This is the reason why earthworms are rarely found near the sea. In spite of the presence of water, most of the sand is dry. This dryness can cause suffocation to the worms which may eventually die. At the same time, too much water too can be detrimental as the water can take the place of oxygen which causes the worms to surface. On the surface, worms may die as they get exposed to sunlight. As worms as so slimy, it helps them survive. The other physical features include the presence of mouth which is powerful enough to drag a leaf and eat it, all major nerves, circulatory and digestive organs.

Part One of our Worm Q&A: What Do Worms Eat?

Part Two of our Worm Q&A: How Many Worms To Start With?

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in comments and we will answer them as soon as possible.

Tuesday, July 07th, 2009 | Author: admin

worm compostingWe are living in a time where recycling and making the best use of everything, including organic wastes is of utmost importance. With the depleting natural resources, worm composting is one of the most successful steps taken in the right direction. The process of worm composting is also commonly known as ‘Vermiculture.’ Worm composting is a method of using worms to recycle food waste and other organic material into a valuable soil conditioner called worm compost.

Vermiculture is a scientific process which involves the artificial rearing of worms not only provides manure for plants but also keeps the environment healthy. The worms eat food scraps, cow-dung, farm wastes, municipal wastes, household garbage and non-toxic industrial waste and convert them to compost. The process is straightforward and can be done by with the use of simple equipments. The required materials are worm bin, worms, bedding and wastes. The worm bin is decided depending upon the kind of worms being used. Bedding requires few shredded newspapers, corrugated cardboard and leaves.

Ideally, the worms used for worm composting are Redworms as they thrive on organic wastes such as food scraps, cow-dung. Redworms, which are scientifically named as Eisenia foetida and Lumbricus rubellus ar found in aged manure and existing compost bins. The standard proportion of food waste to the amount of worms that needs to be used to form worm compost is 1:2. For every one pound of food waste used per day, two pounds of worms are required. Two pounds of worms roughly approximates to 2,000 worms. The population will increase depending upon the room to breed and the availability of food.

Part One of our Worm Q&A: What Do Worms Eat?

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in comments and we will answer them as soon as possible.

Thursday, July 02nd, 2009 | Author: admin

We’ve all heard the environmentalist warnings about how our planet is overcrowded, overexploited and is running out of resources to support us. The weather is changing, the costs of living are rising and everywhere in the media we hear and read about how we should do our part to help the planet. But how do we go about doing that? In most cases, “green” products are more expensive than regular ones, turning our house into a more eco-friendly environment also costs a pretty penny, as does trading our car for hybrids. There are, however, things you can do that don’t cost you anything and that can play a big role in helping our planet stay as green as possible. Recycling your soda or beer cans will save a lot of energy, for instance.

I’ve heard people say that recycling also takes up energy and asking why, in that case, they should do it. The thing is that recycling a can takes up 5% of the energy that would normally get used to produce the aluminum necessary for a brand new can. If you only take those facts into account, you can clearly see how beneficial even a seemingly small thing such as recycling your cans will be for the environment. And while it might seem small, even recycling a single aluminum can, will save up enough energy to operate a TV for 3 hours. Now add that up with the fact that about 35 billion cans are used only in the US over the course of a year and you will see how much energy can be saved with can recycling.

Of course, it can be something of a drag. I mean, you have to collect all these cans and then take them over to the nearest recycling bin while they dangle happily with your every movement for everyone’s entertainment and your embarrassment. Not to mention the space they take up. But that also has a very simple and handy solution in the can crusher. A simple can crusher CAN solve many of your problems. The can crusher will help you reduce the size of cans dramatically, therefore preventing them from taking up a lot of room, and of course, from being uncomfortable to carry around. Not to mention the fact that a mechanical can crusher won’t use up any electricity, all it takes is one pull of a lever for the can to be crushed. Not to mention the fact that many have noted that the can crushing process has helped them relieve a lot of frustration.

When you take everything into account, the answer is simple: get a can crusher and start doing your part for the planet by recycling your cans.

Monday, June 29th, 2009 | Author: admin

Tilted Earth Compost BinMost ecologically aware persons have learned about the benefits of compost and are having fun turning some of the organic residue of their household into nutrient for their plants. However, there are some limitations to what you can compost and many are, with good reason, careful about what they add to their compost pile. However, you might be avoiding some of the things that would work very well as compost, so here are a few of the things you had no idea you could compost.

If you have pets, you might do your compost bin a favor and feed it some of the waste your pets leave behind, such as fur, claw clippings and pet food. Be careful about composting your pets’ fecal matter though, as it’s not advisable to compost feline feces because of their high content in toxins and germs, and dog feces require special measures when composting.

Leather goods can also make for good compost bin material. If you have old leather clothing, shoes, wallets or bags that you are sure can’t be used anymore, you can try composting them. Because of the processing, it’s likely that leather will take some time to break down fully, but it really won’t take as long as you might think looking at it.

vacuum cleaner dustUnbelievable as it may sound, the dust in your vacuum bin can make for a great compost ingredient. If you think about it, the composition of dust mostly particles of dead skin, lint, and various other small pieces of organic materials, aside from a few non organic ones, for good measure. You can either get paper bags for your vacuum cleaner, which you can compost as well, or buy a vacuum cleaner which uses a bin instead of bags and just empty the bin into the compost pile.

Speaking of paper bags, paper can make for a great compost ingredient. You can use all sorts of paper in your composter, except, of course, paper that has been laminated or the kind of gift wrapping that usually comes with a thin plastic layer on top. Aside from that, you can go crazy and compost anything from cardboard boxes to old newspapers and other kinds of paper that end up building up around the house.

You can also compost cotton balls, strange as it may seem. Cotton is organic, and as such, cotton balls should have no problem breaking down in your compost pile. Just make sure to check the packaging on the cotton balls you buy, because if they are made from synthetic fibers, composting them would be useless.

As you can see, there are plenty of things you can compost that you might not have thought were up to the task. All that’s left now is for you to have fun composting.

Friday, June 19th, 2009 | Author: admin

The Spin Daddy Compost Tumbler really stands out in our collection of compost bins and composting accessories, in my opinion, because it recycles a product that would otherwise find it’s way into a landfill, into a product that will help you keep your OWN waste out of the landfills, and instead into your garden, where it can nourish your plants.

Composting has never been easier! The attractive Spin Daddy Compost Tumbler nests securely on an easy to roll base, making composting a

Spin Daddy Compost Tumblr

Spin Daddy Compost Tumblr

breeze!

Transformed from a juice-making drum into an eco-friendly composter, this compost tumbler will help you turn your food scraps into nourishing fertilizer. The Spin Daddy Compost Tumbler offers 7.35 cubic feet - or 55 gallons -  of composting space.

It’s  made of durable, recycled food-grade plastic resin. The strong, leak-tested barrel sits and rotates freely on wheels built into the stable black base. The low-profile design prevents tipping in strong winds, and the wide 16-inch twist-on lid allows you to load and unload material easily. Ventilation holes at both ends circulate air within the batch to accelerate rapid composting. The rotating drum can be removed from its base and rolled to any location for filling or dispensing - no lifting required.

This compost tumbler eliminates the need for strenuous churning. All you have to do is rotate the drum on its stand to quickly and easily mix your compost materials. Turn it about once a week to keep oxygen, nutrients, micro-organisms, and moisture evenly distributed throughout the developing batch. Within just weeks of accruing garden and kitchen waste, this compost bin will transform your scraps into valuable organic material.

Please note: Because it previously had juice in it, the recycled drum may have original markings and scuffs on the surface, which have since been tempered. It also might carry a light, sweet aroma. This compost tumbler arrives fully assembled and is backed by a one-year warranty against manufacturing defects.

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 | Author: admin

We’ve all heard the theory before: waste is bad. But living in a society based on consumerism, it’s very hard not to waste food, money and all sorts of other resources. It takes more than some lectures to stop, think and actually do something about stopping the waste. It takes something like solid fact, and the fact is that our planet is suffering as a result of our food waste, and that switching to a more organized and environmentally aware way of life can make a difference in our futures.

In what way does food waste mean bad news for the environment? You might’ve heard about how negative CO2 emissions are for the environment. Official statistics show that around 20% of all CO2 emissions are a direct result of the processing and transport of our food, which pretty much means that wasting food means that we are emitting all that CO2 for no good reason, not to mention adding to that the CO2 emissions resulting from the transport of the food we threw away to the garbage processing facilities. Add to that the emissions resulted from the decomposing process of all the food, which consist of methane, amongst other things, a gas that is about 20 times more damaging for the atmosphere than even CO2 and you realize that the extra food we buy and throw away adds a lot to the amount of greenhouse gas we emit. It’s been estimated that around 40% of all methane emissions come from landfills, an enormous percentage, all things considered, especially since methane is a gas resulted from the decomposition of organic residue, therefore food.

Statistics show that most western countries will discard, or waste between 25 and 40% of the food produce every year, with some statistics showing numbers as high as 50%. Statistics also show that reducing food waste in developed would be equivalent to reducing one fifth of the emissions resulted from means of transportation today, which is also quite a bit when you think about it. And it all starts in your home, with planning carefully what your food shopping will consist of and with making the most out of everything you buy.

Of course, when you think about food waste from a moral standpoint and consider the fact that the food we throw away is sorely missed by inhabitants of other, less developed countries, the choice to be more judicious when it comes to the way you treat your food becomes a little simpler.

It’s up to you to reduce the amount of pollutants that are being released in the atmosphere, and it can all be as easy as double checking your grocery list and getting a little more creative with your cooking.

Keep in mind that composting is a great way to reuse some of that food to keep it from going to waste, not to mention, develop soil for more!

Wednesday, June 03rd, 2009 | Author: admin

With the rising population, the one resource the world desperately needs is plenty of water. There is a high demand for residential water which is used for cooking, cleaning and irrigation purposes. Besides household purposes, gallons of water are required in industries. Water conservation is the need of the hour. Fortunately for humankind, rain water is one of the consistently available natural resource. Every year, there is abundant supply of rain water, which if harvested can meet many of our needs.

Water conservation can be done easily by harvesting rain water as it is an effective way of cutting down the usage of water for household purposes and overcoming the problem of water shortage. One of the techniques of rain water harvesting is by usage of rain barrels. A rain barrel is a water tank which is used to collect and store rain water, typically from rooftops through rain gutters. Rain barrels are installed to make good use of naturally available rain water for future use. This method is not only economical but also helps preserve natural resources. In places where there is acute shortage of water, rain water harvesting aids self-sufficiency. Rain water harvesting can be done on a small scale as well as a large scale. Small scale rain harvesting is normally done in households wherein the rain barrels are placed strategically around the house and can be used for watering gardens, agriculture, flushing toilets, in washing machines, washing cars, and also for drinking, especially when other water supplies are expensive, unavailable, or of poor quality.

Rain barrels come in different forms such as portable rain barrel, the rain catcher rain barrel, flat back rain barrel, wood grain rain barrel, flora rain barrel, etc. Portable rain barrels serve multiple purposes and come in varying sizes. Besides fulfilling the basic function of collecting rain water, these rain barrels can be easily pushed across and moved from one spot to another. Another most used rain barrel is the rain catcher. These two models are truly convenient and useful to be used in any household. This is very important that these barrels are engineered to screen out breeding of mosquitoes due to improper filtering systems. Therefore, along with these models, there are certain rain barrel accessories such as diverter kits, mosquito donuts and even pH meters that are available in the markets which will ensure the cleanliness pf the harvested rain water.

Thursday, May 21st, 2009 | Author: admin

worm composting

When one part of the world is flourishing with industries and sky scraping buildings, the other part is being mounted by heaps and heaps of waste. The waste being disposed includes both organic and inorganic substances. While the inorganic, toxin wastes need to attended to and disposed carefully, organic waste materials can be put to great use. Recycling the organic wastes through the process of worm composting puts back into the soil the much needed nutrients. Through the process of vermiculture, we can take part in the nature’s cycle and do our bit in keeping our planet earth clean.

Worm composting is an uncomplicated method of creating natural fertilizers by the use of earthworms. Worm compost is derived by facilitating the worms to feed on wastes such as cow-dung, household scraps. The excreta of the worm, which is rich in humus, is the key component which restores the nutrition value of the soil. Vermiculture involves the culturing of worms in a worm bin to produce worm compost.

Worms eat almost everything we, humans eat and don’t eat. Worm food mainly includes vegetable scraps, fruit scraps and peels, Bread and grains, Teabags, Non-greasy leftovers, Coffee grounds and filters, Crushed egg shells, Napkins and paper towels. There are certain food items that are harmful for the worms. Over feeding of citrus items, meat and fish, Greasy foods, Dairy products, Twigs and branches, cat litter and dog feces are dangerous to the health of the worms. Other organic material such shredded newspaper and corrugated cardboard or paperboard can also be used. Shredded black and white newspaper should be kept over the food at all times. This bedding provided by the newspaper and cardboard helps keep the worm bin dark and moist and prevents direct sunlight from contacting the worms. This also keeps the flies away from worm bin.

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 | Author: admin

Having one’s own backyard food factory is a sheer joy in itself. Due to the non-availability of space and time, modern homes rarely engage themselves in vegetable cultivation. The entire task of tilling, weeding and planting can be back breaking. Raised bed gardening is the answer to this problem. Raised garden beds can be classified into raised flower beds and raised bed vegetable gardens.

multi-season raised garden bed greenhouseRaised garden beds make the process of gardening simple and pain-free. It eliminates the ordeal of digging and weeding. The raised garden kit is lifted from the ground level. Growing vegetables on these raised garden beds have many benefits. Raised garden bed kit prevents soil erosion, facilitates growth of the vegetables and prevents the growth of unwanted weeds. Its saves time, energy and water. It makes one’s garden look organized and creates a beautiful and a colorful garden. These beds are easily to handle and maintain. Growing vegetables on raised garden beds makes it easier for the gardeners to tend to it as the beds are raised from the ground level. Since it is one open bed, there is more room for the roots to penetrate and spread, thus allowing them to breathe better as compared to flower pots. A good number of vegetables can be grown in one bed at the same time. Raised garden bed kits are designed to retain water for a longer period as it has sufficient soil mass. There are engineered to provide the best drainage facilities along with soil aeration. These beds are most useful during spring as the soil in the beds warm up more quickly than the ones on the ground.

Raised vegetable beds are available in different materials and sizes. They come in forms such as composite timber raised beds, natural cedar raised beds, Vinyl raised beds, cedar rectangular raised beds, Elevated container gardens, Recycled Plastic raised garden beds, Ready-to-Grow complete raised bed gardens, etc. These models are available as ready to use or can be assembled. Raised beds can be built on are own as well. While growing one’s garden or backyard farm have several benefits such as providing one’s family with healthy and organic vegetables and reduction in the family expenses. It is also an environment friendly action as it reduces the impact of transporting and warehousing. It also contributes towards tackling air pollution. All these amazing benefits can be made possible even with limited space, by using raised bed vegetable gardening method.

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009 | Author: admin

Compost Soil

The benefits of using compost in your beds instead of just soil include less waste, less weeds, healthier plants with less diseases, and less harmful chemicals that damage your plants in the long run. Each benefit will improve the quality and life of your plants, and in turn make your gardening experience more enjoyable.

  • Healthier Plants, Richer Flowers: Compost is made up of micro-organisms, worms, arthropods and humus, which provides soil with organic matter. It contains macro and micro nutrients, which are absent in chemical fertilizers. It neutralizes the soil, bringing pH levels to optimum range. It aerates the soil, and brings healthy bacteria, fungi, and insects to the soil. Composting also improves drainage, which is vital when growing flowers. It improves absorption and enhances soil quality. All of these are important for healthy plant growth. Your flowers will be richer and brighter, leaves a tad greener, and your garden friendlier to all kinds of organisms.
  • Stronger plants from your compost will be less susceptible to diseases and bugs: You will find it unnecessary to use toxic and harmful pesticides and fertilizers that do more harm than good to your plants and garden. The micro-organisms present in your compost are enough to protect from diseases and pests.
  • Compost means less weeds: Replacing soil with compost or mixing compost in your soil means less density, which makes it easy to pull out weeds, if any grow at all. Weeds are significantly less in compost than they are in bare dirt. The less time you spend weeding, the more time you have to plan out a beautiful spring, summer, or winter flower garden. You will have more attention for the plants themselves, rather than the weeds surrounding them.
  • Less Yard Waste: If you happen to make your own compost, then it means less organic waste from your kitchen and yard. You can make better use of your yard trimmings and fallen leaves. It is convenient to have your own compost so that you spend less time and money on trying to buy compost or fertilizer in the market. Also, when you have your own compost, you can monitor the ingredients, make sure that it is 100% organic, and tailor it to suit your own needs.  You can use waste from the kitchen – vegetable and fruit skins, spent tea leaves, etc. to make your compost pile richer.  Less waste means less trips taking out the garbage. Make sure you keep your compost pile or bin away from scavengers. Keep it covered to maintain moisture levels and keep out air. If you have a child, this is an excellent way to educate him or her in living sustainably, reducing waste, and caring for the environment.

compost in flower garden