Accidental Vermiculture

[spud]

I usually get two pick up loads of horse manure every fall and mix it with a bunch of chopped leaves and cover it with a tarp or housewrap. By midsummer, it's gone and I get a couple of pickup loads again in the fall.

This summer when my pile was diwindling down, I noticed loads of red wigglers which my free range ducks and chickens enoyed. I promptly procured a couple of loads of manure to keep it going. I have since added fresh comfrey and sweet potato vines and fresh weeds.

My girls come running now when I start turning the pile over for them and they enjoy plenty of high protein snacks. This pile is left out in the open, wish I had a shade tree to put it under. Nice to have this free food for my girls and will keep it going into fall and save some in the garage for next spring.

This has been a low maintenence way of gettin some extra high quality food my girls.

[garnetmoth]

awesome! if you keep it good and wet in the hottest part of the summer, its not unusual to find black soldier flies/larvae. chickens tend to love them and theyre good decomposers too.