Production of humus with vermicompost - Ecovillages

you have to remove the dry upper layer; you will easily know when to stop because the moisture and
the quantity of worms will increase considerably in the lower layers you'll be leaving behind.
The speed of humus production depends on many things: the number of worms, the temperature and
humidity, and the season. Even if the temperature in the room is normal and more or less constant year
round, the productivity of worms decreases in winter.
Take the extracted humus and put it on a pan. Set the pan on a warm (but not hot) stove. The worms
will come to the surface to escape the heat, forming a ball which can be easily removed and returned to
the bin.
After several extractions of humus, you will reach the bottom of the first bin. Once this happens, you'll
fill it in with a new portion of manure or other worm food and then rotate the bins: the former bottom
bin then becomes the upper one. When your worm bin reaches its optimal performance, you will be
swapping modules after every second or third week.
After two years or so, the population of worms exceeds their living space. When this happens, you
may leave them as they are since they self-regulate their numbers. Alternatively, you may remove
excess worms from the bin and use them to populate a second set of worm bins; you can place these in
your composting space, sell them (or give them away) to fishermen (especially in winter), or give them
to neighbours for their sustainable gardening.
It is necessary to keep a steady source of whatever food you have chosen for your worms readily
available. They are very finicky eaters and need to be fed whatever they were eating from the day they
were born. If, for example, their food is manure, it is important to have enough of it stored for the
whole winter. It should be noted that in other places the author has seen bins where the worms were
fed with simple organic waste from the kitchen. However, worms for such a bin should be taken from
your usual composting spot. Usually worms like semi-rotten waste; before achieving optimal humus
production, you will need to carefully experiment with their rations.
User experiences
The interviewee is Andrey Obruch, a resident of Nevoecoville Ecovillage. He has lived in Nevoecoville
with his family since 1997.
Nevoecoville is located in a place with a very poor soil and a unique climate of short and rather cold
summers and long severe winters. These factors, in turn, create unique conditions for agriculture,
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