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E9 The Dirt on Worm Farming · Two Tools, No Clue

• Jey & Anna: Hey welcome to the Tools No Clue podcast. I'm Anna. And I'm Jeidan And today we have no clue about... Worm farming. Worm farming. What are they up to? What do they grow on their farm? We have no clue. But we're about to find out together. So fasten your tool belts. was really cute. Thank you. But first, Anna, what's going on around the Homestead? What is going on around the Homestead? Well, everyone, pause what you're doing because I have a huge announcement. Breaking news! Breaking news from the Homestead! After a whole ass year, I have almost completed the Homestead shed, Which will be selling all of our, you know, homestead products. Like, I'm really good at making blueberry bread. So good. I have a following. He does. A little cult following. But yeah, a bunch of other stuff. So yeah, we're really excited. I started this out of pallets that I just randomly collect because I think I always need pallets. And I tried really hard. to start by only using all the things that I had already on hand. So it took a while and then it paused. And then I finally gave up on that notion. And, you know, here we are after a few home depot trips. It's looking good. It is looking very good. Yeah. He made this slant for where the bread goes and little like shell like tiny little shelves for the bread to sit on. I'm excited. It looks really good. I'm really proud of you. Thank you. And let's see. ⁓ Benny. Benny came to town. So my brother adopted the most adorable, very large and in charge. Black Lab claims to be Husky mix, but he's all black lab. He's got a big ass head. He's huge. She jumps on you like a black lab. Him and Stevie are, you know, they're in two different dwellings, obviously. So it's going to take them time, but they went on a walk together yesterday and doing really good. Benny's two years old. My brother adopted him at the Humane Society. Yeah. Where we took the stray cat. Yes. guess she's not a She's a full grown cat. Actually, weirdly enough, the day Anna dropped off the stray kitten, my brother was doing his first meet and greet with Benny, who his name was BJ. We met in the parking lot. I was like, oh hey I know you. So then Anna, you know, being the hero that she is, turned right back around after getting home and went and saw BJ was Stevie. They did a little meet and greet and then I got to do the same thing with Stevie a few days later. And then two days after that, Benny came home and he is doing really well. He's wicked cute. So welcome to the family. Welcome Benny. And let me tell you a little bit about this cat. This is not the kitten we were talking about episodes ago. This is a different cat. ⁓ my goodness. You're following us on TikTok, which you should be. You'll. have seen the video that I made about this pregnant cat who's been strolling through our yard and I'm like not on my watch. again. Not this year am I gonna watch these poor little kittens have to brave England winters. Just weather in general. We know how it is. It doesn't know what the hell it's doing. One day it's hot, one day it's freaking snowing outside. So we nipped it in the bud this time. Yep. Not messing around. So yeah, that's why I was at the Humane Society that day. All right. For some reason, I thought we already spoke on your little adventure. My bad. was just your awesome recap of it. Definitely check it out on our socials. TikTok. So yeah, okay. So let's get into the Wormy things. What are these worms farming? Geez, I'm so curious. know, right? So worm farming, it does sound really weird. If I was asked, it's like, you know what, 20 years ago, you know, fuck it, like a week ago, I would have, you know, said similar things. Like, you know, I just picture worms farming. With little hoes digging out the ground You know what I mean? Like, I feel like there's a picture of that somewhere. Like, whatever. So obviously I have zero clue, but I did my best to find out the actual truth about worm farming. So that's what we're going to talk about today. Heck yeah, I'm excited. So worms are squirmy. Yes. They are wet and soggy. Yuck. But most importantly in the garden, they are gold. To find out why I did my due diligence on the Googles, obviously I found a few websites that helped me figure out what Worm farming was overall importance of worms in your garden. Yeah. So first stop was Kelloggarden.com where they hit me with these wise words in the article. The importance ⁓ garden worms. ⁓ worms are earthworms. ⁓ stuff, I know. ⁓ What? Yeah, that was like the first quote and I was like, is that like ⁓ Cactuses are succulents, but not all succulents are cactuses. so like worms be worms. Cacti, I suppose. But there are over 1800 ⁓ and they're grouped into five ⁓ my god, really is like ⁓ mafia. so all the different types of worms don't matter as much as what an earthworm does in your garden. Like it does a lot, way more than... any of us, like even if you're doing crazy things in your garden, if you're, you know, plucking your little... ⁓ Look in your little Even if you're like, you know cradle in your zucchinis and your squashes or whatever with weird things creative things worms are still doing more While we sleep I believe in the garden than any of us are doing to help our things grow I think it's really cool. Yep. They are ⁓ So while we're sleeping they're hard at work tunneling through soil, providing drainage holes for your garden. They help aerate the soil and provide nutrients to the soil with their castings, aka their poop. Poop! The worms you find on your garden beds are considered night crawlers. They're long and as the name implies, they get to work at night tunneling throughout the night to help your soil thrive. The other type of worm is a composting worm. They're smaller worms and live closer to the soil surface, eating compost rather than soil. So when you're digging in the garden and you come across a worm, which is it the composting one? No, it's a nightcrawler. How come? Because those are the ones that tunnel through natural. So where are the composting ones? Compost ones like you will find in your compost. ⁓ interesting. How do they get there? If they're not tunneling through the ground. You buy them. What? And otherwise there's no worm, no compost worms in your compost? I don't know. I'm asking the hard-hitting questions. You are asking the hard-hitting questions, but no. do the worms come The little guys aren't in your garden. Little guys are in your compost and they usually like get chubby. Okay. Because they're slurping up all the nutrients. Interesting. It's not even nutrients. We'll get into that though. It's weird. ⁓ But yes, they are smaller worms and live closer to the soil surface eating compost rather than soil. Because their preference to compost, their castings are filled with way more nutrients than night crawlers that only eat the soil ⁓ they're getting more out of ⁓ decaying things. It's not just soil. That makes sense. So maybe you're wondering why worms end up liking your gardens even on a bad year, because I have definitely wondered that You know, we've had plenty of cases where that's been very true. And it was because we left the stuff there. So there are some things you can do to help convince the worms. Left what stuff there? Left are like the roots of the plants. It was just there and died there. That's what they like. That's their jam. So there are some things you can do to help convince the worms in the neighborhood to move into your garden. These are the tips that are given by Kelloggarden.com in my own order because I'm going to rant a little bit. I know you guys are used to it by now. But number one, avoid tilling your soil. Amen. Just all around. Stop doing it. Please, if you want to live, no big deal. Just stop tilling your land Okay, all right, thank you. So that was quick, but there's more I'm sorry. Number two, start a compost pile. See that's easy. I'm not yelling at you. Worms love compost as we just learned so I agree with this one as well. Number three, when your veggies are done for the year, leave the roots. Just cut at the base and let the worms take care of the rest. And it's okay to take the roots the next year right? They're still there. I took all the roots out this year. But then you want to like, then what you should do is you take those and that's how we make another bed layer. Like we're always just using them. But yeah, you leave them there over winter time. number four, Regularly. add organic matter and compost to your soil. So going back to the root thing, Anna and I at the beginning of the season, we were at my parents' house and we ended up helping them do random things in the garden. We were like just pulling old stuff out. And one of the raised beds that my mom has, it had been like by mint. Duh, because that's what happens. Be mintin'. All over town people. Like, don't even get it twisted. You have to contain it. But if there's other things in there, like, it will wrap itself around it. But my... I think it was a Brussels sprout root. And I don't know if you guys know anything about a Brussels sprout root. They're huge. They're like chunky things, both above and ⁓ the ground. So I was like hacking away at this thing, trying to get it out. It took me forever. And then I finally got it out of there. When I pulled it out, there were just worms all over the bottom of it. Do you remember that? wasn't there for this. I thought you were. No, I don't remember this at all. Oh, maybe it was that day I went to my parents' house for my birthday. Anyway, it was really cool. And I was literally like showing everybody like, look at this. Look at all these worms. This is really good this means your soil is really healthy ⁓ And was because they left all the stuff in there, right? It's so easy. That's what they like. Yeah, they don't technically munch But like it like starts to decay and they like slurp it up. I don't know. It's a weird process. I'm gonna talk. they have a mouth? ⁓ No, no, doesn't absorb like that. Okay, good things can be absorbed Though, like, you know, PSA, I am gonna yell a little bit again. learned this, it can absorb into their skin, like into their body through their skin. So like, if you're putting pesticides and horrible things in your soil, you're gonna kill the earthworms. rude, don't do that. Or you're gonna be a murderer. ⁓ That's on you. The blood these worms is on your hands. So yeah. ⁓ I thought it was cool that I was able to put my own little story in of actually seeing that happen. Yeah. there were so many worms. I was like, holy worms. That's incredible. Yeah. I wish I was there It was really cool. You didn't even take a picture? No, I didn't. I really thought you were there that day. I guess I was just sticking that worm thing in front of my mom's face. That's pretty funny. She was all about it, though. So whatever. But yeah, so I do want to clear up they don't have teeth. Can you imagine if they did? That would be a horror movie. ⁓ Yeah, it's creepy. I had to like not overthink the whole process because I already think worms are kind of creepy. God. When you pick up a worm and it starts thrashing back and forth, that is the most traumatic shit. Like one of those air, one of those car dealership. Yeah, literally. Wiggly things. if it had teeth and it's doing that, it's basically a snake, mini snakes. They're terrifying. But okay, they don't have teeth though. So don't panic. So when I'm talking about like them eating things, that's not exactly what's going on. I did find an article to help me explain what's going on. Okay. And that's what I'm going to talk about next. So to help explain their true digestive journey, I read the article, a guide to worm biology, how earthworms eat. reproduce and enrich your soil. This was found on worms, the number four earth.com. Really cute website. Had a bunch of cool articles on there. ⁓ you should check it out. ⁓ so yeah, I'm going to read this word. I'm going to read those word for word because they explain it better than I ever could. Warning. It is lengthy. They answer the question, how do worms eat? Quote, tell me earthworms are living compost machines as they burrow. They ingest soil, minerals and organic matter, often consuming their body weight and material each day. Wow. I mean, they're small, but yeah, was like, that's not hard for them. That's a mighty feat Okay. Their digestive system called the. Elementary canal stretches from mouth to tail and includes several specialized parts. The buckle cavity this cheek like pouch contains taste cells and begins the digestive journey the pharynx Is that the like little ring part on them the buckle or is that inside? I don't know how worms have that little bumpy ring No, I know no, no, that's not it. Okay I also have a I have a diagram and I it will be it will be up plastered on the screen for all to see. The pharynx acts as a suction cup drawing food into the system. The gullet and crop. The crop temporarily stores food before passing it to the gizzard. Like why? Why does a worm need that? I don't know, but it reminds me of like a squirrel situation. And the gizzard. There's a little gizzard inside the worm. What's going on? I thought a gizzard was like a thing on a bird. A gizzard grinds food using muscular action and ingests grit or sand. So yeah, that might be a thing, but a lot of animals probably have it. But it's on the inside for the worm? Yeah, yeah, it totally is. I see it right here. Anyway, ⁓ then intestine, the site of nutrient absorption lined in folds to increase surface area. That's gross. So a worm can ingest its own weight in earth, minerals and organic matter each day, thus requiring an impressive digestive system So yeah, that's the gross diagram. Goodbye, gross diagram. No, it's going to stay up for a little bit. no. Oh God, it's back. It's back. It never left. Yeah, so as the material passes through the worm's gut, gets coated with calcium and humic acid, creating biologically active slow release fertilizer. USDA studies show that worm castings can contain up to eight times more nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium than the surrounding soil. Like holy moly. These castings promote strong root development, improve soil structure, and support a thriving soil microbial community. End quote. I have a question. Yes. So then is worm farming the act of getting the castings or worm farming is something else. So worm farming, I think is what you, whatever you need it to be. how you can buy a bag of castings, like earthworm castings. How the hell is that a thing? They're literally farming worms out there. Yes, of course. So is that what you're talking about? Yeah. So Main purpose for worm farming is to collect the castings. Even low scale? Do you remember when I tried to do it? Yeah, that was the point. Yeah, to make your own tea. It turns it into a tea and that way it's easier for you to distribute into your garden. Interesting. Yeah. Yeah, we tried and failed. I felt so bad they all died. get into that. Don't worry. ⁓ God. ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ So we have now, you know, spoken on what a worm is and what happens in a worm's body. We've talked about how to get them to the garden and now we're going to talk about worm farming. So that was a good question that you had. So It's definitely different from how we farm. We grow vegetables on our farms and worms eat those vegetable scraps on their farms and turn it into their worm castings. So maybe they still have pitchforks and stuff like that, but I doubt it. You're ruining the magic. I know. I'm sorry. I'm just trying tell you how it is. ⁓ important types of farming, very different. so ⁓ switched gears and, ⁓ to figure out how to be ⁓ worm farmer. ⁓ went to uncle Jim's worm farm.com. Uncle Jim. Yeah. He knows the scoop on worms and he sells them too. Wow. All right. Lay it on us. One stop shop. ⁓ so this, ⁓ information came from the article. Verma composting for beginners, which is the fancy word for worm farming. Verma? Verma composting. How do spell that? V-E-R-M-I-C-O-M-P-O-S-T-I-N-G. Verma. Vermicomposting. So, as we've already covered, worms love our food scraps and so having a worm farm using them can benefit your garden and your compost bins. The easiest way to do this is to purchase a worm farm kit, but you can also make your own for a lot cheaper. Well, I mean, I don't know if it ends up being a lot cheaper. Like, let's be serious. DIY can be quite expensive, so maybe just get the kit. You know, like do the math. you choose maybe it's fun it was fun for me but I like I said like Anna said our worms either ran away or died but I'll get into that. ⁓ So the easiest way to do it is to purchase a worm farm kit obviously but you can ⁓ can do it yourself in the show notes I ⁓ put do it yourself worm compost bin page that I did get from unclejimsfarm.com Thanks Uncle Jim. Yep, it's got, there's like a YouTube video on there. It's pretty cool. So I am ⁓ drop a little diagram right here of what a successful worm farm looks like for you. It'll also help you create whatever you think will work for you in your garden, your garage, even your covered porch. Because they do need a cool area. Which is like hard sometimes. ⁓ So one, gonna need a cover. Two, you're gonna need a worm blanket. three. Worm blanket? Yep, it's a real thing and I think that's why our earthworms died. They didn't have a blankie? Yeah, helps regulate them or whatever. And then air vents on the top layer, obviously. And then there's two levels of active area with scraps and worms. And then after that, there's worm casting compost area, and then a worm tea collection. And at the bottom, that's where you'd usually have a spout so that you can kind of just like pour what you need because you do not need a lot. Like it is heavy in the nutrients. So you usually dilute it with what you're using in that day and you don't need a lot of it. you know, the worm tea is making me think of that scene in Twilight when they go to the. greenhouse and the guys like compost tea. That's exactly what that is. It's it's worm tea. So in between the two levels of the active area and the worm castings, should be holes like big enough for the worms to pass through because they're allowed to go up and down there. But the The bottom ⁓ has to be really really tiny ones. ⁓ Holes? so that they can't pass through. And run away? Well no, ⁓ they'll just up in the water and it ⁓ no. ⁓ They'll soggy mess. It'll be a different type of worm tea. Shall I say? So yeah, that's what ⁓ it look like. ⁓ you can use containers. I'll also hopefully be dropping a picture of mine right here because I did find it. Oh, cool. Yeah, so you know. It was definitely a COVID thing that I did. But yeah, you know, it was a good one. I was proud of it. ⁓ So, yeah, it's right here. Yeah. ⁓ just didn't have what I needed. What I really think happened is like I didn't think about the holes and really they should have been closer to one another. I don't know. the buckets were a good idea, but just not quite what I needed, I guess. ⁓ so yeah, they, they didn't run away. but I do want to try again. I probably would just get a kit from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm. ⁓ definitely need to get the blanket, that's for sure. Uncle Jim is not sponsored. ⁓ yeah, he's not sponsored. I just, I was on that page for way too long. ⁓ but yeah, I am excited. So ⁓ I'm finish this episode with an introduction. ⁓ what I will be... You're gonna finish it with an introduction? Yeah. I'm gonna finish this episode with an introduction to what I will be covering in my next podcast. You guessed it. Cover crops. If you don't want to make a worm farm. This is your next full episode? Yeah. Um, well cover crops is, but... ⁓ worms, worms and cover crops go hand in hand. Okay. this point in time, that's why I'm ending with it. ⁓ So if you don't want to make a worm farm for castings in your, in your compost, but you're invested in ways of getting more worms into your garden naturally, a really great way to do that is plant cover crops, because then they will come just in time for spring, especially over the winter time, like they'll be there. already because they've all found the source. Like that's how they're gonna, you know, come back alive for the spring I guess. don't know. Do worms hibernate? I feel like we should do a whole episode on worms. Just in general. Yeah. Or like not the whole how to get their castings, but just like who they are. Yeah. Who are you? Yeah. Who are you? Worm. It's like on the B movie anyway. Okay. This is so distracted right now. So if you, if you don't want. to do like all that hocus pocus, but you just want the worms to come. A really good way is to, you know, one, keep the things that you grew in there, just cut them down, like leave the roots in there, but also cover crops. Really good for your garden beds, really good for your farms, whatever you're planting, especially in between, you don't want that soil leaving because you know what happens? Your soil starts to lose its nutrients because it doesn't have anything. And then it starts to erode and then doesn't take water. And then you got dead soil and flooding happens. And then after that, there's really no going back to it because it's hard to get things to hold on to waterlog that. And that's that's kind of like the sad thing that's happening all over our earth right now. But I will lecture you loudly on my next podcast about that. So anyway, next episode, my next. episode. Unless it's the mini-soad you're talking about. No, no, It's my next podcast episode is going to be on cover crops. Jey's starting a whole new podcast just about cover crops, you guys. Yes, a whole new podcast about cover crops. it called? It's going to save the world. Cover crops saves the world. There it Jeidan. By Jeidan. You know, we're laughing about it, but it is serious. Cover crops can save the world, but I will get into that next week. There's hope guys. Like true hope. Hold on. weeks. I'm sidetracked so hard because I'm so upset about a lot of things that I learned about during cover crops. In three weeks time I will be yelling at about cover crops ⁓ and how you need to start planting them to the world. So you better start planting them now so I'm less upset with you. In three weeks time. ⁓ plenty of varieties out there to choose from. Yes. Yeah. Your yard can be any color you want it to be. Yeah. And I will have a really long list for you next time. That's for sure. That's a good way to put it for the people who dye their animals funky colors. Like why aren't you dying your yard funky colors with these cover crops bro? Cover your crops. Cover your crops. Nobody wants to see that. don't want to be a part of a dust bowl. Raise your hand if you want to be a part of a Dust Bowl. That's what I thought. For those of you listening, one in the room raised their hand, ⁓ Stevie and she really usually does because she thinks she's getting a treat for it. So yeah, okay, so that was like, I guess, my episode about worms. I, you know, when I was a kid, I really didn't like worms. I had no appreciation for them. I honestly didn't have an appreciation for them probably up until like five years ago. And I started to really like start gardening and realize their purpose. Like I thought they were just being slimy and weird. Like, why are you showing up on my driveway? Why are you showing up and covering my driveway during the rain? Like they would just do strange stuff. we gotta do a whole worm episode. strange things, like alien-like things. so I just never really had like this... But the garden thought to it. It was just like, why are you here? Yeah. What are you trying to communicate to me right now? Little aliens in the soil. We definitely should do like a weird worm episode. The fuck are worms? And why are they farming? Yeah, we never answered that question. It was a trick question. I still don't know. learned that we're farming them for their poop. Yeah, like weirdos. Why don't you just plant some things with it like that? It is really strange. We do the same thing to cows. Yeah, like, but never mind. I don't know. We farm them for more than just the poop so that makes sense like that's a byproduct in my mind But we're not eating worms so It's literally just for their poop. And like who figured that out? what, how to get their poop? That it was even a thing. That worms poop? That it was in their soil like that. just, mean, they tunnel. Like if you think about ⁓ a worm's life, they're not pooping above ground. They're pooping in the ground. Yeah. So who figured that out? Maybe just do weird stuff. You imagine devote in your entire life to worm poop. I can just imagine that it's like these two competing neighbors and one neighbor has like this big, beautiful garden and the other neighbor's garden is struggling How do you do that? And so he like hops the fence one night in the darkness and he grabs a sample of the other neighbor's soil. Yeah. And he takes it to a lab and they're like, look at all the worms. He's like, why? What about the worms? it's like the meme with all the red lines and the connections. That's probably it. Yeah. Yeah. Just like that happened. And then someone devoted their whole life work to it. After that, they were like, very good points. It's his sons and their sons. need to bring this to the lab. Sons still competing. Yeah. With the same neighbor's son. Jim. ⁓ my God. It's Uncle Jim. He's the next generation. We cracked the ⁓ Okay, so anyway, ⁓ you can follow us on Facebook, YouTube. Wait, wait, wait. What about? That's right. I was just like, wrap it up. So today is June 18th. Yes indeed. We got a proverb for y'all today. You ready for it? Yes. One hour's sleep before midnight is worth two hours after it. Does that sound familiar? We haven't said that before on an episode. That just seems strangely familiar to me. I'm like, have I read this one before? No, I don't think we have. Okay. Well, if we have, I apologize, but maybe I'm just having weird deja vu. think you're having deja vu. And today is the best day to lay shingles, entertain, travel for pleasure, not for work, and to prune to encourage growth. Lovely, lovely. OK, now can follow us on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, threads ⁓ @ ⁓ And you can subscribe to Patreon at patreon.com/twotoolsnoclue. ⁓ And you can email us at twotoolsnocluepodcast@Gmail.com. Say hello. Tell us about your worm poop. Yeah, tell us about your worm poop. You know, tell us about you. Tell us about... I don't know, Your stories. Tell me what cover crops you're planting. Yeah, what color is your yard? So you're not gonna get yelled at in three weeks. You got three weeks, folks. Three weeks, I'm counting. looking you. I'm ⁓ looking you. You're looking at yourself is what you're doing. Alright, seriously though guys, thank you for listening. Thank you for following our journey as we, you know, vibe in podcast land. It's been a lot of fun with you, so far. So thank you for doing this with Yeah, thanks for supporting us guys. Yeah, thank you and be safe out there. Be seen. love you. Be safe, be seen as my mama always said while she was making fun of me with my yellow Nikes. Shout out to you, mama dukes. Bye.