Monday, April 28, 2008

Banishment!

The wormies have been banished to the front porch. I found some fruit flies in there this morning. Amidst cries of, "oh hell no!" I rushed the whole production outside where it shall remain through the Spring and Summer. Before it gets cold again I can sift through, save the wormies, and reset the whole bin. Until then, banishment. I don't do flying bugs. The worms themselves were a stretch...

More professional worm keepers do things like catch the flies on sticky tape or purchase carnivorous plants. I'm afraid of venus fly traps (anyone see Little Shop of Horrors?) and fly tape is the ultimate yuck festival in my mind, so that's not happening until I can rally some courage.

In other news, I LOVE the smell of my compost bin. Is this strange? It's earthy and wonderful like fresh potting soil or wet concrete. I guess it is a little bizarre considering how yucky the decomposing veggies look in there. But actually, that's rather fascinating as well...like my Kindergarten science project where I watched how fast apples would brown under different conditions.

4 comments:

Dani said...

Someone once described the smell of worm compost to the smell of rainforest. I totally get that. I agree, it's an amazing, organic smell.

Well, most of the time.

md said...

you're really inspiring me. maybe when you get a lot of worms, i could start composting too. i would probably buy one of those crate things so i wouldn't have to touch them, but still...

Dorit said...

The woman who sold me worms back in NC recommended to freeze the fruit and vegetable scraps before putting them in the bin. That kills the fruit fly eggs, she said. In our little worm bin in the break room where I work it seems to be working.

ONNO said...

Fruit flies are troublesome this time of year. I get them in my plants if I over-water. Not much to do, but put them outside. I agree. Banish!

Dagny McKinley
www.onnotextiles.com
organic apparel