| Fascinating Musings |
| Season 1 – Tuesday – 03/01/23 |
| The first image isn’t properly in focus as it was taken when l first discovered the problem but you can see how the bottom right underside was hanging down. But the second and third show it back in its normal position again. |
| Nearly Wormageddon … but thankfully not! |
| New Year’s Day was nearly a “Houston We Have Wormageddon Problem!! But thankfully, that was only a nearly and not an actual! Suze and l managed to avert a near disaster on the Wurmin Front! I’ll explain … Last month, on December 6th, Suze and l finished the last major worm farm. It was the more extensive, nearly six-foot farm. The two smaller three-foot farms had been completed [filled with residents] on November 25th after being constructed the previous week, but the heavy rains prevented us from building the last farm. However, by December 6th, we managed to close the lid down on the last farm. All the ‘wurmies’ were present and correct, and l said to Suze that we would not have to disturb the earth of any of the three farms till the end of March. All l would need to do was maintain them with feed and watering as was required, but we could now leave them be! The last farm was a PITA to build, the instructions weren’t great, and the wooden frames were slightly warped. We figured because they were kept outside the distribution depot of the company that sold them. Whilst they were plastic wrapped. There were areas for dampness to seep in. Plus, some frames had a light greenish mould, suggesting dampness. It wasn’t a huge issue. We were going to screw everything together. The two smaller farms had been similar to construction but were firm, so whilst the third was more prominent, we figured we could cope. Additionally, having previously built two farms, we knew how to efficiently and speedily affix everything together on the more extensive farm. When we were piecing it together, we noticed that the bigger farm’s frames were slightly twisted and made everything tighter when screwed, so when it came to us securing the base of the bed in place, we had to huff and heave to get it 1] in place and 2] to sit on the raised leg platforms. However, once it was in, it was tight, and we couldn’t move it out again, so we were thankful it was in the correct location. It was sooooooooooo tightly snug that we made an error here. We assumed. We assumed it was tighter on the fit and wouldn’t need securing with screws … yes, you are right if you are thinking, do you two NOT know the assumption phrase? Never ASSUME… it makes an ASS out of U and ME. The answer is, OF Course, we do! Yet we still made the fatal error of assuming that it would be secured tight as well because it was tight. I am grateful that l made the complex inner framework sit on top of the bottom frame. Its presence was for the drainage mechanism for the entire worm farm. I am also grateful that l then covered that with a pond liner and secured everything to each other with strengthened staples because this framework prevented the entire farm and its 800 Kg of soil from spilling out of the bottom to the pavement below, which in turn would have meant all the worms would have been gone. On New Year’s Day late morning, whilst feeding the worm farms, l spotted that the framework beneath the large farm was strange looking. Underneath, l saw that the bottom of the farm, the so-called snugly tight bottom frame, had slipped off the back platform leg and was perilously hanging below the overall main body! Suze was out working and not back till around one, so l messaged her and said we have to repair this today because we have more rain overnight and can’t have the worms in the bags overnight. The days get dark around four, and whilst we both had head torches, l was hoping we wouldn’t need to use them. This meant that Suze and l had to empty off the entire farm – nearly a ton of compost soils – into garden bags, wash out the farm, fix the farm and then put all the compost soils and residents back in. We worked at speed, real fast against the fading afternoon and the clouds building up grey again and finished in around two and a half hours! Which was impressive! The bottom frame is now seriously snug, secured with suitable quality screws that we should have done correctly the first time last month. The wurmies will NOW not be disturbed ‘soil-wise ’till the end of March. We live and learn! All the rains we had been experiencing here in December and the ice snap and heavy frosts caused the warping to shift its positioning on the platform legs. Plus, the winter bedding l had used to keep the occupants warm also increased the condensation levels in the soil. It created a wetter area, and on top of that, we noticed that despite the presence of a drain, the Level was telling us that farm was marginally out of the straight line, and so the waste was gathering on the right side of the farm and not on the drain. The area which fell off the leg! Before we refilled the farm, we moved the farm towards the house more by two feet, and now the Level tells us the farm is central so that any waste materials will go through the middle draining. An interesting NY day for sure! |
| It was all a bit of a nightmare gallery – l had just fed them and then noticed the problem with the under carriage. When Suze got back everything had to be emptied off and it was all systems go go and more go. Then it was wash down, fix and repair and relay and refill and that took us both about two and a half hours. |
| Earthly Comfort Designs available on my Redbubble Store. Collections – Earthen Wurmin, Inspired By Nature and The Autistic Composter Please Pop Along and Check Them Out. |
Earthly Comforts 
“Never ASSUME… it makes an ASS out of U and ME.” this is awesome 😆 It was a not usual NY day but you two did a really impressive job in such a short time!
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Hey Ribana, we were lucky the weather held off and that we were able to take swift action as we did 🙂
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I’m glad you caught the problem in time.
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Phew – so were we – it could have been a lot worse.
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Yes, great save. Well done
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I’m so glad you were able to correct the problem in time and so glad you have a partner that is willing to be of assistance with your projects, Rory!
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Hey Betty we were very lucky and l am thankful that Suze is able to jump into action as she does 🙂
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Whew! That was a close one. I’m glad you caught it in time.
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Oh l know, the possibilities of all those worms on the run was a nightmare, well worms on the slide, slither, crawl – l don’t know, but bad either way, good for predators, bad for farmers 🙂
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There’s always something – the old adage of running an eye over everything each day still holds true.
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Oh yes very much so. Although when l discovered it the first thought that ran through my mind as l grasped the shituation was “Rory you a prize muppet why oh why did you assume snug was enough!?”
Yes we just have to watch all the time.
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