Create a worm farm - Asiya

Something that I am trying to improve my skills in is gardening. As I do this I plan to post do and do not's. Haha!

One thing I did with my sons recently was create a worm farm. Zombie and I were learning about animals that burrow in school and a worm farm is a great way to show them a live example of burrowing. 

Also, earthworms are great in your garden! They also are good bait for fishing if you enjoy using live bait.

First, what you will need to create a worm farm is:

• Earthworms (get them at a fishing store or a pet store)
• Soil
• Container to keep the worms in (recycled glass jar)
• Spray bottle full of water
• Small scraps of fruits or veggies (I used apple skins and zucchini scraps)
• Dark paper
• Tape

I used a recycled pickle jar for my project. Any glass jar will work but if you want to be able to see the tunnels that the worms make, you may want to choose a clear one. Make sure you clean it out really well. You will need to punch a lot of holes in the lid of your container and the set it aside. My husband helped me with that since I am accident prone. ;)

Put a layer of soil at the bottom of the jar and put very small scraps of fruit/veggies on top of that layer. I used apple skin and scraps of zucchini. Then spray the soil until it is moist, not soaking.

Repeat the process until your jar is full of soil. 

Add your worms to the top. We counted ours that we bought from Petsmart. We had over 130 in ours! The worms will burrow themselves.

Place the lid onto your jar and then wrap the dark paper around the jar and secure with tape. The worms need a dark, damp environment. Make sure you remember to spray down the soil every couple of days to keep the moisture in. Don't flood them though, I made that mistake once and it killed our worm friends. :(

You can check on the little critters every once in awhile by removing the paper and checking out their tunnels. :) If you need to add some to your garden/take on a fishing adventure - simply get them out! :)