Update
I'm still shampoo free. I have no idea how long it's been now, but I got a lot of compliments last week when some friends I hadn't seen in a while were over. It was kinda cool. Now imagine if I got my lazy, anxiety-ridden ass to the mall to get a trim? The thing with not using shampoo is that you no longer have all those chemicals that hide all your split ends and such. Once I get them all trimmed out, I'll be good, but I need to actually get it trimmed. I did cut a lot off already myself, but I can only do so much on my own. I have a lot of hair.
I've had my worms for a couple weeks now and they're doing great. I can actually see finished compost! Not nearly enough to take out of there yet, but in less than a week you could see it. They were all freaked out at first and climbing up the sides, but they didn't leave the bin - and they totally can get out the bottom holes since they're big enough for them to get through so that later I can coax them into a box above them. I followed these instructions, more or less, for the bin. It made more sense to me for my living situation. (tiny apartment with nowhere to pour out the compost and harvest it in the middle of winter) I started to get a lot of condensation in the bin, which probably means I need more air holes. But I put some more dry shredded newspaper in there last night, and tonight when I opened the bin only ONE worm wasn't down where he was supposed to be. I had suspected I had too little newspaper in the first place, anyway, and that's obviously the case since they're shredding the heck out of what they have and I need more to bury what I feed them. But I think the reason it's so wet in there is mostly because there's not a lot of air under my sink. It's something to consider. Especially if you live in apartment with NO freaking air circulation like we do.
We haven't fed them every night. For the most part it's been every other night. I picked up a food scale at a garage sale for $2 a few days before the worms came and I've actually been weighing the food. We got a pound of worms and supposedly they can eat a half pound of food a day. But they haven't been doing quite that much. I'm sure there are a lot of factors. They're definitely eating a bit more than they were at first. We have 6 spots to bury the food for them, and the first spot has been 90% devoid of food for a few days. Which is the important part.
We've had no problems with fruit flies. It does NOT smell. It smells... earthy. Almost clean. Even with the rotting food in there. (Which sometimes makes me to gag when I get the waste out of the coffee can to feed them - ick.) As long as it's under the newspaper and whatnot there's no smell in the bin. And definitely no smell under the sink or in the kitchen. (except for the cat litter but that's a Whole Apartment problem and has nothing to do with the kitchen or the worms)
The "garden" is doing well. Mostly. Haven't been taking very good care of it the past week or so. The only thing that really didn't make it is the zucchini and the squash. Some bugs found them VERY tasty. And they finished them off while I was ignoring them last week. The radishes and bunching onions didn't do so well, either. In a few of the bins they might end up edible, but in most places they just didn't do well at ALL. I have no idea why, since I've never ever had a problem getting radishes to grow before. Usually I end up with way too many. Of course, I never tried growing them in pots before. The beans are flowering and the eggplants are flowering and the cucumbers are grabbing onto everything in sight. The peppers are peppering and the tomatoes are tomatoing. The lettuce is about done, though. Gotta figure out what to replace them with, because it's going to leave a big gap when they're gone.
I've learned a lot in the last several weeks. Most of it is incredibly depressing. I haven't been able to post much because I've been in a depression, so doing more depressing research and writing depressing things isn't a good idea right now. I'll get some of it out a little at a time soon.
I've had my worms for a couple weeks now and they're doing great. I can actually see finished compost! Not nearly enough to take out of there yet, but in less than a week you could see it. They were all freaked out at first and climbing up the sides, but they didn't leave the bin - and they totally can get out the bottom holes since they're big enough for them to get through so that later I can coax them into a box above them. I followed these instructions, more or less, for the bin. It made more sense to me for my living situation. (tiny apartment with nowhere to pour out the compost and harvest it in the middle of winter) I started to get a lot of condensation in the bin, which probably means I need more air holes. But I put some more dry shredded newspaper in there last night, and tonight when I opened the bin only ONE worm wasn't down where he was supposed to be. I had suspected I had too little newspaper in the first place, anyway, and that's obviously the case since they're shredding the heck out of what they have and I need more to bury what I feed them. But I think the reason it's so wet in there is mostly because there's not a lot of air under my sink. It's something to consider. Especially if you live in apartment with NO freaking air circulation like we do.
We haven't fed them every night. For the most part it's been every other night. I picked up a food scale at a garage sale for $2 a few days before the worms came and I've actually been weighing the food. We got a pound of worms and supposedly they can eat a half pound of food a day. But they haven't been doing quite that much. I'm sure there are a lot of factors. They're definitely eating a bit more than they were at first. We have 6 spots to bury the food for them, and the first spot has been 90% devoid of food for a few days. Which is the important part.
We've had no problems with fruit flies. It does NOT smell. It smells... earthy. Almost clean. Even with the rotting food in there. (Which sometimes makes me to gag when I get the waste out of the coffee can to feed them - ick.) As long as it's under the newspaper and whatnot there's no smell in the bin. And definitely no smell under the sink or in the kitchen. (except for the cat litter but that's a Whole Apartment problem and has nothing to do with the kitchen or the worms)
The "garden" is doing well. Mostly. Haven't been taking very good care of it the past week or so. The only thing that really didn't make it is the zucchini and the squash. Some bugs found them VERY tasty. And they finished them off while I was ignoring them last week. The radishes and bunching onions didn't do so well, either. In a few of the bins they might end up edible, but in most places they just didn't do well at ALL. I have no idea why, since I've never ever had a problem getting radishes to grow before. Usually I end up with way too many. Of course, I never tried growing them in pots before. The beans are flowering and the eggplants are flowering and the cucumbers are grabbing onto everything in sight. The peppers are peppering and the tomatoes are tomatoing. The lettuce is about done, though. Gotta figure out what to replace them with, because it's going to leave a big gap when they're gone.
I've learned a lot in the last several weeks. Most of it is incredibly depressing. I haven't been able to post much because I've been in a depression, so doing more depressing research and writing depressing things isn't a good idea right now. I'll get some of it out a little at a time soon.