Worm Bin: Six Weeks

It's been about six weeks since the purchase of my Worm Factory.  There's not really too much to say about it.  I shred up cardboard, crush up eggs, put in vegetable/fruit scraps and coffee grounds, and the worms eat them.  The cardboard is so absorbent that I haven't had any drainage at all into the reservoir.  I prefer using cardboard to shredded paper because of that.  The paper gets so soggy.  I just stick my shredded paper in my backyard bin. 

I do wish that I had bought more worms initially so that they could have eaten all of our suitable fruit and vegetable scraps right away.  I was cheap and only bought 500.  But that's okay--they will be fruitful and multiply. 

I do love opening my bin and checking on my worms, even though I know it's bad to disturb them. 

Freezing Tomatoes

Well, after my first batch of tomatoes turned into a disaster (I blanched them for 5 minutes instead of 30 seconds--got them confused with green beans!), I have successfully frozen several baggies full. 

With the bigger tomatoes (beafsteak and roma), I blanch them for 30 seconds, plunge them in ice water for 30 seconds, peel them, dice them, scooping out seeds but not worrying too much about it, and then stick them in the freezer.  With the cherry tomatoes, I don't bother peeling.  They taste just fine in stews with the skin on. 

I love freezing the tomatoes because we use them in several recipes during the winter in place of canned tomatoes.  The homegrown tomatoes have such a nice, strong flavor--the difference is obvious.  I use them for beef stew and chilli.  My husband uses them for his delicious jambalaya.  They are perfect for any recipe that calls for canned tomatoes. 

The tomatoes were ripening en masse, but now things have slowed down a lot, since it's gotten so hot.  I hope/expect to have another big crop in the fall. 

Tomato Screw-up

So, I screwed up freezing my tomatoes.  I blanched them for 5 minutes instead of 30 seconds before bagging them and putting them in the freezer.  I am rather annoyed about it.  I think what I will do is try and remember that batch is too well cooked and just add them at the end of a stew rather than the beginning.  Sigh. 

Worm Farm: 3 Weeks

I continue to like my Worm Factory.  After 3 weeks, I have had no problems with it.  Like everything else I do, I have been totally unscientific about it.  On most days, I add a small amount of vegetable scraps or coffee grounds, but I don't measure it out.  Every few days, I've been added damp shredded cardboard from cereal or K-cup boxes (tearing it up is therapeutic).  When I use eggs, I grind them up in a paper towel, wet them, and stick them in to keep the soil loose.  I've been surprised at how fast things are decomposing.  I don't cut my scraps up into tiny pieces or freeze them either because I don't want to.  I've had no pests and have decided that worms make the most interesting and low maintenance pets. 

What to Do When You Break Your Tomato Plant

Yes, I broke a branch off of one of my tomato plants today.  I was very sad.  It was one of my tasty 4th of July tomatoes, and it had a number of delicious looking green tomatoes on them.  As the saying goes, when life hands you a broken tomato branch with green tomatoes on it, cook them. 

My husband broiled them, and we had them as a side dish to our hotdogs.  I made up a delicious basil-mayo sauce to go with them.  I use this recipe for the tomatoes and the sauce. 

There are few things more tasty than grilled/broiled green tomatoes.  I love them.  I love fried green tomatoes too, but grilled tomatoes are a whole easier to cook, and they are definitely lower in carbs/calories than the friend version. 


For lunch today, I made whole wheat pasta with my favorite pesto sauce from a book called Pasta Pizza Presto.  It really is the best pesto I have tasted, and it is especially good when it is made from fresh basil from the garden.  It has been a huge hit anytime I made the recipe for a potluck.  My children love it.  I mixed the pasta with some pre-cooked frozen grilled chicken from target for protein.  My husband and I each cut up a small 4th of July tomato to mix with our pasta, and our younger son ate some Sun Golds. 

For dinner last night, I harvested green beans and carrots.  I just cooked them in butter and salt and pepper.  Can't get much better than that.  This year, I grew some baby-type carrots.  Wow--I can't believe how much better they tasted than store-bought.  I definitely plan to grow more carrots in the cool seasons from now on.  They are worth the extra watering. 

I love planning meals around my garden's harvest.  I tend to find cooking boring in general, but the fresh vegetables from the backyard inspire me, and I find it more enjoyable than I usually do.  I enjoy the vegetables even more if my husband is the one doing the cooking. 

Plant Review: Tomato Short and Sweet

I bought two Tomato Short and Sweet plants from my local garden center back in the early spring/late winter in order to jumpstart the tomato season.  I put them in an Earthbox, and they grew pretty well at first.  I kept them inside on cold nights and wheeled them back outside for warm days and nights.  I got my first tomatoes in early May.  They were not great.  They were grocery-store quality in flavor.  Also, they tasted bad once they got really ripe.  It was nice not to have to buy little containers of tomatoes from the grocery store, but the flavor really was a disappointment.  The plants died earlier than I would expect for a determinate variety.  I suspect a mineral deficiency and wish I had added dolomite when I planted.   I did add fertilizer.  I'm not sure the dolomite would have improved the flavor of the tomatoes.  I doubt it. 

Anyway, I liked the concept of growing tomatoes in a container early and will do that again, but next year I'll try a different variety.  I'm really happy that my other varieties of tomatoes are ripening--they are delicious and tangy and taste like what I'd expect out of a homegrown tomato!

Worm Farm: Day 5

I set up my Worm Factory on Monday.  My worms arrived by mail on Tuesday, very healthy and in great condition, from a place called Uncle Jim's Worm Farm, and they seem to be living very happily in their new home.  As I kept homemade worm bins before, I feel fairly confident that I know what I'm doing in terms of maintaining the bin.  So, far I have only given them some tiny bits of food, in addition to their bedding, and I plan to add a tiny bit a day, gradually increasing the amount.  I stared with only 500 worms, so I will probably be using this first tray for a while. 

I would have ordered the worms and bin from the same place and have them arrive on the same day EXCEPT that I ordered the worms on impulse and then had to figure out what I was going to do with them, and I decided to order a commercial bin.   I know it's weird to order 500 red wriggler worms on impulse.  Most women buy shoes and purses on impulse--I buy worms.  I'm a freak. 

My main concern with this indoor bin is the possibility of attracting fruit flies--how I hate flies.  I am putting layers of damp cardboard on top, right under the lid, to keep the fruit flies out.  If they do show up, it's easy to make a fruit fly trap (I know from a terrible infestation we had last fall--unrelated to worm bins).  [To make the fly trap, just put cider vinegar in a container, put plastic wrap on top, and punch a few holes in it.  Works great.]

If I get ants, I will just put a Terro ant trap next to the bin.   I love those things.  They are safe to use around pets and kids, and they have worked wonders on any ant we've gotten in our house. 

I'm still pretty excited about the new bin, as are my kids.  I've calculated that within a year, we should  be able to put all of our veggie scraps into the bin (except for the garlic, onion, and citrus, which can go with the garden waste in the backyard pile).  My garden is so huge that, even at full capacity, the Worm  Factory could not even make a dent in the amount that I need each year, which is about 2-3 cubic yards for all my vegetable beds and front flower beds.  Still, I like the idea of efficently using our kitchen waste and less trips to the compost pile, both of which the Worm Factory should afford me nicely.