Kororo Public School has a worm farm!
Our worm farm is the big green shed on the hill in the forest. The
worms live in bathtubs and trays, which are housed inside the shed to
keep them safe from rats, children and flies. Why do we have a worm farm? Making a worm farm is one way our school can help the environment.
By giving our worms the school's food scraps, we reduce the amount of
rubbish being sent to landfills through recycling waste. Worms work to
turn rubbish into compost or fertiliser. The worm farm is also a commercial venture. The compost and castings
produced by the farm are available for sale to the public, along with
worms for farm use. It’s also a fascinating way to learn about
these tiny workers, which burrow away in the soil under our feet!
What do our worms like to eat?
Earthworms will eat anything organic – that comes from nature
– as long as it can be broken down and is kept damp. They
cannot eat dry food.
Worms will eat:
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newspaper
-
cardboard
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compost
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dead leaves
-
crushed
egg shells
-
vacuum cleaner dust
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rolled oats
-
weeds
-
lawn clippings
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peat moss
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coconut fibre
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carpet or underfelt
Other ideas for worm
food are:
-
waste from vegetable juicers
-
soaked and ripped pizza boxes
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paper
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tissues
-
dirt
-
hair
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cardboard fast food packaging
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potato
peelings
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apple cores
-
pea pods
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Composted animal manures are a great food source for earthworms.
However, chicken manure should be avoided because it is too strong.
Earthworms also like to eat vegetable or fruit scraps. It is best
if the food is in small pieces. Worms don’t particularly like acidic foods such as:
It is best not to
give worms meat scraps or dairy products, as the compost bin is likely
to become smelly and attract rats and mice.
Some other things that definitely don't belong in a worm farm are
plastic bags, bottle caps, rubber bands, sponges, aluminium foil
and glass.
Worm Facts
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Special types of worms are needed for worm farms. These are not
usually the ones found in the garden.
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Two types of composting worms are the red worm (Lumbricus rubellus)
and tiger worm (Eisenia foetida).
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The body of an earthworm is made up of rings or segments. These
segments shrink and stretch to help worms move through the ground.
They do not have eyes, ears or legs. They have five hearts.
-
The main body parts are the mouth, head end, tail end, saddle and
bristles. Setae (bristles) are tiny hairs that cover each segment
to give the earthworm grip as it slides forward. Earthworms are
composed mostly of water and have no bones. They use muscles to
contract the different segments of the body and move along.
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Earthworms take soil and organic material in through their mouth.
The material passes through the body and emerges through an opening
in the tail end as castings. These make great fertiliser.
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Worms are hermaphrodites, which means they have both male and female
reproductive organs.
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The skin of an earthworm is very sensitive to sunlight. Earthworms
breathe through their skin so they must stay moist and out of direct
heat or light.
"What a Worm Wants" by Jessica and Montanna Coulson
Roses are red
Violets are blue
A worm doesn't eat
The same as me and you.
They like lots of mud
And rotting food
Mixed up in the ground
It gets them in the mood.
They come from nowhere
To make our dirt clean
So we can grow flowers,
tomatoes, lettuce and beans.
They churn up the dirt
And aerate the soil
They are not just slimy worms
We should treat them as royal.
What a worm REALLY want
We think it is very clear
To recycle back what we take out
To give us good earth year after year.
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Kororo PS sells liquid fertilizer harvested from the school Worm Farm to parents and friends of Kororo Public School. The fertilizer is called "Worm Farm Wizz." It is available from a stand on the verandah outside the school front office.
