DOWN and DIRTY - Cafe del Worms

Lovely Earth

After throwing out the pulpy mash of my green juice today I finally lost the plot.  It has been bugging me each and every day since the middle of December that after every meal I have some form of fruit and vegie scraps, and no chickens or guinea pigs to feed them to.  I noticed it our first day on the road as we traveled over from Queensland.  At every step of the way I kept my eyes peeled for someone who might benefit or want our "rubbish".  We had been collecting our scraps for so long, putting them in the bin just felt criminal.

In Queensland we left a small acreage with a happy, bountiful, permaculture garden.  Round circle beds, mandala style, and chickens who relished our food scraps every day.  I miss sharing our food with our animal friends and I miss giving back to my garden.  And today was the last straw.  I was tired of being an environmental outlaw!

Our Qld Mandala Garden

Baby Peaches & Cream

I'd always wanted to keep some worms but with chickens and guinea pigs I didn't think I would have enough scraps left over to feed them.  We had a large compost heap that consisted mainly of grass clippings and I used this to top up the beds when they needed it.  The chooks did most of our composting, renewing the soil with all their lovely nitrogen filled deposits.  They would scratch about merrily during the day, continuously turning the soil and planted the leftover seeds that we had thrown in from the scraps.  I very rarely planted seeds.  It was fun to watch and wait to see what would sprout up after our lovely girls had moved on to the next bed.

Our life is different over here.  We are in a nice home in suburbia with a small garden bed that runs the length of the back fence and half way down the side fence.  Plenty of space for me to have a go at planting in WA soil. *translate - WA sand ;)*

travelpod.com

The desert literally meets the coast over here.  It is amazing.  While looking for a home to rent we looked at suburbs close to the ocean and it was incredible to see gigantic sand dunes in amongst the houses.  So much sand!!  This part of WA is renowned for it's farming and superb local produce.  Our little back garden however, will need a lot of organic matter (compost) to grow anything.  Even the back yard is a thick layer of top soil over sand.  It is also common in these parts for people to have their entire front yard covered in artificial lawn, which looks a tad bit too Edward Scissorhand like for me.

So today I bit the bullet and welcomed a family of 1000 worms into our home. Well, onto our back patio anyways.  We opted for a "Worm Cafe" farm which we found at Bunnings for under $100.  Fingers crossed these little darlings will be happy in their new home and in the coming months we will have some glorious, rich compost to bless our new garden.  

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