Shanti has been using his heater less than he would like to. He has gotten a much thicker blanket (and 2nd hand too) so that he doesn't get cold at night anymore!
Ventilation is the key! He airs his room by opening the window to get rid of moisture so that it is easier to heat.
He is a long-term vegan and so doesn't even wear wool or leather.
Laziness means that he consumes less but he has also reduced consumption of things he would really like to buy (such as games).
He is involved in hosting tonnes of social events - Dungeons and Dragons, vegetarian gaming night, potlucks and showing cooking to the neighbours.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Tessa round-up
Tessa is a eco-champion having only used her heater twice this year - a total of 4 hours.
She stays warm through wool layers and working at uni for most of the day. At night she warm her bed with an electric blanket covered with 2 duvets, 2 woolen rugs and a sleeping bag. She wears a hat to bed, polyprops as well as a jersey.
She always bikes to uni.
She is involved in our local community through house sitting for our Afgani neighbours. She also was involved in going through housing NZ negotiations for the neighbours and helped with booking flights for them.
She stays warm through wool layers and working at uni for most of the day. At night she warm her bed with an electric blanket covered with 2 duvets, 2 woolen rugs and a sleeping bag. She wears a hat to bed, polyprops as well as a jersey.
She always bikes to uni.
She is involved in our local community through house sitting for our Afgani neighbours. She also was involved in going through housing NZ negotiations for the neighbours and helped with booking flights for them.
Phoebe round-up
Phoebe has started airing her room more since the neighbour said the condensation on her windows was concerning (he works with heating and ventilation systems).
She has got more blankets from her more as well as more wool layers at the op-shop last week. She mostly uses a hot water bottle rather than her heater.
She drinks fair-trade coffee and puts the grinds on the garden :)
She has stopped buying things that are tested on animals and still doesn't use soap or shampoo.
She has got more blankets from her more as well as more wool layers at the op-shop last week. She mostly uses a hot water bottle rather than her heater.
She drinks fair-trade coffee and puts the grinds on the garden :)
She has stopped buying things that are tested on animals and still doesn't use soap or shampoo.
Gabby round-up
Gabby likes warmth too. She uses an electric blanket so that the bed is cosy to get into and then the 2 blankets and 2 duvets keep the heat in for the rest of the night. She has acquired several more polar fleece jackets of large and small size so that 2 can be worn at once. She would wear wool for warmth, except that wool irritates her eczema.
She is into crafts, including crocheting, jewellery making and sewing. She has just finished her crochet earflap hat using a cotton polyester blend yarn that will not irritate her skin :)
She wipes the condesation off her windows in the mornings so that the room is easier to heat. Here is Ning modelling the method for you:
Cassie round-up
Cassie is big on warmth. She wears lots of layers of clothing for daytime. At night she has a hot water bottle, an electric blanket and sometimes manwarmth from her boyfriend. On cold nights she goes over to his place.
Cassie helped Riaan create his garden. Awesome!
She also does lots of crafty things – see previous blogs.
Cassie helped Riaan create his garden. Awesome!
She also does lots of crafty things – see previous blogs.
Gardening round-up
We have established some small raised beds out the front of the house and 3 more raised beds out the back of the house. 
The ones at the front are doing well because they are the oldest and also get the most sun. The broccoli heads are getting BIG and without the addition of potassium! 
The ones at the front are doing well because they are the oldest and also get the most sun. The broccoli heads are getting BIG and without the addition of potassium! Bathrooms and Toilets round-up
We use eco products that are not tested on animals. We keep the doors closed to prevent condensation in the rest of the house. We turn the fan on and open the window after showering also to prevent condensation. For the toilet we have the motto that: 
We clean using vinegar, essential oils and plant based cleaning products. Almost everyone in the flat has a mooncup now and uses it too.
We clean using vinegar, essential oils and plant based cleaning products. Almost everyone in the flat has a mooncup now and uses it too. Sunday, August 14, 2011
Lounge round-up
Our kitchen and the lounge are tied for being the hub of the flat (aka the gathering place or the meeting ground). The kitchen is a hub because, can you guess why? Because there’s food there! It’s also often warmish from cooking and it is a pathway between the front rooms and the back rooms. The lounge on the other hand is behind a closed door in winter (to keep in heat) and has a heat pump and TV. 
We don’t use the TV for watching TV but rather for watching movies. Movies are $1-for-8-days from the video store up the road! At any given movie there are a couple of us from this flat as well as someone from our Bryndwr community. So we reduce energy use by sharing entertainment. We also keep blankets in the lounge to be extra snug, and that way we don’t have to heat the room as much. 
We have been hosting craft night for the past few months once a fortnight. Shanti hosts a Dungeons and Dragons night every week, not to mention the board game nights that crop up every few weeks. These events keep our lounge very busy!
We don’t use the TV for watching TV but rather for watching movies. Movies are $1-for-8-days from the video store up the road! At any given movie there are a couple of us from this flat as well as someone from our Bryndwr community. So we reduce energy use by sharing entertainment. We also keep blankets in the lounge to be extra snug, and that way we don’t have to heat the room as much. We have been hosting craft night for the past few months once a fortnight. Shanti hosts a Dungeons and Dragons night every week, not to mention the board game nights that crop up every few weeks. These events keep our lounge very busy! Light in the lounge is very important. It needs to be bright enought to work by but also not too harsh. We have opted to have 2 bulbs in the ceiling for working purposes. 
Then when we need to have a relaxed atmosphere we turn on the lamp and turn the roof lights off.
Then when we need to have a relaxed atmosphere we turn on the lamp and turn the roof lights off.
Kitchen round-up
Diet
We are all vegetarian or vegan and do shared vegan cooking. We have a cooking roster so that someone is on cooking 6 out of 7 days per week.
This means that we only have to cook once a week and so can focus on other things the rest of the week. Other benefits are getting to try dishes you may not have had before and that cooking does not become boring.
On average we feed 1.5 extra people per night (friends and boyfriends), which is replacing the non-vegan meal that they would likely have had otherwise. So it is good for the environment for us to feed more people!
Dishes
The brown rice was from Sun Thai (on Middleton Rd) for $68 per 20kg bag. White rice we get from the supermarket in a 10kg bag because the brand Sun Rice donates money to ChildFund for every kg of rice we buy. Actually, they did that last year but may not this year. We’ll check it out before we get the next bag. We also get white and wholemeal flour from Sun Thai for about $27 per 20kg bag. We order fair-trade cane sugar through the Trade Aid online shop for $70 per 25kg, which ends up being $2.80 per kg. This price is about the same as what you get ordinary white sugar for in supermarkets. We have opened this up as a little bulk-food co-op for our friends in the neighbourhood come. They mostly get the fair-trade sugar and cocoa from us because it is cheaper than in supermarkets (if they even have it) and more convenient than going to Trade Aid themselves.
Waste
We reuse where we can. The most likely candidates are plastic bags, plastic containers and glass jars. We recycle cans, paper and plastic containers that are not very easy to reuse. Food scraps either go in our worm farms or are composted by the bokashi method. 
We would rather use the food scraps we generate to feed our vegetables rather than send it to somewhere else to be processed and then redistributed because this handling uses lots of petrol.
We are all vegetarian or vegan and do shared vegan cooking. We have a cooking roster so that someone is on cooking 6 out of 7 days per week.
This means that we only have to cook once a week and so can focus on other things the rest of the week. Other benefits are getting to try dishes you may not have had before and that cooking does not become boring. On average we feed 1.5 extra people per night (friends and boyfriends), which is replacing the non-vegan meal that they would likely have had otherwise. So it is good for the environment for us to feed more people! Dishes
We have a dishwasher but rather wash dishes by hand for several reasons. Firstly, the dishwasher was not washing the dishes properly. Secondly, food would be stuck on the dishes by the time that the dishwasher was full and ready to run. A way around this is rinsing but why not just do a quick wash of the dish immediately after use if you need to rinse it anyway. We don’t use meat, dairy or egg so a quick wash is sufficient. We have such a high turnover of dishes anyway such that they’d be used again within 2 days. Thirdly, a dishwasher uses more water than washing by hand in the kitchen sink.
Packaging and Fairtrade
We choose to buy food at Bin Inn or in bulk to reduce the amount of packaging we create a demand for. We take our own containers to Bin Inn. After 3 years of shopping at Bin Inn I (Gabby – the pantry manager) now have a labelled container for everything we buy so that we know when we are out of an item and to make it easier to refill at Bin Inn. This year we have started buying in giant bags of flour, rice and sugar.
The brown rice was from Sun Thai (on Middleton Rd) for $68 per 20kg bag. White rice we get from the supermarket in a 10kg bag because the brand Sun Rice donates money to ChildFund for every kg of rice we buy. Actually, they did that last year but may not this year. We’ll check it out before we get the next bag. We also get white and wholemeal flour from Sun Thai for about $27 per 20kg bag. We order fair-trade cane sugar through the Trade Aid online shop for $70 per 25kg, which ends up being $2.80 per kg. This price is about the same as what you get ordinary white sugar for in supermarkets. We have opened this up as a little bulk-food co-op for our friends in the neighbourhood come. They mostly get the fair-trade sugar and cocoa from us because it is cheaper than in supermarkets (if they even have it) and more convenient than going to Trade Aid themselves. Waste
There are 5 parts to our kitchen solid waste system: reuse, recycling, rubbish, worm farm scraps and bokashi scraps.
We reuse where we can. The most likely candidates are plastic bags, plastic containers and glass jars. We recycle cans, paper and plastic containers that are not very easy to reuse. Food scraps either go in our worm farms or are composted by the bokashi method. We would rather use the food scraps we generate to feed our vegetables rather than send it to somewhere else to be processed and then redistributed because this handling uses lots of petrol.Preserving
Apple Avalanche
The flat Truman the Quiet Place (also in Eco-My-Flat) down the road ended up with MASSES of apples and so were giving them away. We claimed two good sized bags to do some preserving with. I found an awesome recipe in a preserving book I appropriated from my mother. The book has recipes for fruit jams, jellies, butters and curds, as well as fruit in syrup. It also has sauces, chutneys, relishes and a general guide to preserving vegetables. It is very handy! So the recipe that I used for most of the apples was Cinnamon Apple Butter. I had made it earlier in the year and it was such a success, with my flat nomming (eating it) like there’s no tomorrow.
So I made 2 batches from the apples about 2 weeks ago. We have gone through about 5 jars (or more) since then! Here’s the recipe so you can make it too. Enjoy!
Cinnamon Apple Butter recipe
Ingredients:
2kg cooking apples
¼ cup (65g) butter
1 cup sugar
3 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
5 whole cloves
1 ¼ cup (300ml) water
Apple Avalanche
The flat Truman the Quiet Place (also in Eco-My-Flat) down the road ended up with MASSES of apples and so were giving them away. We claimed two good sized bags to do some preserving with. I found an awesome recipe in a preserving book I appropriated from my mother. The book has recipes for fruit jams, jellies, butters and curds, as well as fruit in syrup. It also has sauces, chutneys, relishes and a general guide to preserving vegetables. It is very handy! So the recipe that I used for most of the apples was Cinnamon Apple Butter. I had made it earlier in the year and it was such a success, with my flat nomming (eating it) like there’s no tomorrow.
So I made 2 batches from the apples about 2 weeks ago. We have gone through about 5 jars (or more) since then! Here’s the recipe so you can make it too. Enjoy! Cinnamon Apple Butter recipe
Ingredients:
2kg cooking apples
¼ cup (65g) butter
1 cup sugar
3 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
5 whole cloves
1 ¼ cup (300ml) water
Method:
1. Peel, core and chop the apples.
2. Put into a large saucepan with the rest of the ingredients and cook over a low heat until the apples are very soft.
3. Remove the cloves.
4. Beat the mixture until smooth and creamy.
5. Bring to the boil, then pour into warm sterilised jars and seal immediately.
1. Peel, core and chop the apples.
2. Put into a large saucepan with the rest of the ingredients and cook over a low heat until the apples are very soft.
3. Remove the cloves.
4. Beat the mixture until smooth and creamy.
5. Bring to the boil, then pour into warm sterilised jars and seal immediately.
Gourmet Stalks
After the workshop by Jan on preserving I was enthused to make the gourmet stalks that she raved about. It is quite tasty. Really good on salad sandwiches – it adds so much flavour. It’s quite cool that it uses that “waste product” that is the stalks of silverbeet, as well as celery which we often struggle to use all of when we get it in the vege co-op.
I also LOVED the feijoa chutney from the workshop but woe, alas, when I went to make some feijoa’s were out of season L Fortunately, Tim at Tauawhi donated some feijoas to me that he had in his freezer. So I’ll be able to make some tasty feijoa tastiness soon J
After the workshop by Jan on preserving I was enthused to make the gourmet stalks that she raved about. It is quite tasty. Really good on salad sandwiches – it adds so much flavour. It’s quite cool that it uses that “waste product” that is the stalks of silverbeet, as well as celery which we often struggle to use all of when we get it in the vege co-op.
I also LOVED the feijoa chutney from the workshop but woe, alas, when I went to make some feijoa’s were out of season L Fortunately, Tim at Tauawhi donated some feijoas to me that he had in his freezer. So I’ll be able to make some tasty feijoa tastiness soon J
Truman Tribe summary
Hello all. We are going to do a final series of blogs to summarise what we Eco-Warriors do in our flat. We’ll go through room by room in the flat, as well as a few other things like gardening and transport. For our bedrooms we’ll discuss how our rooms are eco, as well as how our personal lives are eco.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Old Coffee Bags
My sewing skills have improved muchly since the last eco-my flat competition. Here are some of my recent recycled creations - the sewing is still messy but I like to call that 'creative expression'
- Cassie
- Cassie
sprouting dreams of spring !
I mentioned earlier that we made some new vege beds --- I'm in the process of completing a final bed - which I hope will be enough for us to have a good supply of vege over the summer :)
Also, in the process of joining the Southern Seed Exchange - which is an awesome organization! I just haven't quite got around to filling out the membership form - it is sitting in my inbox and high on the to-do list...Also, ordered some seeds from Eco-Seeds - which I have found to be a fantastic service! Really recommend it - recieving seeds in the mail is so lovely, like christmas.
Yay gardening! Have some onion seeds that have sprouted in-doors as well as some calendula seeds... Yay flowers that do good things in the garden --- read more here about companion planting !
Whoop!
Cassie x
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| the completed bed |
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| the 'waiting on me to move some soil' bed |
Yay gardening! Have some onion seeds that have sprouted in-doors as well as some calendula seeds... Yay flowers that do good things in the garden --- read more here about companion planting !
Whoop!
Cassie x
Soap !
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| The ingrediants :) |
----- Cassie ! x
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| Soap in various molds |
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| The final product - drying out |
Eco Art
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| Glorious shoe tree :) |
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With the help of flatties and neighbours I also recently tied a large number of old shoes into the branches of the tree outside our house. Because really, what else do you do with old shoes? Our landlord wants us to take them down (no appreciation for postmodern art…) I’ll let you know how that battle goes. This has resulted in making a few more connections around the neighbourhood- ‘what on earth are you doing in that tree??’ and ‘do you have any old shoes?’ make great conversation starters. It’s kept many an old and faithful piece of footwear out of the landfilll, while making our house look that little bit more awesome. So, any old shoes or advice for dealing with banal landowners, let me know!
---- Phoebe ! x
Zuuumba !!
As Cassie has previously posted, my main community adventure consists of dancing and yelling at the same time… Weekly Zumba classes at the local church have been going great. The church lends us the space for free as it’s a free class, which has also meant that anyone can come without worrying about money, including a lovely group of Nepali girls who like to lipsinc to the pop songs while they’re dancing. It’s helped us have more of a connection with the people living around us as some of the flatmates come too- and just have some fun dancing ridiculously while getting a bit fitter and warming up on wintry Friday nights. Whoop whoop!
- Phoebe ! x
Community Dealings ....
The joys of community! We recently received a fair bit of well intentioned but thoroughly unwanted meaty food, which instead of throwing out we gave to our neighbours (who were happy rather than suspicious as we’d made friends with them previously) in return the dad of the family gave me a mini lecture on ventilating our flat for health, more effective heating, and less mould (he’s insulation installer by trade and had been noting our condensation levels with concern).
I’d also been having frustrating problems with my second hand laptop, dreading going to a shop to spend heaps getting it fixed or (more likely) being told to upgrade some or all of it. Instead, I popped over to a tech-savy friend’s place one street over with some yummy vegan muffins… and two days later my computer’s useful once more
-Phoebe ! x
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Hair We Go Again
Gabby here again, talking about hair. I’ve still not been using shampoo. I have also stopped using conditioner and I have solved the dilemma of my hair being too dry at the ends (which is why I needed to use conditioner). I just rub some coconut oil in the ends.
Coconut oil is far superior to conditioner because all of it stays in your hair. Conditioner, on the other hand, just washes out in the shower so most of it is wasted. Or if you leave some conditioner on your hair it goes all thick and stiff = gross. So coconut oil is win! I now have another issue - dandruff. Sarah at the last workshop gave a tip to resolve this. It was to stimulate the scalp to increase blood flow. One way to do this is brushing the scalp. I do this a bit but will do more of it. A second way is to do a rinse with cider vinegar infused with rosemary. I am going to try this. 
I started seeping the rosemary in the cider vinegar a few days ago so it will probably be ready to use in a week. I’ll let you know how it goes then :)
Coconut oil is far superior to conditioner because all of it stays in your hair. Conditioner, on the other hand, just washes out in the shower so most of it is wasted. Or if you leave some conditioner on your hair it goes all thick and stiff = gross. So coconut oil is win! I now have another issue - dandruff. Sarah at the last workshop gave a tip to resolve this. It was to stimulate the scalp to increase blood flow. One way to do this is brushing the scalp. I do this a bit but will do more of it. A second way is to do a rinse with cider vinegar infused with rosemary. I am going to try this. I started seeping the rosemary in the cider vinegar a few days ago so it will probably be ready to use in a week. I’ll let you know how it goes then :)Vege Co-op Controversy
The vege co-op is a food distribution operation organised by a local church to get fruit and veges to local families at an affordable price. It is $10 for a supermarket-sized bag full of veges and another bag ½ full of fruit. The people running the co-op go to the growers market on a Wednesday morning and buy vegetables and fruit in bulk amounts. They take these back to the church and make up bags of the produce. Cassie and I (Gabby) have been along a couple of times to help out with the vege co-op to take the pressure off the older volunteers who help out every week. Our flat signed up to get a bag each week because cuts out the middleman and is local. A few weeks into it we were surprised to find bananas and mangos, which are definitely not from New Zealand. 
It turns out that when the supermarkets have excess bananas and mangos they sell them at the local growers markets. So in a way we are not creating a demand for food from overseas and perhaps not ethically grown (bananas mainly) but rather are mopping up excess food. So we will continue getting the co-op veggies!
It turns out that when the supermarkets have excess bananas and mangos they sell them at the local growers markets. So in a way we are not creating a demand for food from overseas and perhaps not ethically grown (bananas mainly) but rather are mopping up excess food. So we will continue getting the co-op veggies!
Friday, July 22, 2011
Lemon Honey Sugar Scrub
Amazing lemon honey sugar scrub!! - my skin feels delicious and soft. Phoebe is yet to trial her share of scrub but I imagine she'll experience the same bliss. Feeling inspired by the recent workshop - I've been looking at some recipes online for various eco-body care products. The scrub we made was a combination of a few recipes I came across ---
Lemon Honey Sugar Scrub
- 2 cups of sugar
- juice of 3 - 4 lemons
- rind of 2 lemons (delicious scent)
- 2 heaped spoons of honey
- 1/4 cup of olive oil (ish)
- 5 tablespoons of coconut oil (ish)
The recipes also suggested lemon essential oil - 4 drops, but I didn'thave any. I also didn't measure the olive oil/ coconut oil very closely -I think if you just add whatever oil you like (grapeseed/ avocado/ etc) until the scrub reaches a paste consistency.
Lemon Honey Sugar Scrub
- 2 cups of sugar
- juice of 3 - 4 lemons
- rind of 2 lemons (delicious scent)
- 2 heaped spoons of honey
- 1/4 cup of olive oil (ish)
- 5 tablespoons of coconut oil (ish)
The recipes also suggested lemon essential oil - 4 drops, but I didn'thave any. I also didn't measure the olive oil/ coconut oil very closely -I think if you just add whatever oil you like (grapeseed/ avocado/ etc) until the scrub reaches a paste consistency.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Beautiful Bike
My bike is together - and beautiful. Everything is second hand, bought at around again cycles or salvaged from Tauawhi's garage. She is just in need of a wee basket on the front - and some lights for night excursions. Riaan is planning on repainting her at some point - we've agreed that the maroon red she currently is better then pale pink. And I've been biking everywhere! It's a very comfortable
ride.... Yay! :)
- Cassie
ride.... Yay! :)
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| sexy 'new' old bike |
Gardening - and coffffeee! Yum
We've got busy in the garden last weekend - built a couple more beds - filled with delicious leaf mold, manure and coffee grounds. I've been collecting some coffee grounds from the cafe I work at - it's apparently great in the garden for balancing/increasing nitrogen levels in the soil - the plants love it! They also, if spread on the topsoil around plants, will deter some plant pests.. - never throw out coffee grounds! They are great in the compost or straight in the garden. And I'm sure most cafes would be happy to give their coffee grounds away - as most I know, ends up in the rubbish. Read more here: Coffee grounds
Monday, July 18, 2011
Let There Be Light (eco-styles)
We have changed all the lightbulbs to ecobulbs now.
8W bulbs were used in hallways where the lights tend to get left on. 13W bulbs were used in bedrooms because they are brighter for reading and detail work but not too glaring. 15W bulbs were used in the bathrooms.
8W bulbs were used in hallways where the lights tend to get left on. 13W bulbs were used in bedrooms because they are brighter for reading and detail work but not too glaring. 15W bulbs were used in the bathrooms.
We now have a bunch of non-eco bulbs to get rid of. I might put them on Freecycle but if you want them you have only to ask.
From Gabby
Bokashi Bonanza!
We decided to use the bokashi method to breakdown the things that are not suitable for our worm farms instead of putting them into the green organics bin. The unsuitable food scraps are: the onion family, citrus fruit and cooked food.
Bokashi is a composting system that uses Effective Microorganisms (EM) to break down the foodscraps.The bokashi mix is a grain that is inoculated with EM. It is a fully contained system, so it has no smell and thus can be kept indoors. Another benefit of bokashi, as opposed to other compost methods, is that you can put dairy and meat in and not attract pests. As food scraps break down in the bokashi system a liquid is released and collected in the bottom bucket. This liquid is very good for feeding plants and also is has cleaning uses, such as cleaning drains.
Instead of buying a $56 bokashi bucket system I decided to make my own. A $56 bokashi bucket system usually consists of a bucket with holes in it stacked inside another bucket to catch the bokashi juice, along with a packet of bokashi mix.
The buckets I got from Bishopdale KB’s. The bakery buys jam in the buckets because they need large quantities for tasty treats. They then sell them on at for $6.70 each, which is awesome recycling and reusing.
Bokashi is a composting system that uses Effective Microorganisms (EM) to break down the foodscraps.The bokashi mix is a grain that is inoculated with EM. It is a fully contained system, so it has no smell and thus can be kept indoors. Another benefit of bokashi, as opposed to other compost methods, is that you can put dairy and meat in and not attract pests. As food scraps break down in the bokashi system a liquid is released and collected in the bottom bucket. This liquid is very good for feeding plants and also is has cleaning uses, such as cleaning drains.
Instead of buying a $56 bokashi bucket system I decided to make my own. A $56 bokashi bucket system usually consists of a bucket with holes in it stacked inside another bucket to catch the bokashi juice, along with a packet of bokashi mix.
The buckets I got from Bishopdale KB’s. The bakery buys jam in the buckets because they need large quantities for tasty treats. They then sell them on at for $6.70 each, which is awesome recycling and reusing.
2 make a complete system, so the cost of buckets is $13.40.
To make the holes in the bottom on the bucket I drilled pilot holes with a small drill bit and then went over them again with an 8mm drill bit. 
Finished!
The bokashi mix I bought from Smith’s Mitre 10 at Church Corner for $12.So to make a bokashi system cost us $25.40, along with 15 minutes to drill some holes and the time to fetch the buckets :)
And here is one we prepared earlier!The Farming of Worms
Our tyre worm farms have now had their 4th tyre added to the stacks. They have been in use for at least 3 months.
Tyres are ideal for worm farms because they are:
· Black and so attract heat to keep the worm warm and active
· Stackable so the bottom tyre can be removed when the vermicast is ready (vermicast is the wonderfully rich substance that worms turn foodscraps into).
· Cheap or free. Get them from around the neighbourhood, tyre shops or car fixing garages.
From Gabby :)
Tyres are ideal for worm farms because they are:· Black and so attract heat to keep the worm warm and active
· Stackable so the bottom tyre can be removed when the vermicast is ready (vermicast is the wonderfully rich substance that worms turn foodscraps into).
· Cheap or free. Get them from around the neighbourhood, tyre shops or car fixing garages.
How to make a tyre worm farm:
Tear newspaper that has been soaked in water into strips the width of your thumb-nail. Stuff the strips into the tyre rim along with some soil. Continue until the tyre rim is filled up. Repeat for more tyres to stack on top.
Put a few handfuls of newspaper and soil into the bottom of the stack. Cover with something that will keep the water and the flies out.
Tear newspaper that has been soaked in water into strips the width of your thumb-nail. Stuff the strips into the tyre rim along with some soil. Continue until the tyre rim is filled up. Repeat for more tyres to stack on top.
Put a few handfuls of newspaper and soil into the bottom of the stack. Cover with something that will keep the water and the flies out.
A gorgeous black cat lolled in the sun and kept me company during my worm farm mission :)
From Gabby :)
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