Earthworm Farms - Design and Installation
Don’t be fooled by the word ‘farm’! In earthworm terms, you can farm over a million worms in a space the size of an average car garage at home. This can be done at a space in your yard or the back of your restaurant, a shed at your farm, the roof or basement at a hotel or corporate office. I would bet my last shirt that you already have a suitable place to create an earthworm farm. Some will be luckier in that they also already have a structure that can easily be converted into an earthworm farm (click here to see the solution we delivered for Little Acres Farm).
Our Full Service Offering
Why Would I Want an Earthworm Farm?
Zimbabwe has not been left out of the ‘Zero Waste’ movement. With an earthworm farm, you are not just ‘playing’ the environmentally friendly game, but you are actually producing BLACK GOLD for the plants at your farm, nursery, restaurant, hotel, school, university, business etc. You are producing waste anyway, so why throw it away and then spend money buying fertilizers? Here are the top reasons why you need an earthworm farm:
Easy to maintain: Once set up by GreenPula© you will find your earthworm farm simple stupid to maintain without having to hire additional staff. It uses no electricity, need very few new tools, and your worms can even drink City of Harare municipal water.
Environmentally friendly: Your organic food scraps decay on your premises bringing flies, rodents and other pests. At the same time there are earthworms looking for the scraps that you are sending to landfills. In corporate terms, CSR should start at home, and an earthworm farm is the best (and cheapest way) to be a responsible corporate citizen.
100% organic fertilizer: Most businesses and organizations, whether a farm, greenhouse owner, lodge, school, head office, restaurant etc. have plants of their premises that need fertilizer or manure of one kind or another. It makes absolute sense for you to make it for free!
Money: Many farms generate so much organic waste suitable for vermicomposting that it can easily become a profitable add-on business that generates good returns using ‘free’ inputs and negligible labour.
What Kind of Places Could Benefit From an Earthworm Farm?
As mentioned above, in earthworm composting terms, the word ‘farm’ refers to scale of production rather than land size. You can produce enough Vermicompost and earthworm tea to cover the plants and lawn at your nursery, hotel, events venue, outdoor restaurant, school, university, corporate head office, greenhouses, etc. from a relatively small space the size of a shed or a garage.
The following must be readily accessible to an earthworm farm. If your current operations produces only one of them, the other will not be difficult to get:
Organic food scraps: If your establishment has a kitchen (for food sales or just as a canteen) that produces organic food waste like vegie leaves and peels and raw leftovers, an earthworm farm makes sense for you. Better still, if you grow edible fruit and veg, whether in a greenhouse or open field, you definitely have enough spoiled plants and organic material waste from processing to justify an earthworm farm. You can even strike deals with farmers’ markets and other fruit and veg retailers such as supermarkets to ‘remove for free’ their organic waste that would otherwise be unsellable and is decomposing on their premises.
Manure: Matured cow, chicken and horse manure, when mixed with a few other materials, makes excellent bedding for your earthworms. It also assists in decomposing organic food scraps faster than they would have in the open or in a compost heap. This means that you are able to house more worms in a smaller space thereby increasing the conversion rate of the worm food into valuable Vermicompost.
After your initial set up costs (mostly the earthworm housing and the initial Red Wrigglers) your earthworm farm typically doesn’t need to impact materially on you current cost structure. The whole farm is run without electricity (except for a shredder if you want to be really professional) and very little water as earthworms thrive in moist, not damp, conditions. Labor is minimal as, unlike traditional compost heaps, the worms turn the organic matter for you as they tunnel through it and eat it. As long as your housing conditions, food and bedding are right, they actually do better at eating, pooping and reproducing without humans poking their nose into their space too often – no new labor and associated costs required!
Design and Installation of Earthworm Farms
GreenPula© has the experience and credentials to assist with a turnkey design and installation of your earthworm farm anywhere in Zimbabwe, no matter how big or small you need it to be. We don’t just analyze the structure and worms, but actually design a solution that is unique to your needs and capacity. We love talking about vermiculture, so please feel free to contact us for a no-obligations chat.