Master Recycler News | December 2016

Wriggling Livestock Produce Black Gold
by Julie Barnas

On the rainy afternoon of October 13, a few die-hard Compost Specialists traveled to Scio and joined people from Marion County Environmental Services, Valley Roots, and Master Recyclers to learn about Worm Wrangling on a larger scale. 

We gathered at the Scio worm farm of Ground Up Soil in an old barn which instead of housing dairy livestock is now home to multiple 4x4’ worm crates and to four 80’x8’ continuous flow digesters made by Dan Holcombe of OrAgGrow in Philomath. The current livestock were happily wriggling in their moist digesters or 4x4 crates.

Our tour was an informal question/answer session lead by the owner of Ground Up Soil, AJ, and Dan the builder of the machines. In the beginning, the “black gold” vermi-compost at Ground Up Soil was produced only in the 4x4 crates. The process in the crates continues by building the worm bedding at the bottom and feeding in layers from the bottom up; as the livestock consumes the “feed” more is added to the top until the bin is full. Harvesting of these crates consists of skimming the worms off the top, adding the worms to a new crate and then bagging the vermi-compost at the bottom to sell.

Eventually Ground Up Soil was able to purchase digesters from Dan Holcombe of OrAgGrow. (Their banker was there on the field trip, too!)

The feed for all of the bins is a mix of manure, straw and wood chips gleaned from the local fairgrounds. As Dan said, just like any other livestock, one has to tend to feeding the worms every day.

Unfortunately we were not able to see the digesters in operation as there was a mechanical issue. Fortunately, our hosts were able to explain the process:

• Now that the digesters are full and the livestock is living at the top of the digesters, the bottom is ready for harvest.
• The blades at the bottom of the digester scrape the vermi-compost as the bin shakes.
• The blades are in a continuous motion of scraping and then lying flat as they reverse.
• The vermi-compost is gradually moved under the bin to the opening in the barn where it is bagged and prepared for shipment.

Ground Up Soil sells their vermi-compost to businesses making potting soil. They have also begun to make special blends of potting mixes for customers. They have found that they are not always able to meet the local demand for vermi-compost and sometimes have to buy shipments from out of state.

The field trip left many of us thinking that there is gold to be harvested in them thar bins. And we are definitely curious about building a 4x4 crate and adding worms and feed from the bottom up! We are also on the lookout for a “happy worm” thermometer!!!

For more tours and to meet other green-minded folks, sign up for  Valley Roots notifications by emailing Jessica.