Been reading about permaculture and "do-nothing" farming ala Masanobu Fukuoka and The One Straw Revolution and David Holmgren's Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability. They are must reads for anyone interested in learning how to live with and benefit from local ecologies.

Fukuoka is able to maintain the same high yield of rice as "modern" mainstream farmers on his farm in Shikoku without the use of herbicides, pesticides and labor intensive wet field farming. And, he does it with considerably less work.

Granted it took him a while to get "in tune" with how things work but after figuring out how things wanted to be on his farm he has been able to join and improvise on the natural rhythms there.

Permaculture demands observation and a deep, almost instinctual awareness of one's environment. On the other hand it also demands a rigorous, systems analysis of the forces at work (and play!) in the local ecology.

Simply, living in rhythm with local ecologies means developing a deep empathy and systems based understanding of how things work and learning how to harmonize with those workings. Once "in synch" it then becomes possible to improvise, create and sustain development.

One of the key dynamics of true long-term sustainability is the relationship to energy capture and storage, use and return. Basically as a user/consumer of energy, if we aim to live sustainably we have to not only limit our consumption but also focus on creating robust systems for catching and storing energy as well as systems for returning energy to the ecology.

Vermiculture is a good place to begin. I buy/grow and consume organic material to generate energy to live. What I don't need or don't consume I give to the worms. The worms, in turn, while converting my organic waste to energy, produce compost that is useful to plants to help them grow. Importantly, though, the compost also enriches and improves the soil thus improving its capacity to catch and store energy as well as provide energy to plants, insects and other critter-participants in the local ecology.

It's a system that, when deeply understood and properly managed-yes it does have to be managed if it is intentionally for my benefit-creates wealth and benefit throughout our home.

Went to the DIY store and picked up some plants and seeds. Got mint and clover for ground cover and marigolds to help keep our insect friends at bay. Also picked up some basil, oregano and rosemary and cilantro for herbs. Wanted dill but the DIY dill was in pretty dire shape.

For veggies and legumes we will be growing tomatoes, green beans, “eta-mame”, and hot peppers for now.

It shouldn’t be too long before I can start mixing the compost in with the soil. Also starting to get some “tea” from the worms as well. That should make the plants pretty happy!

The worms are doing their thing. They’re tearing through the organic waste we’re depositing in their bucket every couple of days. The initial newspaper shreddings are also being converted. See the pictures.

Not quite sure when to take out the compost though…more research should hopefully shed some light on this. You can see what I have been able to harvest so far.

The smell coming from the bucket is dank, like what you smell when you scoop up soil and loam from a forest. Not pungent nor offensive. Flies have been attracted to the bucket as well but no more so than they would any decomposing material one might find in a garden.

It will be interesting to do a worm count to see how quickly these critters are multiplying. If conditions are favorable, how fast can they procreate? Again, research should help with this.

Here is a basic systems view of the dynamics involved in vermiculture. Of interest is that it is fundamentally a set of positive, reinforcing links. However, as always, too much of a good thing can push the system out of balance. This can be seen in the links involving moisture and adding organic material to the process. Another interesting point is that between each link there is a significant time delay. Thus if the balance is disrupted it may be awhile before the effects of the disturbance are noticeable. This is generally the problem with pollution. It takes a long time before we notice that the materials we release into our environment have significantly disrupted ecological systems.

Interested in starting your own worm composting project? Check out the links listed in the previous entry or read below to see how I converted a plastic fermenting bucket (that I had been using as a fermenter for my beer brewing)

First you need a drill!
Then put some holes in the bottom of the bucket. Based on what I read, I put in about 18 holes to ensure air circulation and drainage as plastic containers are supposed to be more prone to retaining excessive moisture. 10-12 holes was the generally recommended amount. I also put some holes in the lid to facilitate air movement as well.

Some of the DIY articles I read mentioned screen on the bottom, others didn't. I decided to be safe I would put some screen on the bottom which, as you can see, I then secured with high-tech rocks from our backyard.

Next came a couple hand-shredded newspapers and a few handfuls of dirt. Then it was off to the local bait and tackle shopt to pick up some redworms. When I told the store owner what I was up to he actually wasn't that surprised. Seems some other enterprising students of sustainability had been in a couple of days before to liberate some wigglers as well.

The picture to the left is the worms first supper since salvation. They are getting dried out orange and peel, coffee grounds and mashed up banana and peel as well as a little day old oatmeal. I know oats are a grain but this stuff was well on its way to simple sugar land, I believe.

This was all done yesterday afternoon. I checked back this morning and there seemed to be some progress. Also the worms had spread out and seemed to be healthy and active. Another check tomorrow morning should yield more information.

We've got worms! 500 grams worth. Red wigglers--dung worms--shimamimizu (シマミミズ). These little guys should they stay unfrozen, moist, well and properly fed should get the job done. What job? composting!

Plucked from a fate of fish bait, these worms now are free (within a plastic fermenting bucket) to do what they do best. That is to break down organic material and create rich, fertile soil. These guys are the soul of vermiculture.

Vermiculture is the raising of worms. As worms need to feed on decaying organic material, the best way to raise them is to feed them what we have plenty of: food scraps. Comfortable with coffee grounds, fruit rinds, vegetable matter, egg shells--pretty much anything non-dairy, non meat and not too complex in the starchy end of things. Thus, my understanding is that breads, rice and other grain products may not sit too well in a worm composter.

To learn more about the wonderful world of worms and composting here are a few links:

http://www.howtocompost.org/cat_vermi.asp

http://www.jetcompost.com/burrow/index.html

http://www.mmjp.or.jp/mimichan/contents/sagamin.html (in Japanese)