Worm Bin Update
The harvest day isn't done until you finish clean up. I personally found it a matter of honor. If she could give herself up so lovingly, the least I could do was a thorough and timely clean up. Makes sense to me. Part of that clean up is feeding the malted barley grain mash from the enzyme tea to the worm bin. This time I decided to add egg shells. They work most efficiently in a worm bin if you can powder them. I bought a coffee grinder to powder things like malted barley grain and egg shells.
I found out I prefer using my muscles to create powders over the whine of the coffee grinder and the mess you're left to clean up.
I need a mortar and pestle. No way around it. I did a fair job with a custard cup and a spoon though.
I got lost in the marvelous process egg shells take as they continue to break down into smaller and smaller pieces and become near dust. The coffee grinder doesn't allow me to control the size like this does. Worm bins like some bits to work with. Lots of surface matter to attach to and build mold. Yeah.
Definitely a mortar and pestle.
Now I have this mess from this morning to deal with. Ten minutes later everything was clean except the bubbling pitcher.
I scraped the barley grain mash out and added it to the eggshells.
Instinctively, I reached for the reconstituted kelp meal and threw in a scoop.
On reflection, corn meal and a few drops of molasses sounded good too.-
Everything got mixed together and out came the worm bin. Begin with a nice trench in the vermicompost. You can't see that here because it's so rich and dark it distracts you.
Fill the hole with the mash.
Very gently cover it all over.
Close it up and put it back in the dark and quiet under the sink.
The buckets are cleaned and sanitized, all ready for the Bomb. The kitchen is clean. Laundry is done. The bathroom sparkles since I had to clean up the mess I made dumping 5 gallon buckets of water down the toilet.
I'm ready for a little "me time".
There is no high better than the one you grew yourself.
I will never tire of seeing this.
It's 12:30 and I still have some things to do, so I need to settle down and get off the Internet for the night. It was a pleasure to share the joy of this occasion with so many of you that I now think of as friends. It made it all the sweeter.