the worms

What makes good compost? When it smells like the freshest dirt ever, and has had a wide variety of bugs running through it. All summer long the compost pile is abuzz with a wide variety of creatures. When we lived close to neighbors our compost pile was kept clean by having a lid on a perforated container, and adding leaves to our kitchen scraps.

On the farm the components of the compost heap are different than outside our back door. Now the pigs get most of what is produced n the farm, or the chickens pick through it. The geese love yogurt. And the ducks eat every grub, slug and snail.

So the parts that are left for our compost are the parts no one really eats, but are parts that decompose beautifully. We used to purchase sawdust in giant clear plastic bags @$6 each, and the truck could hold 4 bags. Now we go about a mile from the house to an old school, open air, outdoor sawmill and shovel the sawdust right into the back of the pickup. For $4. The same amount of stuff, no plastic bags to get rid of, and easy unload onto the compost pile.

And today, when things shifted, here is what we see..areating and leaving their wormy stuff behind, making black gold for these farmers:

Over the summer, on hot dry days, there are meal worms all over the top of the compost pile. Meal worms are the bluebirds most favorite food, and the sky was full of many bluebirds, swooping down and getting meal worms for themselves and their babies. Glad we could help them out, they are one of the prettiest birds ever!