frustrating) years of operating my “real world” biz based on the “pounds of worms” model. I had been basically buying ALL my worms from a supplier in bulk, and then re-harvesting for smaller orders.
What’s funny is the “major turning point” resulted from what SHOULD have been one of my easiest orders ever! The customer wanted the same quantity of worms I was picking up from my supplier! I figured I’d just bag em up, ship em off – and enjoy a decent profit, with little labor, for once.
Long story short, it was a very hot, summer day – and for some strange reason I decided to take my worms for a little road trip after picking them up, rather than heading straight home. Anyway, once they were finally in my holding trays down in the basement I started to realize that all was not well. I started finding more and more dead and dying worms
Rather than risking a TOTAL meltdown, I quickly decided to dump them all in a larger outdoor bin. While I certainly wouldn’t be able to fill the customer’s bulk order anymore, I figured I could at least use the worms for some smaller orders – hopefully at least recovering my investment.
Once the worms were settled into the bed, I was scooping up handfuls of worm-rich material with my hand and it suddenly occurred to me that I might be able to partially salvage the order after all, by simply bagging up this mix. Obviously the customer wouldn’t end up paying nearly as much – but it could still be a “win/win” scenario, since I knew it would be great for stocking a new system.
Still, I wasn’t sure if the customer would go for the idea – but by that point I was so fed up that it didn’t really matter! The idea of completely shutting down my physical business was actually pretty appealing.
Long story short (oh wait – didn’t I already say that 20 paragraphs ago? Lol), she DID go for it, and that’s the primary way I have sold worms here in Canada ever since!
UWC: From a business standpoint, why does it make so much sense?
BC: As many new “worm farmers” will agree, it is FAR easier to grow loads of tiny worms, than loads of bigger worms. High quality worm mix can be produced quite easily in a limited amount of space, and it doesn’t take very much time to “harvest”.
Yet the composting potential is still very high! I clearly remember one of my major frustrations when trying to fill worm orders by the pound was seeing all the countless small worms (harvested from my own beds) that were needed to reach the required weights. It was pure insanity.
But it’s very important to point out that there are some serious advantages on the customer side as well (which is the main reason I am as big a fan of this approach as I am).
It costs customers a fair bit less
Little to no worm roaming
Little to no worm death
Habitat material helps to jump-start the system
The product ships incredibly well (I have had TWO separate shipments in transit for a month, and in both cases the worms were fine).
UWC: Do you actively increase the concentration of worms and babies in the worm mix, using the “light method” or something like that? Or have you just cracked the code on getting high density?
BC: My worm mix approach has evolved over time. My earlier versions were more concentrated and were sold in smaller bags. In 2015 I decided to simplify even more by shipping less-concentrated mix in a single, considerably-larger bag. Again, it was an advantage for both me AND the customer.
I knew from experience that there was a great deal of “magic” in the habitat material itself (a high-quality version of what I often refer to as “living material”), and that providing customers with a lot of this stuff would go a long way towards helping to ensure their success, regardless of any mistakes they make during the system set-up process.
Obviously for me, it is much easier to simply grab worm-rich material and put it in a single bag and then box it up.
That being said, I am still very finicky about my quality standards. I know exactly the sorts of densities I need to see in order to feel like I’m providing my customers with excellent value. So a lot of the time I will still concentrate anyway.
As for “cracking the code,” I do know a thing or two about encouraging lots of breeding and getting a population to shift more towards loads of smaller worms than fewer larger worms. I’m constantly stumbling on interesting new approaches as well.
On a rather funny (but related) note, this past winter I added lots of cut up denim (from old jeans) to my one of my outdoor beds. I was curious to see what the worms would do with it – and figured it would serve as a “slow-burn” food/bedding that would help to keep them chugging along during the colder months.
I’ve recently been harvesting material from this bed and have been completely blown away by the densities of juvenile worms I’ve been finding – not to mention how well they seem to have broken down the denim!
I’ve seen some similar results with various paper products as well.
Those who are in the WFA will also know that I have a bit of an obsession with Brian Paley’s (in)famous article about raising 100 lb of Red Worms in a single room. So that has also influenced my methods – and absolutely lends itself perfectly to the “worm mix” approach in general.
9