When you decide to put your thoughts and ideas out past your normal little circle of friends and family you sometimes worry about what others think about you. Your friends and family already know you are a little odd but they usually see it as just you and love you anyway. I honestly dont really worry about this too much but every once in a while I will be chatting it up with a stranger or sometimes an acquaintance and I see that look in their eyes that maybe I have shared too much.
Heres an example I was at Sams Club once talking to the sweetest cashier. She asked me why I didnt buy eggs. That she thought it was odd that everyone she had waited on that morning had bought eggs. We sort of laughed and I told her it was because I had my own chickens. She thought that was interesting and asked me a few questions. She asked how much bird seed they eat. I told her they didnt really eat bird seed that you can buy chicken feed but that if you let them forage through the yard they would eat bugs and worms. She was horrified. She had no idea they ate bugs and vowed to never eat another egg again. I tried to assure her it was a good thing. She was not having it. We get similar reactions when people realize we raise rabbits for meat. I dont mind when vegans or vegtarians find it wrong but meat eaters need to get off their high horse. I will just stop before this becomes a rant.
I have this really great sibling. Shes my favorite sibling and only sibling. We have the best conversations about crafting, cooking and total nonsense. She recently sold her home so I have been referring to her as homeless. She is also living in an RV down by a river until they find a new home but we like to say she lives in a van down by the river like Chris Farley on that old Saturday Night Live skit, Now dont get all bent out of shape thinking I am the mean one. I was recently talking about my composting worms and she said she was going to start saying that I had worms. So you can see shes really the mean one.
I love my composting worms. I find the whole process interesting and rewarding, I love how you throw scraps that most people, who dont have a compost pile, throw away and the worms turn it into the wonderful nutrient rich dirt. I love my outdoor compost pile but it doesnt do much in the winter. The potato peels, coffee grounds, egg shells and other things just sit there until it warms up. But the worm bin is inside the house and active and I get my compost pile on a much smaller scale in the winter. Once the temps get over 50 in the evenings we will sit them back outside.
When we were getting ready to bring the worms in for the winter we were going through the dirt. We had gotten some soldier flies in our bin. At first we thought it was the worse thing that could possibly happen but after more research we fund out it wasnt that bad, They actually compost faster than the worms, The problem is they eat more than the worms. We got all the larvae we could find but did not get it all so to keep them from getting out of hand I pick them out and feed them to the chickens. They are super happy for these tasty treats in the middle of winter when the ground is too cold to scratch. I found out there are place that only use soldier flies for their composting, They then sell the composted dirt to gardeners for a nice price. If you have a compost pile these flies will come naturally and you can get that expensive dirt for free. They do not look like a fly at all. You should definitely research these interesting things. I found this picture online of the different stages.
I asked Mr Ladybug if we could start a small soldier fly bin this spring and see who compost best, the red wiggler worms or the soldier flies. It also gives us free food for the chickens. Just dont tell the sweet girl at Sams Club. The picture at the top of the post is my german shepherd helping me look at the worms. Below that pic on the right is the shredded newspaper that the worms like to make a bedding with. The purple gloved had with the dirt and worms are just a big clump or worms. The top right is worms in their little habitat, the purple glove with soldier fly larvae and the harvest of soldier fly larvae to take to the chickens later this morning.
I have been MIA the pass few days because of dealing with insurance issues of a car accident that wasnt even my fault. Its easy to get all angry over this but the fact is. it was an accident, the other driver was at fault but she was driving a nice car that I am sure she hadnt planned on crashing into another car when she woke up that morning, The rental car had to be returned yesterday and that makes three of us have a car to share. We have much to be thankful for. No one was hurt thanks to airbags. My son was sitting on the side that was hit. Even though returning the rental stinks since we havent got to replace the car and are waiting for the insurance check we do have another car some people would not. Sharing the car may be a little annoying for the next week or so its not the end of the world.
Yesterday as I went out to feed all the critters I was thinking about the whole situation and I remember thinking I really need to see the light at the end of this crazy car tunnel. I just aint there yet. I checked the nest boxes for eggs which have been empty for several weeks and I am almost out of eggs. There was an egg, The girls had stopped laying when it started getting really cold and the days have gotten shorter. As you can probably tell by my other posts I am full of sayings. I would like to create a new one today instead of saying "the light at the end of the tunnel" lets say "the winter egg in the nest box". For those of you that I have just lost with my nonsense it means that winter is not going to last forever and neither is whatever we are going through. There will be eggs again in the nest box!
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