Using one of nature’s humbler creatures, a Garden Route farm is turning waste into wonderful growth products
Some things are not common knowledge, such as that in the right conditions a mature adult earthworm can eat as much as its whole body weight in a day. But wait, there’s more. There are, for instance, several thousand species and they are all hermaphroditic. So don’t even ask about the mating. But what’s critical is that they are also God’s own 24/7 microbial action miniature fertiliser factories.
I’m discovering all this at Mother Earthworms farm just off the Phantom Pass in Rheenendal – and battling a slightly creepy sensation on my skin as I discover they have several million Eisenia fetida (or tiger or Kariba) earthworms here. Fortunately the worms are all extremely content, living the life of Riley as they work their way through a delicious mix of decaying kitchen scraps, shredded paper, grass cuttings and cow manure in a row of 30-odd large, raised tray-like containers. Yummy.
We came across Rudolf Rosochacki at the Wild Oats Community Farmers Market in Sedgefield, where he was selling worm-farming kits. I asked for a card and he gave me a tiny pouch of vermicompost with a sticker on it, and also sketched a map for us in case we wanted to visit the Mother Earthworm farm.
When you know that the Mount Nelson Hotel has its very own worm farm to deal with its gourmet leftovers and, presumably, cuttings from its immaculately clipped lawns, you feel that worm farming must have something going for it. So during a meandering tour of the area around Knysna, we decide to seek out Rudolf’s rural wormery.
Stacey Rosochacki, ‘Mother Earthworm’ herself, is a former pre-school teacher and art therapist and has a way of explaining things that fill you with wonder. From her we learn that the first rule of worm farming is to use one of the composting species – you can’t use any old earthworm out of your garden. Fortunately the worms multiply fast and can double their numbers in the space of a few months.
We’re standing at the containers where all the action happens and which Rudolf has built at hip height for easy access. Stacey digs her hand deep into what she calls the ‘toffee layer’ – the sticky nutrient-rich humus at the top which the worms have already pooped out – and forms a handful of it into a perfect ball. “Worms neutralise germs and bacteria, so this is absolutely clean,” she says. It’s also environmentally sustainable because the cow dung and grass come from neighbouring farms, the paper from local businesses and banks, and the vegetable matter from the Rosochackis’ and other kitchens.
“They also eat alien plants and weeds which are high in nitrogen.”
It seems odd to be discussing a worm’s preferred menu, but it’s important for the quality of the final products, namely vermicompost – comprising the casts or worm ‘poo’; vermiliquid – the liquid that gets drained off from the containers; and vermitea – an oxygenated top quality mix of the two. Put any of these on your garden and your crops will think they’ve died and gone to heaven.
Around the bases of two big old black wattles, Rudolf and Stacey have put the products to work, layering vermicompost with regular soil and watering it with vermiliquid to create a sort of display area of vigorously sprouting spinach, herbs and lavender.
At this point the couple’s 11-year-old son Ruben joins us. He and his 10-year-old sister Isobel are responsible for the recyclable paper cups filled with shredded paper, vermicompost and rooting herbs which, with their bottoms cut off, can be planted directly into the ground.
Over tea Stacey tells us that when they bought the farm 10 years ago they used to visit it just for holidays, but when Rudolf suffered business burn-out in 2006 it made sense to move here permanently. And the worms? “Well I used to love watching and playing with earthworms when I was little,” says Stacey.
Later she read a book titled Journey to Forever in which the author, Ruth Myers, described making quick-return compost for allotment gardening in war-time England, using comfrey, yarrow, honey and worms. “After that I got a bee in my bonnet about worms. I started with a bucketful and things just grew from there. Now we get daily requests for worms, kits, containers, the vermiproducts and training.”
Some worm breeders like to keep their methods to themselves, but Stacey is the reverse. A worm evangelist, she actively encourages and helps others get set up, sometimes donating to NGO’s. Her instructions have been translated into Xhosa and Zulu.
“When times are tight food gardens spring up, and worm farming is the perfect way to make them thrive,” she says.
A group from the Knysna branch of the National Epilepsy Foundation in particular have been for training and now have flourishing vegetable gardens.
But it seems that ‘worming’ is a global trend. In Australia, paper mills and vermiculture work hand in hand, and the Rosochackis recently met a Malawian couple with a tea and coffee plantation who couldn’t afford the cost of transporting fertiliser any more, so they started making their own by feeding their worms pulped coffee cuttings and banana leaves. This resulted in a caffeinated liquid foliage spray that not only works wonders as a fertiliser, but also controls pests. Stacey and Rudolf collect used coffee grounds from the Mugg & Bean in Knysna for their wrigglers and say the grounds boost the worms’ mating process. I did say don’t even ask about their mating, didn’t i?
Mother Earthworms 082 578 4171
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