Let's Talk A Moment

Having successfully survived the latest wave of testing here at my favorite institute of higher learning, I am now attempting to relax by catching up on roughly 73 tonnes of e-mail (a slight exageration). Among the millions of electrons (or possibly photons?) emmanating from the monitor which stand s before me, I, having long ago developed the higher sensory abilities of a worm, cannot help but detect a certain recurring theme within that which I see (or perhaps feel as they bombard my sensitive skin.) The following thought occurs to me:

If nothing will stick to teflon, how do they keep it in the pan?

I ponder that for just a moment (while Willy shakes his head at the idea of a fine mind going to waste), and then I get on to things less significant, but probably much more interesting to those of you who apparently wandered onto this page by accident. To be precise, I attempt to deal with one or two questions that appear in a majority of those letters which make up my "backlog" of mail. Those questions may be summed up (at least generally) in the following manner:

Since the answer to the first and the last question are the same, let's tackle them right now. The easiest way to explain it I guess, will be to fill you in on a few details of "The Burrow" which you may or may not be aware of (a few of you might know some of these things as a result of e-mail corr espondence.)

Basically, "The Burrow" is me! No secretaries, no staff, no foreign correspondants, just myself, and Willy (whose typing is about two fingers worse than mine. Guess how many fingers I use.) On top of this, two other things must be considered:

  1. I am a full-time university student (which takes up a certain amount of my time.) And...even more significant....
  2. I don't own a computer! (The Burrow is housed on the university's server, and is thus governed by rules, regulations, and capacities which are beyond my control.)
Now when I started "The Burrow", 3-4 months ago, it was because I knew that there were a certain number of people out there, who were in the same position I had found myself in just 5 or 6 years earlier. People who were interested in the process known as "vermiculture", but unable to find satisfact ory answers to even the most basic questions regarding the subject. I didn't like it when I couldn't find the answers, and I liked it even less when I realized how many people were abandoning a great system due to a simple lack of support. Since I had spent those 5-6 years gathering (and even disco vering for myself), the information that was so hard to find, and knowing that not everyone had the time or inclination for doing in-depth research (I know really nice people who think "stacks" refer to a pile of pancakes), I decided if anyone wanted to know what I knew, all they would have to do i s ask. So when I realized that my university education included access (though in a limited sense) to the Internet, I thought I had found a good way to make this information readily available to a large number of people.

For the first little while, everything was really smooth. I got a few articles up (I didn't know if anyone was reading them), and contacted a few other Net sites that had related information. Then one day I realized I was arriving at the university 2-3 hours before my classes, since I needed that m uch time just to answer my . This increase in volume is presently showing no sign of letting up, which has resulted in two things occurring. I have started answering letters more than I write articles, and when I do write an article, it is usually because I have rec eived several letters asking about that particular topic. A good example of this is the article you are now reading, which will also deal with the matter of "worm businesses", a topic also dealt with (though a slightly different aspect) in the other article I added tonight, entitled, "Business....o r Scam?" The reason is that I have 12 letters here all asking basically the same questions, and even though I will answer these letters as soon as I can, I think an article or two will help to clear up a few points that are common to each of them. (Please do not misinterpet what I a m saying....I'm not asking you to stop writing, I'm only trying to explain why it sometimes takes a while to get an answer. At this point, I don't think anyone can say that I have ever failed to answer a letter as soon as it was possible.)

Specifically regarding, "The Burrow Presents....Part 6 (the conclusion)", I apologize for the delay, but I was trying to answer those matters dealing with immediate problems such as pest control, school projects, etc., and then my exams hit, and you know.... (what can I say?) As soon as this article is up and running, the very next thing, I mean it, seriously, for sure......hoo boy!

Anyway, let's talk about the second question for a minute....can I tell you how to get into the worm business, and will it make you rich? The answer is simple. Yes/No....No/Yes. It's like this, I can tell you anything you need to know to grow worms as well, or better, than anybo dy else, including yours truly (me.) I can show you how to take one pound of worms and increase it at an astronomical rate until you cannot increase it any more simply because you can't keep up with the required food supply, or the involved labor. Compared to so many others in the past, however, my approach to the problem may seem a little different.

Go back to the older manuals you have read, and you will see that there are markets galore for worms, sources for sale simply sprouting everywhere, and they can all be yours if you just follow the wonderful directions listed step-by-step in Book X. But remember....the secret is in the book! (Willy's answer to that scenario is , though I usually just chuckle.) The problem lies in the fact that there is no "secret" method to raising worms, and no one really needs a book on how to do it. If you know the basics, and follow your instincts, worms will p ractically raise themselves. (Did any of you really need a book to tell you that worms require some moisture? Or that the ones that float to the top in a flooded bed really aren't suntanning? How about bedding material? Maybe you couldn't name every suitable substance, but I'm pretty sure you could have come up with one or two. The point is, whenever a new worm business goes "belly-up" (nothing personal Willy), someone figures the "breeder" wasn't up to the task, or maybe didn't know enough. This is simply not true. What usually happens is that the new "worm grower" ends up with a pil e of worms that can't be sold, and as a result, the population gets so large, that the grower can no longer look after them properly, and finally, when the worms start dying off, the grower gets discouraged and gives up. The reason the new worm-farmer couldn't sell his crop in the first plac e, is that they are so easy to raise, and so quick to multiply.

Ask yourself this question, if you think you might need 500 pounds of worms next year for a project you are working on, which method of obtaining those worms are you most likely to employ? Will you buy 500 pounds of worms at whatever price you can find them at (for the sake of argument, lets say $1 0.00 a pound, which will come to $5000.00), or will you buy 1 pound of worms, throw them into an enclosure roughly 12 feet square, add your kitchen waste, yard scraps, etc.,for a period of one year, at the end of which you could have roughly 1000 pounds of worms.BUT WAIT...th at's not right!...the book says...

You're right, the books do say. As a matter of fact, just about every book on the subject makes both of the two statements which follow:

  1. A worm-grower can expect the worm population to double approximately once every 4-6 months.
  2. Two adult red worms (or 1000 adult red worms...it depends on which book), and their off-spring, will produce 1,000,000 red worms in one year.(Those off-spring will create one billion off-spring the following year.)
If you use simple mathematics, and common knowledge about breeding rates for the red worms in question, you will see that the second statement is the most factual, while the first statement is only true if you take into account dramatic losses usually incurred by "worm predators", harsh environment al conditions, or lack of food, none of which should be a problem in an enclosed culture area. (In other words, natural deaths decrease when nature is removed.) The point is quite simple, you can make a nice sideline business out of selling small batches of worms from time to time, but since anyone who requires a large (or regular) supply of worms can breed them for a lot less money than purchasing them, the chances of obtaining the large orders which are necessary to sustain a thriving enterprise, are slim to say the least. Though a few companies, such as North American Bait Farms ha ve made considerable fortunes selling worms in the past, the renewed interest in vermicomposting has made the availability of the red worm so plentiful, that opportunities of this type are hard to find. As new markets open (such as worms for animal feed), the amounts of worms required will involve industrial-style plants rather than small "farms." Which means that right about now, a whole lot of you wonderful people out there are probably looking in my direction and doing a Willy-imitation like this .

Now wait just a moment. When have I ever let you walk away disappointed? I didn't say there was no way to make any money...but it takes a little more effort, that's all. You see, that's the real secret (if there is one.) To make more money than the next person, you have to be wi lling to take the extra steps required. So you've got all these worms, and the worms are eating all this garbage, and as you continue to keep the little guys healthy and happy by changing their bedding on a regular basis, you start to accumulate an awful lot of "vermicompost", or even "worm casting s." Now, I'm sure you all know, that what separates good potting soil from great potting soil, is the amount of "wormy doo-doo" that it contains. So let me give you a simple example that more or less says it all. I live in an agricultural province, an d according to the figures I received for 1994-5, there is approximately $4,000,000 worth of "soil" being imported annually (probably relates to the millions of dollars worth of potted plants which are sold every year.) Now assuming that an agricultural province would have less need of importin g soil than most other places, what do you think this says about that particular market in other locations, and where is the main ingredient for this market going to come from? RIGHT ON WILLY! Now blending soils may not be the easiest job, but it can be learned, and as Mom used to say, "I f nothing sticks to teflon, how do they get it to stay in the pan?!" In all seriousness, that is the area I feel offers the best chance for making a profit with your worms, at least at this point in history. Keep in mind this one crucial point, sell a person worms just once, and they will not o nly have enough to last them forever, but also all their friends. You didn't make a customer, you made a competitor. But sell a person potting soil, and (especially if they don't have worms of their own) they'll usually come back for more. If you might be a little interested in this c oncept, keep an eye out on these pages, since eventually I'll be getting around to the articles on how to use "vermicompost", and "worm casts", and their relative benefits to both plants and soil.

So, this brings us around to the third question (remember way back at the beginning?), about whether or not I can sell you a bunch of worms to get started with. I'll tell you what, I'll do you one better, but first I have to explain why. As I mentioned earlier (somewhere), "The Burrow" is housed on the university server. What this means is that among other things, I have only a limited amount of memory to work with (causing limitations in how much material I can provide you with at any one time), many options are disallowed by university policy (such as sound capability, executable programs, and CGI-bins, which would make it possible to handle my own guestbook, as well as open a "chat-room" where everyone could actually meet and talk), and I have to come into the university in order to check mail, write answers or work on articles (last month we set a record for mo st consecutive days below -30, catch my drift.) Finally, and most serious of all, is the fact that the computer-lab administrators can wipe this program any time they feel it is causing a severe enough strain on the system (you won't be told, I won't be told, it will just not be here.) The end resu lt is that I need to start saving up until I can afford a computer system that can be dedicated solely to maintaining "The Burrow." Since you already know how I feel about "selling" this information, you might appreciate the following attempt at getting some help solving this problem.

We will simply keep everything as it is, and I will continue doing exactly what I have been doing for as long as things hold out. In other words, what follows is strictly optional, and each person will have to decide on the method that best suits them and their present circumstances. You even have three options from which to choose.

  1. Send me your name, and snail-mail address, along with a money-order for $25.00,(see additional note at end of paragraph) stating that you would like a starter-batch of red worms. I will ship them out to you C.O.D., Free of Charge! (Except for shipping and the $25.00 which covers packaging, and transportation to the airport.) If...and I stress if, you choose to do so, you may include a donation to the "Save The Burrow Fund", for any amount you choose, which will be applied toward the purchase of a computer system to house these pages.
  2. If you already have worms, but would like to help for whatever reason, feel free to make a donation of your choice, and simply add a note declining the free worms.
  3. If you cannot manage any donation at this time, and do not require any free worms, please drop me a line anyway, so that I might compile a list of people who read this page, as a possible aid in seeking assistance from one of the environmental agencies.
Note:If you noticed a change in that price, you are correct, it has changed. This is because I failed to take into account that it is still winter here, which means extra packaging, and the necessity of going to the airport by car (or cab), rather than bus (or on fo ot.) Any of you who saw the old price, can send me that, and I will honor it until I die broke and destitute. Also remember that this is an attempt at saving The Burrow, and we are talking a starter-batch of worms, not a large quantity. (If you have seve ral bins, or even one really large one to fill, send me some e-mail and we'll work it out.)

Send Requests and Bequests To:
Brian Paley
Save The Burrow Fund
103 Cruise Street
Saskatoon, SK
Canada
S7N 2C2

Once again, I would like to stress that this is simply an attempt at staving off the loss of this web-site, and is entirely optional. Whatever decision you make, the thing that matters most to me, is that whatever information I can get onto these pages gets read by those who can mos t effectively use it.

Original Text

Copyright © 1996, D. Brian Paley

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