Mary Swanson : I beg your pardon? Lloyd Christmas : That’s what we’re gonna call it. “I Got Worms!” We’re gonna specialize in selling worm farms. You know, like ant farms. ~From Dumb & Dumber, the Movie
I just couldn’t resist! This post begged for that name. I realize that not everyone will find it as humorous as I do, but hopefully, some will get a giggle out of the wiggle. While I am not necessarily starting a worm farm to sell worms, I am going to be creating the most magical compost, castings, and worm tea kissed by the warmth of the Florida Sun and cared for by loving hands. So stay tuned for more on that.
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So, I am now the proud owner of one thousand Red Wiggler Composting Worms, one hundred European Nightcrawlers, and one thousand Mealworms! That’s two-thousand-one hundred worms! Holy moly! I didn’t set out to do that, but here I am. I have built three separate bins. The primary bin will house the Red Wiggler composting worms and be the main producer of vermicompost and worm tea for my garden. I will also have a smaller-scale bin for the night crawlers and then a multi-tiered bin for the mealworms.
Wait, Mealworms?? Yup. I was just as shocked. You see, I have been wanting to start with the vermicomposting for a while. In fact, I did just set up a magnificent bin and was ready to order a big bunch of red wigglers right before the storm. We all know how that turned out. So, now that things are getting to a good place with the garden I figured it was an opportune time.
I did have one bin set up for compost for the past couple of months so I am not wasting my scraps. Now that I have the worms I will be oh so happy to feed them! Okay, so the mealworms. Yeah, well, I went online to do something garden related and ended up on Uncle Jim’s page. Funny how these things happen.
The site had a pop-up wheel you could spin on it. Usually, I don’t participate but I was already planning to purchase worms from Uncle Jim since I have heard magnificent things about his worms (was going to purchase from Amazon originally here) and their customer service. So I spun the wheel and I actually “won” one thousand mealworms! Score!
Before I got too excited I did a bit of research to find out if I actually wanted the prize. I learned so much about mealworms that I never knew before. Enough to make a completely separate post (upcoming) and also enough to go ahead and claim that prize! I am not entirely certain of how I will use the mealworms yet but I do have a couple of ideas.
Firstly, I have entertained the notion of getting chickens. I am not 100% there but still thinking about it. If I do, I would love to have the mealworms as a wonderful source of protein for the girls. If I don’t get chickens, the mealworms can still prove plenty useful. Of course, their frass is incredibly useful as a fertilizer in the garden. Additionally, they can be sold to others as feed for their pets, or chickens. Either way, I figured I might just as well try it out!
So I went ahead and put my order in on the site, instead. I mean, there were already discounts, and then the free mealworms so it was a much better deal. I like deals, oh so much. If you do too, you can check the site out yourself here! Comparing the two options, even with shipping, ordering from the site turned out to be a far better deal so that’s what I did.
Within a day or two, my little wormies were on their way to me, I was so happy! I know, I’m an odd duck, what can I say? So, I started getting things prepared. I already had what I needed for the Red Wigglers but I had initially planned to get less. I am Super grateful to my daughter for her donation of two three-drawer bins. This will allow me to have one for the mealworms and one for the European Nightcrawlers, then have an extra drawer for smaller supplies. The Red Wigglers are in a very large tote.
There was an issue with the shipping. Nothing at all to do with Uncle Jim’s, it was on the carrier’s side. The shipment took 5 days instead of 2-3. The mealworms were definitely fine. However, I was in communication with Uncle Jim’s Customer Service and they are AMAZING! They told me to keep an eye on them and let them know. Their response was lightning fast and their consideration was top-notch. They have livened up quite a bit since their arrival. They are comfy, cozy, and eating and pooping like the champs that they are. **Turned out that they recovered just fine. Very pleased!
