Nature's Perfect Plant Food

YOU’RE INVITED

admin — Wed, 22 May 2013 14:33:43 +0000

GYPSY MARKET AND FAIR

NORTHERN SUN FARM CO-OP

SATURDAY MAY 25, 2013

FAIR 11:00 AM TO 4:00 PM

FARM TOUR 2:00 PM

POTLATCH DINNER 6:00 PM

Come gather at a farm in the depths of the woods to barter and trade your items and goods… and if you have some music and magic to share please don’t hesitate to bring it there!
This will be a family event, so bring the kids (and encourage your kids to make things to barter/trade).

NATURE’S PERFECT PLANT FOOD is lucky to share this lovely eco-village with the fine folks at NORTHERN SUN FARM CO-OP and will be joining everyone on this glorious day of festivities. We’ll have worms and casting for barter and trade.

To get to this event drive south from Steinbach on No.12 highway about 15 kms and turn east on Rd. 25N this road dead ends at the farm, hope to see you there.

WORM FARMERS ARE GETTING SERIOUS

admin — Sat, 18 May 2013 14:35:33 +0000

We’ve talked many times about the benefits of composting for our world. Keeping organic waste out of landfills is one of the easiest and important things people can do to stop global climate change. The nuts and bolts of the discussion revolve around green house gasses. All decomposition creates GHG’s the trick is to control the kind of gas your waste is releasing. Aerobic decomposition produces CO2, Carbon Dioxide, while Anaerobic decomp give you Methane. As we know Methane is about 100 times more destructive to our atmosphere than CO2. Guess what type of gas composting creates….. right, CO2. This may be a touch confusing to folks who are blasted daily by media telling us that Carbon is killing the planet, or at least the air. What we need to get our heads around is in fact; the whole carbon cycle, not the end bit. The first simple clue to follow in the composting journey is your nose, CO2 is odorless and Methane is stinky, that’s why landfills reek, it’s the Methane gas they produce when organic waste rots or decomposes without air. If your compost is smelly, the anaerobic bacteria are taking hold, healthy aerobic bacteria in a compost have no odor. This may seem like simple information and it is quite basic, but misconceptions around composting are common, especially large-scale composting. That’s why us and many other composters have worked long and hard over the past ten years to clear up some of these misconception. We are getting serious, about our public relations and our commitments to the business of solid waste management, and we are getting great results. The concept of simple composting was unheard of for city dwellers even 25 years ago.. now indoor worm bins are happening in schools and homes all over the place. The city has a compost bin sale every spring, this my friends is progress.

SPRING HAS SPRUNG, WITH A BANG

admin — Sat, 11 May 2013 14:51:41 +0000

Welcome to spring in Manitoba, we’ve gone from day time highs of zero to balmy temps in the low twenties, all in a week. After thirty years on the prairies our worms have adapted and seem to know how to get going when the going is good. When we began harvest at the beginning of April, despite the snow on the ground our worms were ahead of the game. We use cattle manure to produce our vermicast and grow our worms, these composting piles are covered with a thick layer of straw. In summer the straw holds in moisture and protects from the hot sun, in winter it adds insulation. The straw has no nutritional value for the worms so imagine our surprise to find it alive with adult worms doing what comes natural to earth’s critters every spring…. suffice it to say a new generation of soil builders is on the way. As our season progresses the worms will begin the age-old process of converting solid waste into valuable casting for homes and gardens all over the place. You can incorporate vermicast into any horticultural situation, fertilize plants or amend soil, you can’t use too much or to little. Now’s the time to place an order, the worms are workin’ and so are we.

BUSY TIMES AHEAD

admin — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:07:43 +0000

We never thought we’d see it but the snow has melted and spring is here. It’s still quite cool outside and the night temperatures are hovering just below the freezing line, the prefect time to harvest eggs and baby worms from our facility. In an effort to clear up our back orders we have resurrected our 4 Litre starter kits for this spring sale only. The difference between them and the 200 mL kits is that the 4 Litre kits are made almost exclusively of eggs and juveniles. They are packed in straw bedding and compost straight off the farm. The 200 mL kits are measured and re-packed in newspaper and castings. The reason we can only do this in spring is because of the high worm count in the outer layers of our composting piles. As the temp warms up the worms get busy doing you know what. There is one catch of course, and this is the reason we don’t normally sell the 4 Litre kits…. we can’t guarantee the exact amount of worms. For this reason they are sold at the ridiculously low price of $25.00. Nows your chance, if you are planning to start composting with worms please drop us a line.

EARTH DAY 2013

admin — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:45:00 +0000

It’s easy to get a little despondent on Earth Day, sometimes it’s difficult to see the progress mankind has made on protecting our home. Global Climate Change has already created climate refugees and extreme weather is commonplace. It’s seems corporations and government are walking hand in hand to speed the destruction of our planet, never looking back at the damage to land and people. Thankfully, not everyone is behaving irresponsibly. There are many businesses with an eye on Mother Nature, ours is one. Vermicomposting is becoming more and more popular and people are embracing the practice of in home solid waste management. We can’t even guess the tons of organic material our worms have kept out of the landfill. On top of this, farmers are waking up to the idea of vermicomposting animal waste. The less methane going up from manure piles the better our atmosphere does. It’s not all bad news these days. Networking with the rising tide of First Nations activism is giving hope to our community. So, when you head out today, this Earth Day, do so with hope in your heart, change is on the wind.

CALLING ALL CATTLE PRODUCERS

admin — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 16:12:55 +0000

Does the image on the left look familiar…. if you are in the romantic world of cattle production it should. Ask any farmer what they do all day and if they’re honest they’ll tell you “I shovel sh*t all day long”. Why not use this valuable resource to earn a few bucks for yourself and make a lot of gardeners really, really happy? All you need is worms. We are looking for willing partners in our rural community to expand our vermicomposting efforts. We’ll help you turn your manure problems into the black gold that are known worldwide as worm castings or vermicast. Worms eat poo, all kinds of poo but manure is their favorite. If you’d like to turn the first picture into the second photo, we’re the folks to talk to. Please contact us right here through our web page to learn more about this exciting business opportunity.

WORM BINS FOR THE CLASSROOM

admin — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 13:41:24 +0000

Vermicomposting is the ideal teaching tool for any classroom application. Indeed, teachers make up a good 40% of our customers and we applaud each and every one of them. Using a worm bin can demonstrate everything from chemistry to biology, environmental studies to group dynamics, the possibilities are almost endless. Most children embrace the study of worms and it’s a great starting place for the more squeamish folks in the class. Worm bins can be a hands off or a hands on venture, they’ll function with or without tiny hands digging away inside them. They do not smell bad or spread “germs” even though they work with bacteria. Seeing a vermicomposting bin turn food waste into rich soil or worm cast is an eye-opening experience for growing minds, a once in a lifetime lesson that kids can use for ever, knowing where soil comes from is the beginning of knowing where your food comes from. If you’d like to look deeper into having a classroom bin or simply want one for your home check out how easy it can be http://www.naturesperfectplantfood.com/2011/11/15/easy-worm-bin-photo-essay/ we are also proud to offer a 10% school discount, please drop us a line though the contact page for more info.

TIME TO GET YOUR WORM POO ON

admin — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 14:14:54 +0000

These innocent looking piles of straw hide the heart of our vermicomposting operation. Beneath their insulating warmth lies a world teeming with life. This photo was taken last fall in preparation for the coming winter months, little did we know those months would linger so long into what should be spring. Such is the life of a farmer. When last we checked our worms were still safe under a thick snow pack, layers of straw and finally the protective ice crust we talked about last week. http://www.naturesperfectplantfood.com/2013/03/30/the-forced-thaw/ Once again we must thank our customers for their continued patience, but rest assured the next few weeks will bring substantial change. Though we haven’t been able to harvest worms or casting yet, we’re happy to tell you that our bagged and aged indoor vermicast is ready to go to a good home in your seed trays. http://www.naturesperfectplantfood.com/2013/03/08/worm-castings-for-seeds/ The many benefits of worm castings will shout out in your healthy young seedlings…. give it a try.

THE FORCED THAW

admin — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 13:32:01 +0000

Check out todays photo, melting snow… this is not us, indeed upon inspection yesterday, our out-door vermicomposting facility is still hip deep in the dastardly white menus. While we’re not ones to mess with Mother Nature, desperate times call for desperate measures; we are starting a forced melt. Working under the premiss that white surfaces reflect sun light and dark absorb… we’ve dug out the south side of one active compost pile in the hope of a faster sprig melt and ultimately a sooner start for our worm harvest. This is not without risk as night-time temperatures are routinely dropping to below minus 12 Celsius. The worms are protected though the cold months by a combination of elements, we insulate our piles with a layer of straw usually 12 inches deep, and a heavy snow pack helps too. The vermicompost self regulates to a certain degree by forming a protective ice crust that grows from 6-12 inches deep over the winter, unbelievably live worms can be found right in the ice crust. Under the snowpack and straw yesterdays ice crust was about 6 inches thick. The danger here is the loss of insulation for the worm colony, if temperatures plummet, we may freeze some of the worms. So folks, fingers crossed for a nice warm spell and we’ll be harvesting worms in a week or two.

EARTH HOUR TODAY

admin — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 14:17:52 +0000

What are you doing at 8:30 (local time) tonight? Join with millions of people around the world to give Mother Earth a one hour break. Turn your lights and electronics OFF. Enjoy time with friends and family in the peaceful quiet of our natural world. To find out more follow this link and join in the fun.

http://www.earthhour.org/