Worm composter!!

I have been dying to make a worm composter since last spring. But, amount other distraction, I couldn't get past the cost of buying the "right" worms (15.00+ a lbs) and getting them shipped here. So I never bothered. But, thanks to a last minute trip to the farmers market today I found some at $4.00 a lbs!! So of course we got some and home we came to make our very own vermicomposter!! It's hard to be trying to teach your children to be earth stewards if we aren't doing what we can when it's made affordable to us. 

I had watched a few you tube videos so I had a basic idea. But wanted a few more ideas before we got started. This is what we came up with when we mixed together what we saw and co pared it to what we had.

Materials:

1 18G storage bin

1half height storage bin

One peice of cardboard

Newspaper

A bit of soil

Drill

1/4" drill bit

Ok so first the monsters and I drilled 6 holes in the bottom of our bin. It has a contoured bottom, so we made sure to drill the holes where it would be the lowest points 

Mind the mess we spent the long weekend getting the trailer out and set up so we could check it. 

My timid man getting a turn.

Yes even the baby gets to drill the holes. Got to teach them they can do it young!

Poor babe wanted to do it all himself. Couldn't quite hold the button down. 

See my little half side bin there? Next we drilled holes around the lower end of the big bin, but still low enough that they would be inside the half size bin. (No photos. By this time everyone wanted a shot at the drill again and I had C.J. Help to watch many fingers. Then we drilled a few holes. Around the top of the bin just under where the bin lid sat, but higher then we figured we would let the worms get. These are for air circulation. And one in the top. Inside we added our piece of cardboard squished into the bottom. And the kids shredded a nice bed of newspaper to the bin. 

 You can see the holes in this one. And we put alayer  of soil on the paper and the worms in.  We then set the bigger bin into the half size one to catch all the "worm tea" so we can put that in the garden too and to stop the little buggers from escaping!! 

I think at a later time I will drill a few more holes throughout the middle and put some screening across them to increase air circulation.  And maybe a layer of stones in the bottom of the smaller bin to raise the big one out of it a bit so they don't get too wet in the bottom. We will have to move this inside and downstairs as the summer gets hotter. But for now this is where it will live. So. Here's hoping we don't kill them!! 

Colour fun!!

What better way to learn about mixing colours them to fingerprint!!! I mean, really, messy, sloppy and a learning experience. School doesn't get much better then that!! The kids mixed some paint colours up themselves and then we made a colour wheel using only the three primary colours so they could see how it really works. I think it turned our rather well. What do you think?

Swimming today!!

My poor JT. My middle guy does not like Swimming lessons. The worst part about it is he does a super job, once he gets in the pool and stops crying. So, I have been telling him.. (Ok so bribing him. but lets not split hairs) That if he gets in the pool like a "big boy" with his instructor, and doesn't cry for the first 10 mins like he normally does I will make him, or buy him, what ever he wants for supper. You know what he picks. Kraft dinner. Plain old comes in a box Kraft dinner. Needless to say I'm not a huge fan. I didn't mind it before, but right now being pregnant the idea of Kraft dinner is ICK. Sounds like it will be a two supper night in out house tonight!

This morning we received in the mail JT's Primer math book. they are his first ones so he was super pumped and this afternoon finished all 14 pages of lesson one. We use the Math-U-See program for our homeschooling. It is an awesome program that we just love. I am actually for the first time learning and getting math along with CJ. So it's a huge bonus. Math has never been my thing. and I have on several occasions heard a few of my mom's friends say something along the lines of "Should she be homeschooling? Weren't her math grades terrible in school." sigh.. what they don't understand.

Tomorrow I have some major baking planned. Today I made some Cherry Pie filling (As per the recipe at "The cup cake project" Yes I'm addicted to that site right now!!) and the Home made Maraschino Cherries off of her blog too. they are both sitting on my counter right now cooling. Man to theMaraschino cherries ever smell boozy right now, and if I wasn't pregnant I would totally take a shot of the liquid they are soaking in!! I'll post some photos later (or more probably tomorrow at this point) Once I get started on the Cupcakes that will go with them. I'm making her Black forest cupcakes. I originally bumped into her blog trying to find some cute cupcakes for AJ's 2nd Birthday party and have been stuck to it ever since. But I promise that not all the recipes that I use will be from her site. and they won't all be sweets either!!