Five tips for getting kids involved in the garden April 10, 2011

published Saturday, April 9th, 2011 Chattanooga Times Free Press

Five tips for getting kids involved in the garden

by Holly Leber
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Gardening is not just for grown-ups. As part of its Good for You incentive, the Creative Discovery Museum is presenting “Sprout,” celebrating kids in the garden, today from noon to 4 p.m.

“Spring is a great time to motivate kids with gardening,” said Jayne Griffin, director of education at CDM.

Good for You promotes eating colorful, fresh fruits and vegetables and increasing physical movement, especially the type that occurs out of doors.

“For kids, the best way to exercise is active play,” Griffin said.

Sprout will include presentations from the Master Gardeners of Chattanooga and the Thompson Worm Farm, among others. Kids will learn how to incorporate what they grow into what they eat, by making a grilled vegetable pizza with chef Jericho Michel of the Terminal Brewhouse.

“One great way to get kids to eat fruits and vegetables is to get them growing them from the ground up, and even from the seed up,” said Griffin. “Then it’s something they’ve had a hand in making happen.”

Here are tips for getting kids involved in the garden.

1 It doesn’t have to be overwhelming. You can start in pots. Sometimes that’s less daunting than an acre or more. At CDM, they’re growing brussels sprouts, strawberries and blueberries in containers.

2 Create themed gardens. Make a pizza garden of herbs and tomatoes, or a rainbow garden, including a vegetable from each color of the rainbow. Choose a vegetable from each letter of the child’s name.

3 Involve kids from the beginning. Let them be a part of the planning process. Take them along to purchase seeds and supplies.

4 Think about what’s developmentally appropriate. For younger children, just playing in the dirt is a good way to start. Older children can be introduced to tools. The key is to get them interested.

5 Have fun. If caregivers see it as fun, kids will see it as fun. “When we’re so determined to do what’s best for our children, we forget we’re supposed to relax and have fun ourselves,” Griffin said.

Contact Holly Leber at hleber@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6391. Follow her on Twitter at twitter.com/hollyleber.

For worms or Wom Composting go to Thompsonwormfarm.com

Brainerd Farmers Market returns to Grace April 2 April 1, 2011

Brainerd Farmers Market returns to Grace April 2

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

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The Brainerd Farmers Market returns to Grace Episcopal Church April 2, when local produce farmers will be joined by purveyors of everything from jerky to worms.

Thompson Worm Farm owner Matt Thompson will sell his composting worms and worm “inns” for the nutrient-rich casings they produce.

“It’s a very tangible cycle,” said Thompson, who operates out of his Standifer Gap-area home.

He said most people don’t know who processes their recycled bottles or what those bottles become later. With his system food scraps become worm food, which becomes natural plant food. Then the whole process starts again.

Photo by Hannah Campbell

Samuel, Heidi and Katlyn Thompson, from left, show off their dad Matt’s red wiggler composting worms at their Standifer Gap-area home.

“It’s a very closed-loop type of situation,” he said.

Thompson said he was lured to the Brainerd Farmers Market this year as a vendor because he can still taste peaches he bought there last year.

“They were amazing. You could tell they had just been picked, at just the right time. It was perfect,” he said. “That made me want to come back in and of itself. I could tell it hadn’t been shipped from halfway around the world. It’s that type of experience that I think makes the connection with people.”

Thompson said he began gardening to do something with his worm casings, but many farmers- market patrons already grow their own produce and cook with it. He said recycling those scraps in a worm bin is a step beyond traditional recycling — food waste doesn’t breathe and break down properly in landfills, emitting greenhouse gasses.

The good bacteria and microbes his worms produce keep the scraps from stinking up an inside bin, and unlike common, traveling earthworms, Thompson’s red wigglers are content to live on top of each other in the bin. They make their way up, eating scraps and leaving their casings behind, and they won’t try to escape.

“That’s not a pleasant thing by anybody’s standards,” Thompson said.

He does offer a compost tumbler for people who could never live in harmony with worms.

“There are some people for whom the worm thing has too much of the ick factor,” he said.

As a fisherman, an unlimited supply of fat and happy worms at his fingertips is Thompson’s idea of a perk. He takes his three children fishing at Harrison Bay State Park, Wolftever Creek and Tennessee Riverpark and travels to classrooms to teach about his worm farms.

His daughter, Katlyn, said having a dad who raises worms at home is “weird and cool” at the same time.

“When I told the kids at school I have, like, 50,000 worms in my backyard they kind of started to freak out,” Katlyn said.

Thompson also offers a worm composting workshop, the next of which he’ll give at the Crabtree Farms spring plant sale April 16.

Thompson works in the safety and environmental department of a gas pipeline company, so he said waste and compliance with environmental standards are “near and dear to my heart.”

One day, he said he may work full time with his worms, but until then he’s happy rubbing shoulders when he can with area like-minded people.

The Green Cone is Here! March 29, 2010

The Thompson Worm Farm is proud to anounce that we now carry The GREEN CONE!

The one-of-a-kind kitchen waste eliminator

You already recycle. You may even already compost your garden waste. Now, with The Green Cone by Solarcone, you can eliminate your kitchen waste, reducing your family’s trash by 20%.

The Green Cone reduces food waste to its natural components of water, carbon dioxide and a small residue. The solar-heated garden unit safely eliminates all cooked and uncooked food waste, including meat, fish, bones, dairy products, vegetables and fruit.

The Green Cone System allows you to:

• Reduce your household waste by 20% or more.
• Dispose of food waste immediately.
• Keep your garbage cans clean and odor-free.
• Keep remaining household waste clean and ready for recycling.

But most of all, the Green Cone system is beneficial to the environment. By using it, you can help conserve our precious landfill space and reduce the use of garbage truck fuel. Most importantly, you’ll conserve our earth’s precious natural resources, by decreasing the workload of large-scale treatment plants.

Whether you’re an environmentally responsible homeowner, a large family with significant kitchen waste, or the manager of a community recycling program, the Green Cone System is an invaluable tool to help you eliminate your food disposal problem… forever!

Get your Green Cone at www.thompsonwormfarm.com or call (423) 240-2173

The Worm Factory 360 March 27, 2010

The Worm Factory 360

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Thompson Worm Farm Introduction March 27, 2010

Thompson Worm Farm Introduction

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April is the month to learn about Vermicomposting! March 21, 2010

Upcoming events at the Thompson Worm Farm!

Check out our new Podcast: The Thompson Worm Farm Podcast

Event: “Chattanooga Green Festival”
Date: Saturday, April 10, 10:00am – 4:00pm
Location: Coolidge and Renaissance Parks
 

 The City of Chattanooga invites you to a celebration of Earth Month 2010. The CHATTANOOGA GREEN FESTIVAL will highlight sustainability measures for homeowners and businesses alike with educational displays, vendors and special events. Chat with the Director of the “Office of Sustainability,” or the experts on sustainability from multiple agencies. You’ll meet local businesses and organizations that are dedicated to improving the health of our environment. As an added bonus: Outdoor Chattanooga’s OUTDOOR EXPO & GEAR SWAP will feature exhibits dedicated to outdoor recreation & nature, and Chattanooga’s Parent Magazine is sponsoring a “SUMMER FUN ZONE” for kids. This is a special “green”day for our community. You don’t want to miss it!

 

Event: 2010 Spring Wildflower Festival & Native Plant Sale – April 9, 10, & 11

 

Come at 1PM on Sunday the 11th for a vermicomposing workshop!

Come choose from hundreds of native trees, shrubs and wildflowers – all for sale. Stay and make a day of it exploring our 300-acres of native woodland gardens and over twelve miles of hiking trails and paths.

The Spring Native Plant Sale features hearty native plants, guided wildflower walks, a variety of talks on gardening/wildlife/conservation topics and a few longer hikes exploring the Riding property, and live bluegrass music. Please come and enjoy the beauty of the emerging spring!

Hours: Friday & Saturday, 9am to 5pm, and Sunday, 1 to 5pm. Free Admission.
 

 

 

Event: SPRING PLANT SALE @ Crabtree Farms
 

Come see the NEW Worm Factory 360 and learn about Vermicomposting at the 10th Annual Spring Plant Sale at Crabtree Farms in Chattanooga.  Stop by the Thompson Worm Farm Booth. 

When:
Saturday April 17, 2010: 8-4
Sunday April 18, 2010: 11-3

Customers can choose from a wide variety of vegetable starts including heirloom tomatoes, herbs and annual flowers. All plants are cultivated in the greenhouse at Crabtree Farms using sustainable methods. Due to popular demand, Crabtree Farms will be offering over 6000 plants at this year’s sale. So no one will leave empty handed this year. Also, check out the new Sunday hours for the plant sale.
 

Gardening Talks:
Join us Saturday at the Spring Plant Sale for free Gardening talks; topic TBA

Plants for Sale:
There are many annual favorites, as well as several new varieties. All have been chosen for regional adaptation and performance. Mark your space in the yard and check out the bountiful selection at this year’s plant sale. Many plants available this year are hard to find locally. 
 

DIRECTIONS

From Downtown
Proceed South on Market Street
Past the Choo Choo, at light take Left on Main Street
Proceed ½ mile to light at Central, take Right
Keep left, Left onto Rossville Blvd.
Go 1 mile on Rossville Blvd.
Right on East 30th Street
Stay on East 30th Street, wind through residential neighborhood
East 30th Dead Ends at Crabtree Farm 
Drive up to Barn!

 

From 1-24
Take I-24 into Chattanooga to the Rossville Boulevard South exit
Go less than 1 mile south on Rossville Blvd. to East 30th Street
Right on East 30th Street
Stay on East 30th Street, wind through residential neighborhood
East 30th Dead Ends at Crabtree Farm 
Drive up to Barn!
 

Chattanooga Times Free Press on Vermicomposting September 19, 2009

Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009

As the worm turns

Vermicomposting ideal way to convert waste into fertilizer

By: Karen Nazor Hill
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While the thought of worm composting may sound gross to some, experts say it pays to get past the ick factor. Vermicomposting, as it’s formally known, is an excellent way to convert waste into fertilizer.

Mike Barron, Crabtree Farms greenhouse manager, even calls it the best fertilizer available for flower beds and vegetable gardens.

The ideal housing for a worm compost is a multilayered container, allowing easy placement of bedding materials, which can include shredded newspaper, cardboard and dried grass clippings.

“It’s on-site organic waste recycling — stuff you’d be throwing away in a landfill,” said Matt Thompson, owner of Thompson Worm Farm in Chattanooga. “The worms are making a natural fertilizer.”

According to www.worms.com, earthworms are hermaphroditic, meaning each worm is male and female and can produce eggs and fertilize the eggs produced by another worm. Under ideal conditions, the worm population could double each month.

Five tips on vermicomposting

1. Choose a container. Compost worms need a dark, well-drained environment with good air flow. This can be a plastic storage bin, homemade wooden box or a commercially made stackable composting system.

2. Prepare the bed. The bedding the worms will live in can be shredded paper, junk mail, shredded newspaper, coir (recycled coconut fiber) or peat moss. To prepare the bedding, wet with nonchlorinated water and let soak for 24 hours. The moisture consistency should be about the same as a wrung-out sponge.

3. Watch the temperature. Optimal temperature is 74 F, within a target range of 40 to 90 F. Temperatures outside this range will kill the worms. In most parts of the country, setting up your bin indoors will make this temperature range easier to maintain.

4. Use red wigglers. These worms are well-suited for the conditions of bin life. Earthworms from your garden are burrowing worms, not top feeders like the red wigglers. This means they will not do well in your bin, and they may try to leave your composting system.

5. Start feeding slowly. Worms will love fruit and vegetable waste, coffee grounds and filter, egg shells (dried and crushed), tea bags, breads, pasta and pizza crust. Don’t overfeed. Increase the quantity of worm food once you know how quickly they process the food.

Source: Matt Thompson/thompsonwormfarm.com

Vermicomposting workshop

Thompson Worm Farm is holding a vermicomposting workshop at 11 a.m. today and 12:30 p.m. Sunday during the annual Fall Festival and Plant Sale at Crabtree Farms, 1000 E. 30th St. Participants will learn how to set up and maintain a worm composting system, observe a working worm bin system and learn how to use vermicompost in a garden.

Free Vermicomposting Workshops in Chattanooga September 10, 2009

Come see our booth and the NEW Worm Factory® 360 at Crabtreee Farms on Saturday September 19th 9AM-1PM and Sunday 20th 11AM-3PM at the Fall Festival and Plant Sale.  Come learn about composting with worms at our free workshops!  If you start Vermicomposting now – and through the winter, you will be ready for spring seed starting with your own homemade vermicompost! 

Fall Plant Sale

Customers can choose from a wide variety of fall vegetable starts including lettuce mix, spinach, snap peas, and perennial herbs and flowers. Fall is the best time to plant perennials in your garden or floral beds. The winter months allow them to nestle in and prepare to burst forth in the spring.

Fall Festival
Celebrate All Things Local at the Fall Plant Sale. Shop local growers and handmade crafts and visit with outreach booths while basking in cooler weather. There will be free kids activities and farm tours. Kids which enjoy the Petting Zoo on Sunday only. Hay Rides for all ($2 fee per person).
Attend a free workshop:
Saturday 10am, Fall Garden Tips

Saturday 11am, Composting with Worms
Sunday 12:30, Composting with Worms
Sunday 1:30, Fall Garden Tips

DIRECTIONS to Crabtree Farms:

From Downtown
Proceed South on Market Street
Past the Choo Choo, at light take Left on Main Street
Proceed ½ mile to light at Central, take Right
Keep left, Left onto Rossville Blvd.
Go 1 mile on Rossville Blvd.
Right on East 30th Street
Stay on East 30th Street, wind through residential neighborhood
East 30th Dead Ends at Crabtree Farm
The gate will be closed but not locked. Please close it behind you.
Drive up to Barn!

From 1-24
Take I-24 into Chattanooga to the Rossville Boulevard South exit
Go less than 1 mile south on Rossville Blvd. to East 30th Street
Right on East 30th Street
Stay on East 30th Street, wind through residential neighborhood
East 30th Dead Ends at Crabtree Farm
The gate will be closed but not locked. Please close it behind you.
Drive up to Barn!

New Worm Factory 360 is Here! August 23, 2009

NEW Worm Factory® 360°

Unique Features:
New Thermo Siphon Design patent pending-  Air enters the base on all four sides
Worms burrow through the compost creating air passages rising heat and compost gases create a Thermo Siphon, pulling the air upwards through the trays
Air exits the four sides of the lid
Allows 10 times more air circulation than similar composters.

The Worm Factory 360 has a standard 4-Tray size which is expandable up to 8 trays, giving it the largest volume of any home composter.

Now only 1 step assembly out of the box.

The redesigned lid converts to a handy stand for trays while harvesting the compost

The accessory kit provides basic tools to make managing the Worm Factory 360 easier.

20 year warranty.
 

How It Works:
Simply add a handful of worms and your organic waste to the bottom tray. The worms will start processing the food. Once the bottom tray is filled add another tray. The worms migrate upward to the newest food source leaving the bottom tray full of nutrient rich compost.

As waste is broken down, moisture filters through the system, taking nutrient-rich particles with it. You can drain organic liquid fertilizer right from the spigot.

The Worm Factory 360 is made of #2 HDPE Plastics. The Worm Factory 360 is made in the USA. The Worm Factory 360 has been member tested and recommended by the National Home Gardening Club.

 

Description:
Composting with worms allows you to turn kitchen scraps, paper waste and cardboard into nutrient-rich soil for your plants. The Worm Factory 360 composting system takes the effort out of composting.

With a thermo siphon air flow design, the Worm Factory 360 increases the composting speed. Now you can produce compost much faster than traditional composting methods. Master Gardeners agree, worm castings are one of the richest forms of fertilizer that you can use.

The Worm Factory 360 can be used indoors or outdoors allowing year round production. Now composting is no longer limited to backyards. The Worm Factory 360 is odorless making it great for apartments, kitchens, garages, porches and more.

Features:
Year-round production
Odor Free operation
Available in four tray options
Expandable up to 8 trays
Easy to assemble and manage
Built in “worm tea” collector tray and spigot for easy draining
Includes a 16-page easy-to-use instructional booklet with photos and illustrations
Comes with “Quick-Tips” lid for easy reference
Houses eight to twelve thousand worms that consume 5-8lbs of food per week
20 year warranty on parts and workmanship
Made in the U.S.A.
Made with post consumer recycled materials.
30 year product lifespan.
 

Included:
4 Stacking Trays
Collection Base
16-Page Instruction Book
Ventilation “Quick Tips” Lid
Coir Brick
Worm Bedding
Spigot
Accessory Kit
· Hand Rake
· Scraper
· Thermometer

To order go to Thompsonwormfarm.com

Free Vermicompost talk in Chattanooga August 14, 2009

Join us at Crabtreee Farms on Thursday September 3, 5:30-6:30 to learn about composting with worms. 

 

Topics will include:

• How vermicomposting is different from backyard composting

• How to setup and maintain a worm composting system

• Observing a working worm bin system

• How to use vermicompost in your garden

• Question and answer time

 

Monthly Community Garden Meetings are held at Crabtree Farms to inform individuals interested in starting new community garden projects and to encourage networking among area community gardens and gardeners. The meetings are the first Thursday of every month from 5:30-7pm. They are free and open to the public; no registration necessary.

 

For more information or products check out http://www.thompsonwormfarm.com