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my journey to vermicomposting using restaurant & grocery store scraps

Boyd Crowder

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
SO yeah, I have a few friends who do the vermicomposting , and they told me how to make massive amounts of it for almost no money.

Use vegetable scraps not just from my own kitchen, but sourcing from local restaurants and or grocery stores.

My kid works in a nearby retaurant, and i have lots of friends in the business.

My first goal is to hit up some of the juice shops i patronize. that way i dont have to seperate meats, fats , onions, peppers etc.

second best , a grocery store that tosses out the spoiled veggies

and third , restaurants , where id need to manually seperate the sources

Im just starting out in this , so anyone care to join me on this 6-7 month endeavour ?


anyone else doing this ?
 
heady blunts

heady blunts

prescription blunts
Veteran
if you can lock down the waste streams you're golden. the logistics are the hardest part, especially as you start scaling up.

i think worm farming is a hugely underserved industry, especially on the east coast. when i look at the prices of castings i think seriously about starting an EWC business.

if you want really super awesome and consistent castings, consider putting the food scraps through a thermal composting process then feeding that to the worms. add some rock dust and crab shell in your thermal compost too now you've got pretty much the best plant food on the planet.

good luck!
 
Siskiyou

Siskiyou

Active member
Veteran
This sounds like an excellent project and potentially great fun as well as rewarding. My gardening has become increasingly vermicentric, though at a small scale, and I love it.

What style bin(s) will you use?
 
Boyd Crowder

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
most likely a 40gal tote for the first runs
ijust remembered
i know a kid who manages the produce dept of a local grocery store ima make him target #1
 
S

sticky367

Member
Try the local farmers markets. In the city there are farmers markets every day and lots of scrap produce is discarded. Depending on where you are you could get a good amount or even make contacts with produce people
 
bigshrimp

bigshrimp

Active member
Veteran
heady blunts said:
if you can lock down the waste streams you're golden. the logistics are the hardest part, especially as you start scaling up.

i think worm farming is a hugely underserved industry, especially on the east coast. when i look at the prices of castings i think seriously about starting an EWC business.

if you want really super awesome and consistent castings, consider putting the food scraps through a thermal composting process then feeding that to the worms. add some rock dust and crab shell in your thermal compost too now you've got pretty much the best plant food on the planet.

good luck!
Click to expand...

I totally agree that worm farming in an undeveloped industry, especially as organic methods become more popular i could see fresh (live) casting fetching a good price per pound.

The problem with scaling up as it seems in composting operations too - in consistency of product from run to run.

Boyd - i would look into local coffee shops and see if you can get some of their used grounds, they usually are happy to give them too me. Another good lead would be local farms - horse manure, cow manure, alpaca, most ruminates poo is good for worms.
 
P

Polishdankchron

Member
If the dumpster isnt locked/ the place doesn't use a compactor and you're not afraid to do a little dumpster diving... gold source. Best part is most places will automatically separate the food for you because they throw shit out by department. Be careful of the meat bag hehe.

I lived for months like this - there is always more food than possible to use.
 
Mikell

Mikell

Dipshit Know-Nothing
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Polishdankchron said:
If the dumpster isnt locked/ the place doesn't use a compactor and you're not afraid to do a little dumpster diving... gold source. Best part is most places will automatically separate the food for you because they throw shit out by department. Be careful of the meat bag hehe.

I lived for months like this - there is always more food than possible to use.
Click to expand...

Those fucken meat bags.

I'd rep you for that if I wasn't on mobile.

I showed up whacked on acid once, only to find ten boxes of chips and enough avocados for gallons of guac. Was a good day for homeless hippie bums for miles around.
 
stoned-trout

stoned-trout

if it smells like fish
Veteran
I used to get stuff from my buddy who had pigs and permission to gather stuff from a bunch of places.. he even had barrels for some places.back then I was on 33 acres and had machinery.now a days dumpster diving is illegal in a lot of places..not getting a trespassing charge for rotten veggies and such...I don't have room any more for anything... just 2 small outdoor bins and an indoor upward migration bin 3 trays...yeehaw....I like to vary my inputs on my castings .. some day I will get some soil analysis done npk ect..I been trying to make a more complete finished product higher p and k is the goal...using scraps not meals and guanos from store
 
P

Polishdankchron

Member
Mikell said:
Those fucken meat bags.

I'd rep you for that if I wasn't on mobile.

I showed up whacked on acid once, only to find ten boxes of chips and enough avocados for gallons of guac. Was a good day for homeless hippie bums for miles around.
Click to expand...

LOL - I went trip dumpster diving before too. Maannnn what an experience. Everything takes ten times longer, wondering in amazment, searching through the stuff... My best find was a whole case of wine - one bottle broken which got the other labels all fucked up!
 
stoned-trout

stoned-trout

if it smells like fish
Veteran
dumpster diving in city can get your ass a ticket....in the country no big deal....I never was much for it ...if I get hungry I go kill something... hunt/fish....yeehaw
 
dociron

dociron

Active member
Boyd Crowder said:
SO yeah, I have a few friends who do the vermicomposting , and they told me how to make massive amounts of it for almost no money.

Use vegetable scraps not just from my own kitchen, but sourcing from local restaurants and or grocery stores.

My kid works in a nearby retaurant, and i have lots of friends in the business.

My first goal is to hit up some of the juice shops i patronize. that way i dont have to seperate meats, fats , onions, peppers etc.

second best , a grocery store that tosses out the spoiled veggies

and third , restaurants , where id need to manually seperate the sources

Im just starting out in this , so anyone care to join me on this 6-7 month endeavour ?


anyone else doing this ?
Click to expand...

:tiphat: I'm in for the ride! lol, I offered 20$ to a hostess at Red Lobster for the crab and lobster shells, the manager came over as I was finishing my meal.... Declined the offer, lol, on "Principles of Hygeine Laws", go figger! Then he asked what I wanted them for, I told him they were for my chilis and tomatoes, the shell breaks down with microbial action and then eats Japanese Beetles,, he had no clue what to say after that, so I asked him if his parents gardened. The lights went on in his head, I still didn't get the shells, but so what, I got to feck with a college boys head for a little bit, arrogant jack that he was,, lol:tiphat:
 
Boyd Crowder

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
hate those jacktards
anywhozzle,
started my bin last week
i was gifted 10 gal of unsifted worm castings ;)
ilined the bin with damp newspaper, then threw the worms /castings in
un top of that , i threw in an old cucmber,some salad and some broccoli butts
then i layered that with a thin layer of hay
and on top of that some bx soil mix and watered the thing down
hope i did it ok, im guessing in abouit three months ill have a nice new brood of worms, and hopefully they will gift me some sweet sweet poo in about 8 months
 
Boyd Crowder

Boyd Crowder

Teem MiCr0B35
stumbled accros the bokashi technique this weekend. will start my imo this week and use this method for feeding and predecomposing scraps
 
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