When you think of farming, you probably picture pastoral fields with nicely weeded crops growing in the sunshine. While that certainly does describe one type of farming, there is another type that you may have never heard of. Worm farming is a unique concept where “farmers” raise worms to sell to other people.
You may be asking yourself why people would possibly want to buy worms. Well, there are actually a number of different reasons. Here are a few of the top ways that worms can be used in everyday life:
Baiting your hook with a worm is a tradition practically as old as fishing itself. Did you ever wonder where the worms at the bait shop came from? Chances are a worm farmer provided them to the shop. This is just one of many different uses for worms.
Composting is one of the best things you can do to minimize the amount of waste that you are producing. By turning your organic food waste into useful compost, you can help reduce your personal impact on the local landfill. However, every good compost pile requires one important thing…worms!
Worm farms raise a variety of different worms that can be used to help with composting. The worms help break down your food waste, turning it into organic compost that can later be used to fertilize your garden or amend your soil.
So in essence, the worms get a tasty treat when they snack on your discarded food, and you get free fertilizer for your garden. It’s a win-win situation. Best of all, the entire process is completely natural and can help you do something good for the Earth.
Attracting Birds To Your Yard
If you are an avid birdwatcher, you will get far more birds to visit your yard if your soil is full of worms. As sad as it is to sacrifice worms to hungry birds, it is all part of the cycle of life. By adding worms to your soil and making it as bird-friendly as possible, you can bring more birds in to your back yard.
This can make for some excellent bird watching opportunities. Grab your binoculars and pull up a chair for some of the best backyard birding you have ever seen. Keep a camera close by, too, so that you can capture photos of any amazing birds that you see. Who needs bird seed when you can feed them worms instead?
While you wouldn’t feed worms to your dog or cat, there are some types of pets who would love to eat these wriggly little creatures. Most reptiles and amphibians enjoy eating worms. That means that if you have a pet frog, turtle, snake or lizard, ordering worms to give them as treats is a smart idea.
So now you know a little bit more about worm farming. If you are like most people, you probably don’t spend a lot of time thinking about worms. However, when you really start to look at how useful they are, you can see why there is demand for these little creatures.