i have done worms, and have chickens. chickens give me a LOT more, and also u get eggs.

but both are good. and by brew i just meant drain water and shake, brew was more tongue and cheek.

how large of a worm setup do you have?

chickens are great, cant deny their work and production,

i am just using an old bathtub to give you an idea, a couple large handfuls on a plant or tree is more than plenty between add-ons

so i was just thinking

you get your wormtea And mix your chicken castings, and you use this mix to inoculate and activate Bio char (terra Preta )

This post was edited by eMptyBox on Nov 23 2020 08:14am

yes i used a similar sized setup, 30 gallon tub. fed it a lot of plant material and any chicken leftover (i dont feel chicken to chickens often).

for my compost i do a lasagna technique:

layer1: dry yellow grass, broken down sticks, wood chips

layer2: chicken poop, LOTS of it, and crushed egg shells (good calcium amendment)

layer3: GREEN, fresh grass, vegetable plant trimmings, etc.

layer4: wood ash, biochar

i stack layers like this over a week or so, until its 3-4 thick (12-16 total layers). then let it sit for approx 2-4 weeks, until its reduced to 50% of its original size. usually starts 3 feet tall, ends small pile. water 3-5 times a week.

once this is complete i move it to another empty pile stall, and mix thoroughly. water heavily, and let sit 5 days or so. then apply directly to my raised beds or in ground crops.

i also have a rainwater 50 gal drum that i collect water from my chicken coop. i will dump compost into a 5 gal bucket, fill with water, stir, let settle 30 min, stir, then add to plants.

do u literally just let it sit? for 2-4 or do you flip it afterwards?

i initially let mine sit for 4-6 days, then i flip it every other day ( im trying to make it quickly) otherwise i would have smaller piles as heat isnt really needed

but im trying to expand and produce topsoil in areas where it was excavated off for a hard foundation

so i need my piles to be the right height, but also the right shape, i want the energy to flow up through the top, so i make mine like a pyramid rather than a wide pile.

i just let it sit in the layer phase, i used to flip, but i run like 10x piles at once. and that got to be a LOT of work.

so i do layers which helps the heat them up and trap it in. usually a good thick layer of green on top to help as well.

then once i mix them i flip it daily or so for the 5-7 days before putting on plants.

so i do my compost pile in layers aswell, but i didnt want to put anything too solid on top of the pile as i really want my heat energy to rise up and exhaust through the top -- i have a feeling my piles are slightly larger than yours and require more attention for the overheating of beneficial organisms



your method is really good and relaxed,


as of now i need to produce high quality soil fast, you say you sit 2-4 weeks then work with it for another week, so its 3-5 weeks long, where as i hope to have soil produced less than 3 weeks

when i get more relaxed i will adopt a similar style of letting it sit before finishing it, and or see how much my worms can eat!

This post was edited by eMptyBox on Nov 23 2020 08:47am

yes i used to be the same, most soil in least amount of time. watered more, turned daily, etc. but it wore me out.

i have filled all of my raised beds with my compost. 4 feet x 6 feet x 2.5 feet. and i have 8 of them now.

in fall i lawn mow leaves down into a shredded pile, and put them in the empty raised beds, let sit all winter.

remove in spring and mix with compost, then in base of raised bed i put a large 1 foot diameter core of organic material. branches, wood chips, old plan stalks, etc.

cover in leaves, compost, and some soil. i plant fruit trees, and generally have a good pile of soil left aside. as well as last years compost from planters i use for potatoes, broccoli, carrots, etc.

have filled all of my raised beds this way with incredible results.

looking to fill in the niches in my garden, so there isnt room for weeds to pop up, i want to fill in the spaces that nature has available.

for example i want to grow peppers under my fruit trees,

or a better example would be fruit tree, then under that fruit tree, a coffee tree, then a pepper, and herb, and ground cover, and vine layer, all in one space. Guild planting/ or companion planting


nice im trying to concentrate on variety and density right now. gardening is all anual crops it seems, and thats not at all how nature does it

i am trying to get more perennials in my garden, have stuff growing year round, i also like to make hugelkultur mounds for raised beds downside of my swale. but its not boxed up, they are open and i grow on the sides and the tops of the mounds

i want to stack layers of plants.

density density density



im not a big fan of digging to mix, as i hardly see this occur in nature, i am a huge fan of just adding more layers.

i only do that if i have to amend soil to make it good, once i have good soil i let it stays right where it wants to, undisturbed beneath the surface.


i just throw out rye seed for a winter covercrop, i believe its right to have plants growing inbetween your grow season, keep the root systems active and the soil alive. -- the cover method is still much better than none! i like to call it Living mulch

Watch this, i think you'll like it a lot