Archive for the ‘Kids Corner’ Category
Sunday, May 9th, 2010
We enjoyed Mother’s Day one day early because I had to be out of town on May 9th. I woke up to find two cute, excited girls, a wonderful breakfast and presents. My favorite present was a T-shirt that they drew on for the occasion. Each girl drew on one side and put on things that were special to them. In the evening, we went to a Mother, Daughter dance and I wore that shirt. I received a lot of compliments about it.
After breakfast, we went outside and did one of my favorite things…..worked in the garden. We normally start our garden earlier, but we were a little behind this year. In the past, I used to rototill the garden, but I feel that this is not good for the soil. What I do now is I dig out a trench where I want to plant. I then put in compost from our Dual Drum compost tumbler or from our homemade compost bin. This not only provides nutrients for the roots but needed 
air too because the soil is not compacted. We then put some of the soil that we dug out on top of the compost and plant our seeds or plants. Everything in our garden is from seed except for the tomato plants.
The girls helped me with all of this. They love to put seeds in the ground and watch them grow. We all enjoy eating the vegetables that come out of our garden. I had a wonderful day with my girls. What did you do for Mother’s Day?
Tags: black gold, compost, compost tumbler, composting, dual drum tumbler, Green Business, organic garden, tomatoes
Posted in Educational Events, Green Business, Hot composting, How to's, Kids Corner, Organic Gardening | No Comments »
Saturday, April 17th, 2010
At Monster Worms, not only do we enjoy vermiculture, but we enjoy hot composting too. Ever since our daughters could walk, they have been involved with all of our projects. They know that spent flowers and leaves can turn into “dirt” because they have seen it happen first hand. I remember one time when my oldest daughter, who was about four at the time, talked to a wilting flower in a vase and said, “It’s okay, you’ll go into the compost and make more flowers.”
The other day the girls and I put some of our compost, that I got out of our dual drum compost tumbler, into our brick planter boxes and half wine barrels. We then planted flowers that we bought at a local nursery. Every year we do this. It’s like a tradition. The girls get to pick out which flowers that they want to plant. When they were younger, I had to dig the holes and help them plant. Now, they can do it on their own. They love it and they enjoy seeing the fruits of their labor.
Tags: black gold, compost, compost tumbler, composting, dual drum tumbler, Green Business, organic garden, vermiculture
Posted in Educational Events, Green Business, Hot composting, Kids Corner, Organic Gardening | No Comments »
Friday, January 1st, 2010
What does Monster Worms and the Nutcracker have in common? Well…two members of the Monster Worms family were highly involved in the Black Diamond Ballet Theatre’s wonderful 2009 Nutcracker performance.
Our oldest daughter loves to dance and she’s really good! This is the second year that she has performed in the Nutcracker. In this years show, she played one of the children in the dance scene in Act 1 and later on she was a Bon Bon. Our girl loves to perform and she was very sad to have the shows end.
The other member of the family that played a big roll was Dave. Not only did he make sure that our daughter made it to all of her rehearsals and had her hair and makeup done, but he also made the sleigh that was used in the show. It looked great! Maybe next year in appreciation they’ll add in a special red worm dance. 
For more information about the ballet company, go to www.BlackDiamondBalletTheatre.org
Tags: Red worms
Posted in Kids Corner, Walkabout | 4 Comments »
Monday, November 9th, 2009
Our next stop was Sea World in San Diego, CA. Even though it was windy and a little cold, we had a blast! We saw a few shows, one of which featured sea lions. We learned that seals, sea lions and walruses are called pinnipeds (from Latin pinna, wing or fin, and ped-, foot) or fin-footed mammals.
The next show that we saw featured the great Killer Whale, Shamu! We enjoyed watching the whales leap out of the water and make huge splashes. The people sitting in the splash zone got really wet, especially when the whales used their flippers and tails to splash them!
Throughout the park they have many exhibits. We saw seals, sea lions, walruses, beluga whales, Commerson’s dolphins, manatees, killer whales, polar bears, sharks, flamingos and fresh and salt water aquariums. 
While we were looking at the dolphins we noticed a sign that read “Access to Child Swap Area”. We told the kids that that was the area where parents swap their children when they are misbehaving. ….Just kidding! (The color of the photo looks blue/green because of the reflection from the dolphin tank)
We also went into their “Garden of Discovery”. Guess what we saw???
We saw an earthworm viewing window and a vermicomposting setup. They also had an active and passive composting exhibit. We were very disappointed though because the vermicomposting and composting exhibits were not maintained. I plan to make a phone call to see if they need our help.
Tags: compost, composting, red wigglers, Red worms, vermicompost, Vermicomposting, vermiculture, worms
Posted in Educational Events, Kids Corner, Walkabout | 2 Comments »
Thursday, November 5th, 2009
Once a year we take the kids down to Southern California for a vacation. Like all children we know, they love to go to Disneyland. We try to plan our trips so that the girls don’t miss too much school. They only missed 2 1/2 days and we brought their school work with us.
The kids really enjoyed it. It is a little sad for us to see our older daughter growing out of the younger kid rides. She even wants to do rides by herself. Before we know it, she won’t want us there at all. 
Fortunately our youngest still wants to do the little kid rides. Her favorite is the carousel and she made sure that she rode on Mary Poppins’ horse.
I have always been impressed with the Disneyland and California Adventure Parks. You constantly feel as though you have been transported into another part of the World. Each section has its own theme and the decor and plants add to the charm. The rides are clean and kept in great condition. 
Personnel are constantly picking up debris and the staff is knowledgeable and friendly. Recycling containers are conveniently located throughout the park and most of the food containers are made to be biodegradable.
If you go….make sure to see the fireworks show. It is spectacular!
Tags: Recycling
Posted in Kids Corner, Walkabout | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
Our youngest daughter’s pumpkin field trip was to the Dell’Osso Family Farm in Lathrop, CA. This farm was started in 1920 and is one of the largest pumpkin farms in the United States. There are a lot of fun things for the kids to do. As you first walk in you see a playground with two jumpies. There is also a tire pyramid as high as a one story building. Just beyond that were pumpkins stacked up around a water tower which was about 20 feet into the air!
We went on a hay ride and we got to see the five story snow slide that they are getting ready for use after Halloween. They’ll need to keep adding lots of ice……our winters don’t get that cold for snow.
This year we didn’t go through their corn mazes because it was too muddy from the rain. They have three mazes and they are huge and very intricate. This year they have the “Silo”, “Ghost” and “Pumpkin”. Bringing along a map of each maze is a wise idea if you choose to go into one of them.
Later, we went on a train ride that circles the corn mazes. The kids really enjoyed that. Right before we left, each child was given a pumpkin to take home.
Posted in Educational Events, Kids Corner | 2 Comments »
Sunday, October 18th, 2009
Our oldest daughter’s class from Cornerstone Christian School took a field trip to the Smith Family Farm in Knightsen, CA. As you enter the property, there is a wonderful outdoor market that sells fresh local fruit and vegetables and seasonal holiday decorations. There is a corn maze, pumpkins the size of large hippity hops, farm animals, flowers of all colors, and fun exhibits. What a great place to take your family!
After the kids got off the bus, we headed to the barn to listen to some great live music played by a few of the Smith family members. They taught the children that just about anything from spoons, juice boxes containing rice, washboards and sticks, could be used to make music. The kids had a blast!
Later, we took a hayride out to the pumpkin patch so that the kids could get their treasured pumpkins. There was a long dirt road in between two corn fields lined with sunflowers and filled with pumpkins. It was a beautiful sight. These gourd-like squashes ranged in size from soccer balls to large globes. Most of the children opted for ones that they could barely carry.
We then listened to an interesting talk on Native Americans that used to live in the area. The docent described how these people made their living structures, the tools that they used to get and eat food and how they ground up corn kernels with a mortar and a rock used as a pestle.
Next, we saw a working bee hive behind glass walls. The Queen bee was marked with a green dot. It was neat to see the inside structure and the hundreds of bees. The docent told us that in the spring time, they have a red worms exhibit so that they can explain the benefits of composting with worms. Right up our alley!! It looks like from now on, they’ll get the worms from us. After that our adventure was topped of with a walk through the corn maze. What a great day!
For more information on the Smith Family Farm go to www.smithfamilyfarm.com.
Tags: Bees, red wigglers, Red worms
Posted in Educational Events, Kids Corner, Nature | No Comments »
Thursday, September 24th, 2009
Every Friday Dave helps out at the CC Times community garden in Walnut Creek, CA. The food grown at the garden is donated to the Solano County food bank. To date more than 100 pounds of fresh produce have been donated! Donations of home grown food from gardeners is also greatly appreciated. Each week a different topic about gardening is presented. This week the presentation was about “Winter Gardening” and what crops grow best in cool weather.
We enjoy gardening and we are fortunate to live in a climate where we can garden all year. Soon, we will be pulling out our spring and summer crops and putting in our fall and winter ones. The winter crops for this year will be lettuce, beets, carrots, broccoli, and peas.
We plan on using our “bean teepee” for the peas. In this photo you can see our girls surrounded by pole beans that they planted from seeds. They help me plant most of the garden and everything is planted from seeds except for our tomato plants. The girls love seeing the plants grow and harvesting the vegetables!
For more information about the Contra Costa Times community garden go to www.contracostatimes.com/home-garden.
Tags: organic garden
Posted in Kids Corner, Organic Gardening, Walkabout | No Comments »
Saturday, August 15th, 2009
Red composting worms have many names. They go by red wigglers, red worms, tiger worms, brandling worms and lo and behold……manure worms. Yes, manure worms. If you have ever worked with horse manure that has been sitting on the ground for a little while, you have probably seen these little guys hard at work turning that manure into nutrient rich worm castings.
We collect this manure from a local horse stable. Carol B. is more than happy to give it to us! As she says, “Take as much as you want!” 
Before we feed the horse manure to our red worms, we compost it first to get it past the heating stage. If we don’t do that, it could heat up in our bins and cause our worms to die. This “heat” is caused by 
beneficial bacteria starting the decaying process. These temps could reach as high as 150 F! If you only add very small amounts to your worm bin, you won’t have this heating issue, but we have a lot of worms to feed and therefore we need to add a lot of manure.
Our girls take horse back riding lessons at Someday Ranch in Knightsen, CA. The girls love to be around the horses and the manure doesn’t bother them at all. Good thing!!
Tags: horse manure, red wigglers, Red worms, worm castings
Posted in Kids Corner, Worm Happenings | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
We took our girls fishing at the Contra Loma Reservoir today. As we passed by the entrance we read that the reservoir had been 
stocked with 500 lbs. of catfish on July 13th and again on July 20th. We thought that maybe today would be the day that we would finally catch a fish out there…….we haven’t had much luck in the past. We keep going back though because we love it out there. It’s very peaceful and the scenery is beautiful.
Our European Nightcrawlers weren’t very pleased that we were going fishing. Most of the worms were lucky though because the fish were not biting. Maybe our Monster Worms were too scary for them. Actually, we only saw one other person catch a fish. Maybe he caught the last one!
The nice thing about these red worms is that they don’t need to be refrigerated. Also, 
they have tough skin and stay alive in the water for a long time and because of that, we didn’t need very many worms. I heard that they even hold up well in brackish water.
Even though we didn’t catch a fish, our girls still had a lot of fun. They made bridges out of sticks, logs and wet sand and sand castles out of sand, sea weed, sticks and leaves. We’ll try again in a few days. Wish us luck!!
Tags: Bait, European nightcrawler, Fishing, Red worms
Posted in Fishing, Kids Corner | No Comments »
Sunday, July 26th, 2009
On weekends, we try to make sure that we are all together as a family. It’s also the time that we normally feed the worms and harvest the worms for our orders for the week. We try to have the kids involved as much as possible because we want them to feel that they are part of the business too and that we value their help and input. As a result, they are always coming up with interesting ideas to “help” the business.
Today we had them tear up lettuce and put it into the bins. They also helped us to reconstitute our aged horse manure. Nothing bothers these kids!! Our youngest has the designation of “Chief Pod Picker”. We like to call our cocoons “pods”. She will sift through the castings and pick out baby worms and cocoons and put them back into their bins. Our oldest is the “Chief Worm Bag Maker”. She has a sewing machine and with guidance she helps us make bags to put our worms into. They really like having their own titles.
Well, you should have seen them…….castings under their fingernails, little dirt like smears on their skin and clothes and big smiles on their faces. They really like to help! In one bin, they found a bunch of baby worms on an almost eaten through watermelon rind.
Later that day, our oldest was a princess in a play. She loves to act…boy does she. She’s quite the dancer too. Prior to heading to the show, we had to wash off all the castings and other stuff, do her hair and do all of the other things that it takes to become a Princess.
She looked beautiful and performed magnificently. She was one of “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” in a Frank J. Ballesteros Production. For more information go to: www.antiochchildrenstheatre.com
Tags: worm castings, worms
Posted in Kids Corner, Worm Happenings | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
Yes, our kids have worms as pets. Both of our girls have saved worms since they could walk. I have memories of our youngest, she must have been about two, picking up worms from the cement after it rained. For every worm or two that she picked up, one or two would slip through her fingers! This kept her busy for awhile. After they picked up the worms, they would go and put them in the garden. First they would dig a little hole, then put the worms in and then cover them up and pat the ground. Just like they were planting seeds!
This business was not just a natural extension of our way of life for me and Dave, but also for the kids. They love it too. When our youngest asked if she could have some worms of her own, we didn’t even hesitate. We quickly answered with a resounding yes. Dave gave her a styrofoam cup from a soda that he just had and put in some moist newspaper and two European Nightcrawlers. She labeled the cup appropriately “european nightcrawlers” in five year old handwriting. After about two weeks or so, we put them in a bait cup with a cover because the bedding was drying out too quickly. They have been busily munching away ever since. She got them in late May. One was an adult and the other was a young juvenile. We recently added another adult and they are very busy making more worms!!!
Our oldest of course could not be outdone by her sister, so she had to get worms of her own too!!! She picked the African Nightcrawler. I’m glad that she did, because we are learning a lot by being able to observe them on a smaller scale. Right now, these Africans are putting out a 
least one cocoon per week, possibly more than that and….. the babies grow FAST!
We feed them about once per week. They get either lettuce or a piece of almost eaten watermelon rind and some coffee grounds. The girls love feeding their worms and watching the babies grow.
Tags: African nightcrawler, European nightcrawler, Red worms
Posted in Kids Corner | No Comments »
Anyway……back to the point. Throughout a scout’s ‘career’ she earns badges that she can put on her vest or sash. These badges are called petals, try-its, junior badges or IPs depending on the age level of the scout. Criteria has to be accomplished in order to earn each badge. Our daughter’s Brownie leader likes to have each girl demonstrate how to earn a try-it. I think that this is great because it teaches each girl responsibility and leadership traits. 
Our daughter decided to do the “Fishing” try-it so on May 31st her troop went to the Contra Loma reservoir to learn about fishing. After she demonstrated the tackle box, how 
to cast, how to bait a hook and went over safety related issues, it was time to try out our luck at fishing. We, of course, brought our worms along to fish with. We decided to use the 
