VermiDragon Farm is located in the Sierra Foothills of Northern California.  We had to experience first-hand the difference worms and castings can make on an organic garden to become believers.  Our soil, a silty clay loam, is great as a forest soil and for grazing pasture, but it's not optimal for gardening because there is not much organic matter in it.  We don't use chemical fertilizers, and mixing castings with our raised beds soil gave us absolutely amazing results. 

We are a 2-people operation and we both take part in every step of the process.  Our bedding is mostly composted horse manure from local small stables or from friends' stables.  We leach it thoroughly before we use it in our worm beds, and we also use it as a form of food.  To ship, we use coir -- a renewable resource obtained from coconut fiber. 

We have found out from experience that a naturally amended soil can yield better results than a soil that has been chemically altered (using petroleum-based fertilizers).  The results benefit the environment rather than harming it.  We are hoping to bring as many people as possible to that realization.  

Find out more on vermiculture on our Links page.  There's also a section there on the use of beneficial insects for pest control.

 

About the worms:

We grow E. foetida, red wiggler and L. rebellus, European nightcrawler.  We raise them in worm beds and feed them a steady diet of organic material:  mainly, the composted manure from our horses and goats - and from friends' animals.  We also use composted leaves. 

We pack the worms in a 1:1 ratio of coir and ship them in breathable bags.  To avoid shipping the debris that naturally surround worms, we screen the worms before we add them to the coir; finally, we top each bag with some extra worms before closing it.