One of the first articles on the website and a very early one in the library section was an article on ‘Backyard Livestock Books’ which included, among other animals, worms. That was over 12 years ago and I had reason to re-visit it recently, and realised I was not happy with it. Also, I have accumulated more books on worms over the last 12 years so I have decided to extract the ‘worms’ section to revise and update it. This is the result.
Organic Growing with Worms – David Murphy – Viking (AUS) 2005 ISBN 0 670 04174 2 – an excellent Aussie book, lots of useful information. The first section covers worms for everyone and provides a general introduction broken up into earthworms generally, their classification, soil fertility and vermicast. The second section covers worms for gardeners and how they are used, and worms for fisher persons. The third section covers worms for farmers, including large scale vermiculture, earthworms and biodynamics and earthworms and dung beetles. Section four covers worms for worm farmers about starting a worm farm. The fifth section covers worms for the greenhouse covering how worms can fight global warming and how they can be used to process sewage. The final section covers worms for waste managers, how worms can be used to manage waste and guidelines for best practice in worm waste management. This is a must have book for Aussie worm farmers. The book has some line drawings and a central section of colour photos.
Earthworms for Ecology and Profit (Volume 1: Scientific Earthworm Farming) – Ronald E. Gaddie & Donald E. Douglas – Bookworm Publishing Company (Can) 1977 ISBN 0 916302 05 9 – There was a volume 2 brought out in 1977 - Earthworms and the Ecology – but it seems much rarer than Volume 1. This is a technical book for those serious about the business of worm farming. The book starts out with an introduction about worms and starting a business based around earthworms. Chapter two is an in-depth technical review of earthworm anatomy and lifecycle. Chapter covers planning and setting up your earthworm business including site assessment, outdoor bed and shelter construction and initial care of beds. Chapter 4 covers earthworm feeding and feeding methods, chapter 5 pests and diseases, and chapter 6 general earthworm care. The following chapters cover harvesting and grading, packing and shipping, advertising and selling and ecological use of earthworms. The book contains some line drawings and some black and white photos.
Australian back to basics: Worm Farm Management – Eric Wilson – Pennon Publishing (AUS) 2002 ISBN 1877029130 – mainly covers large scale operations rather than backyard stuff but interesting nevertheless. It covers setting up a commercial worm farm, worm biology, bedding systems for worms, breeding management systems, managing, feeding and watering your worms. Also covered are harvesting, packaging and transporting worms, how to harvest and market worm castings, worm behaviours and problems and pests. The book has some black and white photos, a few line drawings and a centre section of colour photos.
Worms Garden For You – Allan Windust – Allscape (AUS) 1997 ISBN 0 646 34280 0 –This book is not too technical but with lots of diagrams, black and white photos and a central section of colour photos. Chapter one is an introduction covering how worms support your gardening efforts, chapter two covers worm anatomy and physiology, Chapter three covers the differences between earth worms and compost worms. Chapter 4 covers worms and making good compost, Chapter 5 covers different types of worm farms and their management, chapter 6 covers how worms react to various soil types and keeping them happy. Chapter seven provides comments and hints from existing worm farmers.
Earthworms Unlimited – Amy Brown – Kangaroo Press (AUS) 1994 ISBN 0 86417 631 7 – The author describes this as a booklet, it is only 80 pages long, cover to cover. The book is written in the format of one to two pages per subject. It covers getting started with worms and planning the project, possible markets for worms, anatomy and lifecycle of worms, worm accommodation for backyard breeders, bedding mixtures and what to feed worms. Also covered is introducing worms to beds, setting up propagation boxes and obtaining worm capsules. The rest of the book covers harvesting and storing worms, packing the worms, worm enemies and suggestions for marketing your worms. The book has a few line drawings.
Earthworms in Australia – David Murphy – Hyland House Publishing (AUS) 1993 ISBN 978 1 875657 09 6 – The book starts out with four forewords by people I have never heard of. The book moves on and covers what earthworms do for soil fertility, the anatomy of the earthworm, breeding earthworms including species, breeding habits and growth rates. Starting a worm farm is covered including food, beds and caring for worms, worms for profit including waterless toilets, sewage treatment and heavy metal treatment. Growing paking and seeling worms for fishermen is covered as is growing worms in larger amounts, growing for wormcastings including harvesting and packaging, and worm systems for use on farms. The book has a couple of B&W photos, some line drawings and a centre section of colour photos.
Worm Farming Made Simple – Alan Windust – Allscape Publications (AUS) 1997 ISBN 978 0 646 32664 3 – This book is set out in a similar format to ‘worms garden for you’ above, by the same author and focuses on commercial, rather than backyard, worm farming. There are 12 chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction to worm farming for profit, C2 discusses rules for worm farming success, C3 covers suggestions for worm products and ‘services’ that could be provided, C4 covers worm biology, C5 covers the issues associated with setting up and managing commercial worm systems. C6 covers worm marketing ideas, C7 covers bait worms, C8 covers waste reduction using worms, C9 installing school worm farms and teaching about worms, C10 covers the future outlook for the industry, C11 covers getting started and C12 covers sourcing more information. There are lots of colour and B&W photos.
Worms Downunder Downunder – Alan Windust – Alscape Publications (AUS) 1994 ISBN 978 0 646 31072 0 – This is a larger A4 format paperback, also focused on commercial worm enterprises. Chapter 1 covers why worms are worth farming and how to use the book. Chapter 2 covers worm anatomy, physiology and lifecycle, chapter 3 covers setting up and running various commercial worm systems from site and construction through to harvesting packaging and marketing. Chapter 4 (very short) is on how worms improve soil health, Chapter 5 covers the use of worms in farmland including practices to encourage worms. Chapter 6 (also short) covers garden practices to encourage earthworms, Chapter 7 covers how to set up a worm farming operation in a school Chapter 8 provides examples around Aus & N of people who are running various worm operations and chapter 9 (1 page) talks about potential income opportunities with worms. The book has lots of diagrams and line drawings with a few B&W and colour photos.
Let and Earthworm Be Your Garbage Man – Home, Farm and Garden Research Inc. (US) 1954 ISBN 0 914116 11 8 – This is a small paperback, only 64 pages cover to cover. It is a report about (at that time) a new method of disposing of organic waste. The process in a nutshell is to dig a hole, line the sides with Besser blocks, then toss in the organic waste and cover with hessian bags. The rest of the book talks about how to use the compost from the worm farms, worm species, the effect worms have on the soil and encouraging worm population growth. The book also talks about how to find and grow worms for compost and bail, as well as creating a business based around worms. Lots of black and white photos.
