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The Science of Composting and its Role in Regenerative Agriculture in New Zealand.

Composting is a natural process that has been used for centuries to recycle organic materials into nutrient-rich soil amendments. In recent years, composting has gained popularity in New Zealand as a sustainable way to manage organic waste and improve soil health. In this post, we will explore the science of composting and its role in regenerative agriculture in New Zealand....

Coffee Grounds in the Garden: Benefits and Risks

Coffee grounds are a popular addition to garden soil. They are an inexpensive and environmentally friendly way to improve soil health and promote plant growth. However, there are some risks associated with using coffee grounds in the garden. In this post, we will explore the benefits and risks of using coffee grounds in the garden....

Pros and Cons of Continuous Flowthrough Reactors for Vermiculture in Temperate Climates

Continuous flowthrough reactors (CFTRs) are a type of vermicomposting system that offer several advantages over other types of vermicomposting, including windrows. CFTRs use a continuous flow of organic matter and are designed to promote efficient worm activity and composting. ...

Pros and Cons of Using Windrows for Vermiculture in Temperate Climates

Vermiculture, or the process of using worms to break down organic matter into nutrient-rich compost, has become increasingly popular in recent years. One common method of vermicomposting is using windrows, which are long, narrow piles of organic matter that are turned regularly to promote composting. While windrows can be an effective method of vermicomposting in temperate climates, there are pros and cons to consider....

The Top 5 Challenges of Home Composting and How to Overcome Them

Composting is an excellent way to reduce waste, create nutrient-rich soil, and promote sustainability. However, home composting can come with its own set of challenges. In this blog post, we will explore the top 5 challenges of home composting and offer tips on how to overcome them....

5 Simple Things You Can Do to Reduce Your Waste Footprint

As we become increasingly aware of our impact on the environment, many of us are looking for ways to reduce our waste footprint and adopt more sustainable practices. While there are many options available, there are five simple things that individuals can do to significantly reduce the amount of waste they send to landfills. In this blog post, we will explore these five strategies and how they can help reduce our environmental impact....

Getting the Balance Right: Why Nitrogen and Carbon Matter in Composting and Vermiculture

Composting and vermiculture are popular and effective methods for processing organic waste and creating nutrient-rich soil amendments. However, in order to achieve optimal results, it is important to get the balance of nitrogen and carbon in the compost or worm bin just right. In this blog post, we will explore why nitrogen and carbon balance is important for composting and vermiculture, how to achieve the right balance, and the benefits of getting it right....

The Environmental Impact of Landfilling Organic Waste

Organic waste, such as food scraps and yard waste, is a major contributor to landfills in New Zealand. While landfills are often seen as a necessary component of waste management, the presence of organic waste in landfills can have serious negative impacts on the environment and public health. In this blog post, we will explore why organic waste in landfills is bad and the importance of finding sustainable alternatives....

Vermiculture: A Sustainable Solution for Organic Waste Management in New Zealand.

Vermiculture is the practice of using worms to convert organic waste into nutrient-rich soil amendments. This natural process has gained popularity in New Zealand as a sustainable and efficient way to manage organic waste and improve soil health. In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of vermiculture and its role in organic waste management in New Zealand....

The Benefits of Regenerative Farming for Sustainability and Profitability in New Zealand

Regenerative farming practices are gaining popularity in New Zealand as a sustainable and profitable way to farm. Regenerative farming is a holistic approach that seeks to improve soil health, promote biodiversity, and sequester carbon in the soil. In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of regenerative farming for sustainability and profitability in New Zealand....

Going Green at Work: Four Simple Tips to Get Started

With the ongoing climate crisis, it's more important than ever for businesses to adopt sustainable practices. By reducing waste and minimizing environmental impact, businesses can make a positive contribution to a more regenerative future. In this blog post, we'll explore four simple strategies for creating a more sustainable workplace....

Home Worm Farm Do's and Dont's

Many of you have a worm farm at home and we've recently had some questions recently about how to look after your worm farm at home. While we operate worm farms at large scale, many of the principles we apply can also be used to successfully foster your worms at home to provide year round vermicast for your garden and help reduce the amount of waste you send to land fill. Composting worms are animals; it is important to remember that you are looking after a living ecosystem in your worm farm. As ...

Meet our Little Buddies

Here at Little Buddies, we use Eisenia fetida (eye-SEN-ee-ah FEH-tid-ah) AKA Red Wiggler's or Tiger worms for our worm farm practices. Of the over 9000 known breeds of worms, Eisenia fetida are best suited for Vermicomposting practices and for the climate in New Zealand and the Waikato. Here are some interesting facts about our little friends. Learning more about these composting worms may help you look after your home worm farm, and get better results. We find the below works very well for...

How our Worm Farming practices solve multiple problems at once

The more we work with the community and businesses to improve their waste reduction and management processes, the more excited we become about solving food waste processing through worm farms.  It turns out that our worm farm operation solves many pressing environmental issues, and we are excited to share this journey with you. Processing food and green waste via hot composting and worm farming practices rapidly returns nutrients, carbon and organic matter to the soil. This greatly reduces ...

Debunking the "Worm Wees" Myth

Every time we strike up a conversation around our worm farming practices, folks will excitedly tell us about how keen they are for some "worm wees" and we then educate folks on how worm farms work and what liquids can come from worm farming, which ones are good, and which ones are not....

2021 Recap and 2022 Goals

2021 Recap What a year its been. In 2021 we started the mission to "Divert organic waste from landfill and return it to the land via worm farms and environmentally responsible processes". We started a pilot program in Feb 2021, and by the end of the year had diverted around 15,000 litres of organic matter from landfill. This is a great start on the journey, and we have learned a lot about our Little Buddies and how worm farms can play a critical role in processing waste quickly and efficiently a...

The #1 reason your worm farm fails

Why is my worm farm dying? We've all been there. You have a worm farm, and feel super great that you're doing your part to save the planet. But pretty soon you end up with a dead worm farm, and big smelly disgusting mess to clean up. The main reason your farm may be struggling is over feeding. If you are feeding your worms fresh waste from your kitchen (which is what most home worm farm operators do), it is important to realise that worms don't actually eat your waste. The waste needs to break d...

Carbon Sequestration

It is well known that soil organic matter (SOM) include improves soil quality through: increased retention of water and nutrientsimproved soil structure which helps reduce erosion These improvements to soil conditions result in improved groundwater and surface waster quality, and improved biodiversity in soils. Ultimately these sum up to increased food security and decreased negative impacts to ecosystems. That's a fancy way of saying that returning carbon to the soil is a good thing. Norma...

Do You Sell Vermicast or Worm Tea?

Do you sell your vermicast/worm tea?Soon! We are as excited about providing high quality worm castings to the Waikato public as you are; diverting waste from landfill and returning those nutrients to the soil is why Little Buddies was formed in the first place!In order to provide worm tea and vermicast to the public in Cambridge, Hamilton and surrounding areas in the Waikato, we have a few more processes to complete before we are ready to go. These processes will ensure that you are receiving hi...

Your Compost Could Be Killing Your Garden

If your plants are starting to show twisted, stunted growth and you're not sure why, you may be killing them with kindness. For many years, the idea of adding manure or compost to your garden has been widely considered a good thing to do. It adds organic matter to the soil, and adds valuable biology and nutrients to your garden. Sounds great right? What you may not be aware of, however, is that manure can be laced with compounds and chemicals which will kill your garden. These chemicals come fro...

Windrows vs Continuous Flow Reactors

There are many ways that vermiculture can be managed. The simplest of these methods is known as windrowing. Organic matter is laid in rows, typically around 1.5 meters wide, and about half a meter high, allowing them to be covered by a 2m wide cover if required. Windrows require no extra machinery to operate, however they do take up a fair amount of space - great if you have the land, but problematic if you do not. Windrows are that placed out doors can suffer from temperature and rainfall fluct...

On Site Waste Processing

Large producers of waste often prefer to truck their waste off site to be processed at central facilities. While this may seem attractive, as it gets the waste off your land and out of sight, we prefer to work with you to process waste on site. There are many reasons for this, the primary reason being that we want to keep nutrients local. If you are a stud, dairy farm, orchard or commercial garden, we want to keep your nutrients and return them to your soil. We add to this mix our own comme...

Why Worm Farming?

We believe that a combination of Hot Composting (also known as thermophilic composting) and worm farming is the most efficient means of breaking down organic waste and returning it to the soil. Hot composting provides a rapid means of breaking down organic matter. With the right balances of input materials, decomposition occurs relatively quickly, and generates significant amounts of heat. This heat can kill off seeds and many pathogens that can exist in waste material. The down side to hot comp...

Commercially Compostable Materials

Do you process commercially compostable materials? Yes and No. Commercially Compostable Materials (CCMs) are a bit of a grey area; there is no standard to which CCMs are held, so there isn't a clear definition as to what they are, how they are made, and most importantly how they are degraded under commercial composting conditions, what impacts there are when this occurs, and under what timeframe this decomposition should occur (technically, concrete is compostable given the right conditions and ...