Several years ago, I decided to take up vermicomposting because I wanted to 1) improve the quality of the compost I was using on my garden, (I had multiple regular yard waste compost bins I had built) 2) dispose of kitchen waste very efficiently and 3) have some worms to fish with or sell to those who wanted them.
Redworms such as those I used eat their entire body weight in food stuffs every day and produce some of the nicest compost you’ve ever seen. Your tomatoes and other vegetables may be as much as twice as productive. Some gardeners call it black gold.
The downsides are 1) you have to feed them regularly 2) you have to keep their environment moist but not wet 3) you have to not cook them in Texas heat, and lastly you have to make a bin that is varmint preventitive. You will have insects, rodents and other varmints trying to dine at your compost bins. Rats are especially problematic.
I also had bird feeders and other produce that was very attractive to varmints like rats and squirrels. Once they tell their friends about your vermicompost bins the will come in large numbers and will anything they can.
For me, I wanted to have that garden fresh produce, and it was worth it for a while but eventually my wife had enough of the varmits and insisted that I close down the bins and so all I plant now are herbs and spices and a little aloe vera.
I love fresh peppers and tomatoes, but you’ll spend a lot of money trying to grow bug free and varmint free plants.
You have to want to be a homesteader to make it all work, and you will not probably be able to break even on it. It has to be something you want to do for the love of doing it.
I grew up on a farm where we had livestock ranging from chickens, to cows, to horses to turkeys and I loved it. We also had an acre garden patch, and it was very productive, but eventually my family was unable to sustain it when my brother and I went off to college. Several years afterward, my dad sold the farm.
Now I shop at Sams, Costco or Kroger like everybody else.
