Just over a year ago, I wrote my final blog posting for the Fertile Roots Miami project. I remember the feeling of excitement and anguish rolled into a nice, tight knot in my belly. I lost interest in writing about the project after that, mostly due to disappointment. The project we had worked so hard on for 17 months to get off the ground was ending prematurely after only 3 months. Although there is always more than one reason, the main culprit was lack of funding. The in-vessel machinery we were using was just too expensive and we could not come up with the resources to cover the costs. So the project ended.
My disappointment did get the best of me for a while, but we were not down and out. During a business trip to the Turks and Caicos during the summer of 2010, I was asked to install a commercial worm composting system as a demonstration. At some point, it clicked – we can achieve all the goals we had set for ourselves with worms! Forget expensive machinery! Plus the worms do all the work AND produce the most valuable (and probably most expensive) soil amendment known to man! That, in addition to a natural, organic pest control tea! With very little funding needed (in comparison), the numbers finally made sense.
So almost one year exactly after the death or one project, a new one emerges. On March 10th, 2011 I am very proud to say that Fertile Earth officially has a worm farm! In the next couple of months, I look forward to inviting all of our gracious, wonderful supporters to see our new farm and the fruits of our labor. The best is yet to come.
And, as always, there is a lesson to learn from everything. Mine? Never give up. The limiting factor is never resources, its resourcefulness. (Thanks Tony Robbins J).
-Lanette
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