Growing redworms is work that I do everyday. On a small scale it can be simple, but as the operation gets larger it becomes heavy work that is done everyday. These rows have taken 3 years to build up and over 200 tons of produce to create. It keeps building.
YouTube
Quantity worm production versus quality castings production
This comparison shows two ways to do worm composting that are very different. There are many versions in between.
YouTube
Special thanks to North West Redworms for these worm videos. I’ve watched them many times over the years and they always inspire me. We hope to use these ideas in our forest gardens. Our windrows will probably use biomass grown on the farm so everything is organic.
Key point: compost alone will not produce healthy plants unless it has been activated by soil organisms such as worms, protozoa and fungi. These organisms turn soil into a form plants can uptake in the roots (bioavailable). So the worm windrow method shown above is much better and faster than say just throwing leaves in a big pile. Dave at I Am Organic does a good job of explaining what goes on in the soil.
https://www.youtube.com/user/iamnjorganic/videos
To recap: We might create worm windrows 12″ high between forest garden rows. This has several main advantages: it produces compost, lots of extra worms, and you can use the worm beds to grow veggies. Of course we’ll leave space on the sides to walk and drive a tractor.