About The Worm Farm

MISSION STATEMENT: The Mission of The Worm Farm is to provide gardeners with a better means of producing healthier plants while affecting the environment in a positive manner. LOCATION: The Worm Farm is located 7 miles south of Chico in the farming community of Durham, California. HOW WE GOT STARTED: Our farm land has been in our family for over 100 years. In 1990, my father gave up his chicken raising business due to his advancing years. We were trying to come up with an idea about what we could use the land for and still keep my father occupied in a worthwhile profession which would not over-tax his strength due to his advanced age. Meanwhile, Mark and I were preparing to relocate from San Diego, California back to my family farm in Durham. While driving up the freeway on a weekend trip from San Diego to Durham, we saw a sign saying “Earthworm Growers Wanted”. We took a detour, checked out the information, and felt that this just might be a ‘fit’ for Dad in the short run, and for us in the long run. The hard work didn’t need to happen all the time, and my father was certainly about to handle the lightweight work at his convenience until we were able to take over all of the worm farming operations. We bought our first 25 lbs. of worms on the spot and transported them to Durham in the back of a pickup truck. It was the middle of the night, in the heart of winter when we arrived with the worms. We transferred the boxes of worms from the truck to the bathtub in the mobile home where we stayed while we were building our home. Knowing nothing about how to raise worms, we then turned off the light and went to bed. You can imagine the lively activity when we got up the next morning and found most of the worms down the drain and the rest crawling across the bathroom floor. Well, we just scooped up the remaining worms and placed them in their newly prepared bedding material consisting of fresh grass clippings and wood chips. Imagine also our astonishment when we looked at them the next day and discovered that the first-night-survivors had all crawled out of their boxes, dropped to the cement floor, and were now dead. You might say we were a little over-zealous in our endeavors to get started in the worm business. We were novices! Who knew! Needless to say, a good deal of reading and research happened before we purchased our next 25 lbs. of worms. 17 years later, we now have over 9,600 linear feet of windrows of worms, both indoors and outdoors. We have become advocates of organic gardening and are dedicated to sharing the knowledge we have acquired to others who are trying to grow healthier plants, fruits and vegetables both for their own consumption as well as for commercial applications.