InTune Earthworms

Worm farming may not seem like the natural progression from a career in the print media, but for Roslyn Bryans and Warren McCully it has been the ideal lifestyle decision. Their Hickeys Creek property enables them to integrate their love of nature, connection to community, love of growing food and worm farming.

“Once we were committed to the move here, it took us a year to finally decide upon this property.  We saw an ad for worm farming in the Land supplement called Farming Small Acres and thought it would suit us.  It was quite expensive to set up, and we started with six pits and have since increased that using Warren’s engineering skills.  The whole process is labour intensive from the regular collection of cow manure through to the replenishing of the pits.”  Said Roslyn

Although they are called pits, the large scale worm farms are actually raised, covered rectangular frames connected to a recirculation system that applies a mist to the beds on a regular basis.  The worm pits are set up with a combination of finely crushed cow manure and shredded paper and covered with geo-fabric to exclude light and retain moisture.

“As a small business you are involved in every aspect of the operation. We designed our own logo, branded our business Intune Earth, worked on the design of our website, I did the photography and Warren’s engineering skills are a real asset to the business.  We sell most of our worms and products now through our website.” said Roslyn

Warren said “We have farmers who come for vermicast for their paddocks and orchards as well as worm juice.  Vermicast increases the soils microbial activity and unlocks the nutrients which is important as most of our soils are highly compacted and degraded.  The property I sprayed had a section of compacted clay pan which regenerated well, so it really shows the potential that exists for increasing the productivity of our local soils.”

The products produced at Intune Earth are available on both a domestic and commercial scale which means home gardeners can purchase a small farm complete with worms and receive support in maintaining that.  Warren is a strong advocate for working with nature and the elements and encourages application of products are done in line with the phases of the moon.