# Banter 111: 18Mar26 What Have The Worms Ever Done for Us?, Simon Hill {% embed url="" %} ## What have worms ever done for us - Video Timeline: 00:00 - 26:15 Presentation (the video is the presentation)\ 26:25 - 28:15 Video clip\ 28:15 - 30:40 More presentation\ 30:40 - 62:26(end) Photos and Q & A session *** ### What have worms ever done for us - Photos and Video: {% embed url="" %} {% file src="" %} {% file src="" %} {% file src="" %} *** ### What have worms ever done for us - Presentation: No separate presentation with this session - the main video is the presenaton *** ### What have worms ever done for us - Meeting Summary Mar 18, 2026 11:56 AM London ID: 834 5460 8536 ### Quick recap This meeting featured Simon Hill presenting his innovative flow-through worm farm system. Simon explained how his wife Rosa developed an interest in worm farming after reading Charles Darwin's work on worms, leading them to create a business called Isle of Worms. He detailed their development of a unique aluminium worm bin system that allows for continuous harvesting of worm castings without disturbing the worms, with each bin capable of fertilizing 100 acres. The system has been successfully implemented at the Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight, where it resulted in a 26% increase in garlic yield, and is being expanded to schools and other agricultural applications. Simon demonstrated the operation of the worm bins and discussed their potential for regenerative agriculture, explaining the proper diet for worms (50% carbon from cardboard and 50% nitrogen) and how the system produces worm tea for spraying on crops. The presentation included a video showing the setup process and included questions about worm maintenance, scalability, and community implementation. ### Next steps * [Simon Hill: Send relevant research links and published papers about worm cast analysis to Cllr. Stuart.](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=%2F%2F6Tdge4TNOcU%2B%2B%2Fgv9Yfw%3D%3D\&stepId=916101e5-22cb-11f1-ba38-5ed3b36ec791) * [Graham: Contact Simon Hill to arrange his participation in the Bembridge environment event day on 18th April, including potential engagement with the local school.](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=%2F%2F6Tdge4TNOcU%2B%2B%2Fgv9Yfw%3D%3D\&stepId=91610788-22cb-11f1-bcdb-5ed3b36ec791) * [Simon Hill: Visit Vitacress on 10th April to discuss a bespoke machine for their leaf and herb waste processing needs.](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=%2F%2F6Tdge4TNOcU%2B%2B%2Fgv9Yfw%3D%3D\&stepId=916109ce-22cb-11f1-b9b8-5ed3b36ec791) * [Simon Hill: Provide worm bins to Whild at Heart (zoo) as discussed, for their garden club and animal feeding use.](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=%2F%2F6Tdge4TNOcU%2B%2B%2Fgv9Yfw%3D%3D\&stepId=91610ba5-22cb-11f1-a2b7-5ed3b36ec791) * [Simon Hill: Consider donating or providing a worm bin to Growing in Gurnard for demonstration and publicity purposes.](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=%2F%2F6Tdge4TNOcU%2B%2B%2Fgv9Yfw%3D%3D\&stepId=91610d4f-22cb-11f1-84b7-5ed3b36ec791) * [Simon Hill: Continue discussions with local schools (including Ryde private school and as requested by the local parish councillor/teacher) regarding provision of worm bins for educational use.](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=%2F%2F6Tdge4TNOcU%2B%2B%2Fgv9Yfw%3D%3D\&stepId=91610edd-22cb-11f1-9df5-5ed3b36ec791) * [Graham: Be in touch with Simon Hill regarding further local events and potential collaboration with the regenerative farm on the Isle of Wight.](https://us02tasks.zoom.us/?meetingId=%2F%2F6Tdge4TNOcU%2B%2B%2Fgv9Yfw%3D%3D\&stepId=91611074-22cb-11f1-857a-5ed3b36ec791) ### Summary #### Farming Journey and Operations Simon shared his personal journey from wanting to work in Formula 1 to returning to farming 15 years ago on the Isle of Wight. He explained how his wife Rosa initially started a worm farming project on their 4.5-acre land, which eventually expanded to include alpacas and llamas. The discussion was cut off as Simon was about to discuss their current farming operations and future plans. #### Worm Farming Business Presentation Simon Hill presented on his worm farming business, which he runs with his wife Rosa. He explained how worms contribute significantly to soil health by creating channels, improving moisture retention, and providing nutrient-rich worm castings. Simon shared his background in engineering and hospitality before transitioning to worm farming 5 years ago, initially skeptical about the business potential but now seeing its importance in regenerative agriculture and addressing the high cost of artificial fertilizers. #### Worm Farming System Redesign Simon discussed his experience with worm farming, explaining how he redesigned the system to be more efficient by bringing the bins inside and creating a new flow-through worm system called "minhocasa" or "wormhouse." He described the technical details of the new design, which includes a blade system for harvesting worm castings and a tank for capturing leachate. Simon noted that the system uses a combination of dendrobana and European red wiggler worms, starting with 1,000 worms that can reproduce to reach 10,000 by the end of the first year, operating best at 15-20 degrees. #### Worm Bin Fertilizer Project Results Simon discussed his project of using worm bins to process vegetable waste and create fertilizer. He explained how they implemented this system at The Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight, where one worm bin was able to fertilize the entire 100-acre garlic crop. The farm reported a 26% increase in yield, and Dr. Parveen from Cranfield University confirmed through lab tests that growing tomatoes in worm castings resulted in 50% more yield compared to soil or grow bags. #### Worm Farming and Processing Collaboration Simon discussed the use of worms in farming, particularly in wine and grain regions. He mentioned a collaboration with a local school and an upcoming meeting with Vitacress, Europe's largest grower of leaves and herbs, to discuss a bespoke machine for processing their waste leaves. Simon explained the optimal diet for worms, which consists of a 50-50 mix of carbon (such as cardboard) and nitrogen (such as llama poo or coffee grounds), and emphasized the importance of maintaining this balance to prevent overheating and death of the worms. #### Worm Bin System Presentation Simon presented his worm bin system, demonstrating how it works through screen sharing. He explained the key components including the blade system that separates worm castings from the compost, and the use of insulated aluminum panels to prevent vermin from accessing the bin. Simon noted this was his first presentation and acknowledged he would need to improve his presentation skills as he continues to share the system with others. #### Underground Worm Farm System Presentation Simon presented his underground worm farm system, which he has trademarked and is being used at the tomato store and garlic farm on the Isle of Wight. He demonstrated how the system works by showing a video of Joe Boswell at the garlic farm starting two new worm bins. The system processes approximately 20 kilos of waste per week and produces vermicast after about 3 months. Simon has produced 10 larger units and smaller demonstration units for schools, with plans to expand production and distribute them to various locations including a zoo. Cllr. Stuart inquired about analysis of the worm casts, to which Simon confirmed research has been conducted and offered to share relevant papers. #### Worm Farm System Presentation Simon presented his flow-through worm farm system, explaining how it works and its applications in farming and gardening. He discussed the benefits of worm castings as fertilizer and the potential for using worm tea to spray on plants. The group explored how the system could be implemented in schools and community settings, with Simon mentioning the establishment of a community interest company called Isle of Worms for teaching purposes. Graham invited Simon to participate in upcoming environmental events, including a Bembridge environment day and a national climate emergency briefing. *** ### What have worms ever done for us - Chat: No chat this session *** ### What have the worms ever done for us - audiotranscript: 91 \ 00:09:03.880 --> 00:09:14.500 \ simon Hill: Yes, good morning to… morning, everybody, and thank you to, to Graham for, inviting me on here to have a chat with you today. For the last… 92 \ 00:09:15.550 --> 00:09:27.999 \ simon Hill: 5 years, most certainly. My wife and I have been working quite, diligently and quietly, on our, on our worm farm business. 93 \ 00:09:28.490 --> 00:09:43.610 \ simon Hill: And I thought I would start by asking a question, which is, inspired by the, the, the line from The Life of Brian, where they ask, you know, what have the Romans ever done for us? And I ask the question, what have, what are worms ever done for us? 94 \ 00:09:43.930 --> 00:09:47.280 \ simon Hill: Turns out they do quite an awful lot. 95 \ 00:09:47.420 --> 00:09:53.069 \ simon Hill: So, Rosa and I, my wife Rosa, I'm Simon, by the way, Simon Hill. 96 \ 00:09:53.340 --> 00:10:09.419 \ simon Hill: Just as a brief, who I am, where I come from, what puts me in front of you after 50-odd years on the planet. I was born and brought up on a… on a large agricultural farm, 1,500 acres. 97 \ 00:10:09.440 --> 00:10:27.730 \ simon Hill: On the border of, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire, on the outskirts of Peterborough, just before you get to Stamford. I was born in Stamford. My father only passed away last year, and he farmed, in the same village, on the same land, his whole working life. 98 \ 00:10:27.730 --> 00:10:32.900 \ simon Hill: And after 18 years on the farm, I couldn't get away fast enough. 99 \ 00:10:32.990 --> 00:10:41.389 \ simon Hill: He told me I was never going to make any money in farming, so, I went off and studied engineering, so I had an engineering background. 100 \ 00:10:41.490 --> 00:10:53.410 \ simon Hill: Then, when I left university, I was determined I was gonna go and work and build Formula 1 cars. I was a big old rugby player, so I was never gonna fit in one or be able to drive one. So, I thought I would, 101 \ 00:10:53.410 --> 00:11:02.090 \ simon Hill: I'd design them, I'd be good at that. But, my business took a completely different turn, I did something completely different. 102 \ 00:11:02.580 --> 00:11:13.349 \ simon Hill: So I've been in business most of my life, then ended up in hospitality here on the Isle of Wight, bought a hotel, then sold that, and met my wife of 22 years. 103 \ 00:11:13.490 --> 00:11:23.730 \ simon Hill: And we've been sort of running hospitality, and then 12 years ago, we bought a piece of land, and didn't really know what we were going to do with it, and… 104 \ 00:11:24.050 --> 00:11:43.480 \ simon Hill: my wife said, I want to grow worms, I've read this book, I've read this book by Charles Darwin, and you don't know how important the worms are, and I went, they're great, they're… but they're not very sexy, and they're not going to make us any money, so, we still need to continue with the job we've got. While she built the worm, tried to… well, she established a limited company, the worm farm. 105 \ 00:11:43.530 --> 00:11:48.760 \ simon Hill: With a plan to grow worms outside, and sell worms. 106 \ 00:11:49.140 --> 00:11:54.469 \ simon Hill: and sell the, the, the product of worms, so, I don't know… 107 \ 00:11:54.470 --> 00:12:10.540 \ simon Hill: how much you guys know, I'm presuming from the group that you're in that you'll have a knowledge of the soil and the worms and, you know, the current push for regenerative agriculture in this country, the massive price of artificial fertilizer. 108 \ 00:12:10.560 --> 00:12:16.709 \ simon Hill: And again, this did drop down again, but it's gone back up again with the current war. So… 109 \ 00:12:16.790 --> 00:12:18.910 \ simon Hill: I've tried to find a solution. 110 \ 00:12:19.280 --> 00:12:36.839 \ simon Hill: to fill that gap where farmers and growers and horticulturalists and people at home can use the waste around them to be recycled by worms. So, when I say, what have the worms ever done for us? You probably didn't realize, you know, they live 111 \ 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:41.890 \ simon Hill: 6 on… 6 inches or so below the soil. They… they… 112 \ 00:12:41.930 --> 00:13:00.209 \ simon Hill: who down there, which we call the worm castings. They come up to the surface. They're so powerful, they… they break channels into the ground. So they're… they're nature's little tillers, so, we don't need to plow the soil. They do all that for us, open up channels for water. 113 \ 00:13:00.270 --> 00:13:16.110 \ simon Hill: And in dry periods, their worm castings retain moisture, so where you've got a proliferation of worms in your soil, you get very little runoff, when with a monoculture, monocrop. 114 \ 00:13:16.390 --> 00:13:23.080 \ simon Hill: Planting wheat in the field, as my father used to, and ripped all the hedges out, and ripped all the trees out to make them bigger and bigger. 115 \ 00:13:23.560 --> 00:13:41.419 \ simon Hill: dug up the orchards, planted oilseed rape in there, and if, you know, the seeds weren't blown away by the wind, then it was run off into the ditches to the side. So, where you've got worms, so the worms are open at the channels, and the grass grows. 116 \ 00:13:41.420 --> 00:13:53.919 \ simon Hill: If you're not… if you're with the grazing now, where if you're doing mob grazing or modular grazing, where they… the animals are only on for a very short period of time, maybe less than 48 hours, and they move on to the next module. 117 \ 00:13:53.920 --> 00:14:01.590 \ simon Hill: What grows behind them grows taller, and as a consequence, the roots go down further. 118 \ 00:14:01.660 --> 00:14:10.179 \ simon Hill: So, worms play an absolutely massive, massively important part, in our soil. And… 119 \ 00:14:10.470 --> 00:14:14.429 \ simon Hill: as for the business, what Rosa was doing originally 120 \ 00:14:14.530 --> 00:14:19.310 \ simon Hill: We built worm bins, great big long, 121 \ 00:14:19.810 --> 00:14:26.390 \ simon Hill: 2 meter wide, and about 10 meter long, raised, off the ground, bins. 122 \ 00:14:26.520 --> 00:14:28.099 \ simon Hill: And… 123 \ 00:14:28.370 --> 00:14:43.689 \ simon Hill: Similar to how folks grow worms in a bath, you can grow worms in an old bath, but what you have to do is, where they come up and eat, and then they go down and deposit their worm castings, all the good stuff's at the bottom. 124 \ 00:14:43.850 --> 00:14:53.499 \ simon Hill: So, if you want to get to the… to the worm castings, then you need to dig all of that bathtub out, which is the same with our worm bins. We used to have to… 125 \ 00:14:53.960 --> 00:14:55.950 \ simon Hill: So we had a mechanical little digger. 126 \ 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:58.989 \ simon Hill: And then you'd have to pass it through a separator. 127 \ 00:14:59.270 --> 00:15:02.680 \ simon Hill: And then separate the worm castings 128 \ 00:15:02.820 --> 00:15:09.670 \ simon Hill: From the… from the worms, put the worms back in the bins, but you disturb it every single time you harvest the worm castings. 129 \ 00:15:09.780 --> 00:15:11.740 \ simon Hill: And… 130 \ 00:15:12.010 --> 00:15:24.889 \ simon Hill: it wasn't really making us any money. It kept, you know, Rosa busy and me busy, and she'd be going to Sainsbury's and also Marks and Spencer's, and gathering all of their… 131 \ 00:15:24.900 --> 00:15:32.280 \ simon Hill: waste vegetables, so that all that had gone out of… out of date. She'd bring it back to the farm, so she goes into the town. 132 \ 00:15:32.310 --> 00:15:38.480 \ simon Hill: Comes back to the countryside on our… on our farm, using, obviously, petrol and transport. 133 \ 00:15:38.790 --> 00:15:50.749 \ simon Hill: And then she's recycling all the vegetable waste. Now, you may or may not know, but worms, the perfect diet for our worms, and with especially composting worms as such. 134 \ 00:15:50.990 --> 00:15:56.039 \ simon Hill: So, there are… Just less than 30, about 29… 135 \ 00:15:56.100 --> 00:16:05.429 \ simon Hill: different varieties in this country of worms, and the best ones for composting are, the dendrobina worm. 136 \ 00:16:05.430 --> 00:16:24.720 \ simon Hill: Which is common, and it works in cold conditions in Europe, and the… what they call the European Red Wiggler, or the tiger worm, they… they work a little bit lower in the ground, and the dendrobina ones nearer to the surface, so we use a combination of those, for our… our worm farming. 137 \ 00:16:25.240 --> 00:16:28.010 \ simon Hill: And also, the dendrobina worms are the ones that 138 \ 00:16:28.340 --> 00:16:34.180 \ simon Hill: the fishermen like, so you can… you can sell those as a live product to make money. So… 139 \ 00:16:34.490 --> 00:16:54.429 \ simon Hill: all this was going on, and then all of a sudden we had a pandemic, and everything stopped. We were able to breathe. We had, you know, we were running a hospitality business, so we looked after over 100 holiday cottages here on the Isle of Wight. So we were able to sort of… nobody was allowed to come, so we didn't really have anything to do. 140 \ 00:16:54.430 --> 00:17:06.609 \ simon Hill: So I concentrated all my skills and sat down and redesigned all these bins. So, I decided that they weren't working outside, so we were going to need to bring them inside to control the temperature. 141 \ 00:17:06.609 --> 00:17:19.400 \ simon Hill: And I'd looked at America and Australia, where their climate's far more favourable, and I came across an outfit in upstate New York. 142 \ 00:17:19.450 --> 00:17:33.220 \ simon Hill: And another one in, California, and they… they were proliferant in the wine-growing regions because of the, the quality of the soil that the growing worm castings. 143 \ 00:17:33.390 --> 00:17:48.449 \ simon Hill: So, and they have, in America, and certainly in Australia as well, a system where they call it a flow-through worm system. So, instead of, let's imagine a bathtub, put the bathtub on legs and cut the bottom off. 144 \ 00:17:48.520 --> 00:18:02.209 \ simon Hill: So you can access all the worm castings from the bottom. And I found, several different, ways of doing it. They were just dropping it onto the floor, and then sweeping the worm castings off the floor. 145 \ 00:18:02.250 --> 00:18:09.609 \ simon Hill: And there was sort of the various different scrapers and blades and all sorts of things we were using, so I sort of… 146 \ 00:18:09.660 --> 00:18:18.300 \ simon Hill: sat back with a pen and paper, and I drew, an apparatus, which is all made out of aluminium. 147 \ 00:18:18.420 --> 00:18:25.610 \ simon Hill: And it's a meter cubed, so it's the size of an ordinary pallet, you know, a pallet you'd see, a euro pallet. 148 \ 00:18:25.650 --> 00:18:38.169 \ simon Hill: But it stands about 1 meter to 20 up… sorry, 1.2 meters off the ground, which is sort of perfect height that, you know, sort of a reasonably sized human being can lean over and operate. 149 \ 00:18:38.180 --> 00:18:55.130 \ simon Hill: And, so I took all my drawings to an engineering company here on the Isle of Wight, and had them build me my first, prototype. So we… we tried and tested over the last few years, and then went into production. The first production model came off last year, so… 150 \ 00:18:55.450 --> 00:18:59.539 \ simon Hill: My worm bin, we call it a minha casa, or a worm house. 151 \ 00:18:59.800 --> 00:19:02.730 \ simon Hill: And you basically feed the top of it. 152 \ 00:19:02.940 --> 00:19:19.270 \ simon Hill: And then the worms live in the middle part, they come up, they go down, they poo, and then we've painted, a blade system which scrapes the worm castings off the bottom into a tray, which is all part of the same worm house. Then you can pull the tray out and remove the worm castings. 153 \ 00:19:19.340 --> 00:19:33.769 \ simon Hill: And then right at the bottom, we have a tank system, which captures any leachate or any moisture that's come through the bin. So worms operate best anywhere between 15 to 20 degrees. 154 \ 00:19:34.030 --> 00:19:41.820 \ simon Hill: And if you start your worm bin off, or my worm bin off, with a thousand worms. 155 \ 00:19:41.860 --> 00:19:58.340 \ simon Hill: Because they are the same sex organs, they, they can reproduce, they reproduce themselves, so you'll end up with 10,000 worms by the end of, of all your first year, as long as it's had enough food and enough moisture, and kept at a reasonable temperature. 156 \ 00:19:58.340 --> 00:20:04.090 \ simon Hill: So, during the pandemic, let's say, I decided that Rosa was going to stop. 157 \ 00:20:04.110 --> 00:20:07.919 \ simon Hill: driving to Sainsbury's and collect, 158 \ 00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:12.370 \ simon Hill: food waste from there, and what we would do is we found… well, we had 159 \ 00:20:12.530 --> 00:20:18.830 \ simon Hill: two of these shipping containers that come from, China, and they're one-trip shipping containers. 160 \ 00:20:19.020 --> 00:20:21.090 \ simon Hill: So, rather than… 161 \ 00:20:21.830 --> 00:20:45.430 \ simon Hill: anything, go back to China, they don't. They sell these off quite cheaply, and you can pick one up for a thousand pounds, or, you know, £1500, or whatever. And I can put two of their 2.2 meters wide, so I can get two of our worm bins in an 8-foot shipping container with all the satiated tools. And the plan… well, our planes, and our plan, and what we're doing. 162 \ 00:20:45.440 --> 00:21:04.490 \ simon Hill: Is that rather than we go into the town, bring all the things back to us, we could put something like that in the car park of a hospital, or a school, or a restaurant, or any sort of hospitality place where they could recycle all of their waste vegetables. 163 \ 00:21:04.490 --> 00:21:10.960 \ simon Hill: And produced, the lovely worm castings out at the bottom. So, to… 164 \ 00:21:12.060 --> 00:21:15.259 \ simon Hill: Prove, what we were doing and how we were doing it. 165 \ 00:21:15.980 --> 00:21:33.620 \ simon Hill: And that it would work not only in small scale, but on a large scale, with farmers who are able to buy artificial fertilizer, down to people at home where we make a smaller bin now. So, we chose the garlic farm here on the Isle of Wight. 166 \ 00:21:33.630 --> 00:21:47.210 \ simon Hill: Which one can Google, or if you've ever been to the Isle of Wight, it's very hard to miss it. It's a very, very successful, enterprise, started over 60, 70 years ago, by the Boswell family. 167 \ 00:21:47.210 --> 00:21:55.230 \ simon Hill: Which has just grown and grown and grown. They used to grow sweet corn, and then about 50 years ago, they had a switch over to garlic. Everyone told them they were mad. 168 \ 00:21:55.270 --> 00:22:04.330 \ simon Hill: But we have a really great climate for growing garlic over here, and they are now synonymous, so much so, I think. 169 \ 00:22:05.280 --> 00:22:08.289 \ simon Hill: the Colin Boswell, the current, 170 \ 00:22:08.440 --> 00:22:16.610 \ simon Hill: patriarch of the farm. He, he told me very… with a big smile on his face that he was a question on pointless. 171 \ 00:22:16.620 --> 00:22:33.230 \ simon Hill: They asked what vegetable was the Isle of Wight famous for, and the answer was garlic, so… and also he had a name check on the Archers once, where one of the characters were talking, and they said that, you know, there's even a guy on the Isle of Wight who's growing garlic, blah blah blah. 172 \ 00:22:33.230 --> 00:22:44.480 \ simon Hill: So, we chose them, and we asked them if they were already considering, ways to use the vegetable waste from their restaurant here on site, or there on-site. 173 \ 00:22:44.540 --> 00:22:54.000 \ simon Hill: And I approached them, and they just… the door was wide open, you know, please, please, please help us. So now, and for the last year. 174 \ 00:22:54.330 --> 00:23:00.329 \ simon Hill: They have been recycling all the vegetable waste from their restaurant. 175 \ 00:23:00.330 --> 00:23:04.099 \ simon Hill: Passing it through our worm bin, through our worms. 176 \ 00:23:04.100 --> 00:23:29.029 \ simon Hill: And then the resultant castings, which we're harvesting off the bottom, they are mixed with water in a large IBC, which is a 1,000 liter container, which just about every farm's got, you know, fertilizer and all sorts of things are delivered in it, and they've got a cage around them, and you can move them around with a forklift, so it's basically a ton of water. 177 \ 00:23:29.030 --> 00:23:35.840 \ simon Hill: So we use rainwater, and we make a tea bag, with 10 kilos of worm castings. 178 \ 00:23:35.840 --> 00:23:49.489 \ simon Hill: And we drop it into the IBC and let it soak overnight, and all the magnificent microbes and all the nutrients go into the water, and then they spray that on their garlic crop. 179 \ 00:23:49.680 --> 00:24:05.520 \ simon Hill: And so one of my worm bins is enough to do, 100 acres, so there's just over 100 acres of the garlic farm. So they've been able to use, you know, one of my bins to fertilize the whole of their garlic crop. 180 \ 00:24:05.580 --> 00:24:10.139 \ simon Hill: And they've seen a 26% increase in yield. 181 \ 00:24:10.270 --> 00:24:25.680 \ simon Hill: On the previous year. Now, yields were up quite a lot last year anyway because of the sun, so that may be just anecdotal, but when we were, looking to get a grant, to build these things for farmers. 182 \ 00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:40.220 \ simon Hill: We employed, an expert at Cranfield University, a lady called Dr. Parveen, who's a worm expert, and she's done lab tests with growing, tomatoes. 183 \ 00:24:40.220 --> 00:24:53.560 \ simon Hill: In worm castings, as opposed to soil, and as opposed to a grow bag, and proving that you get 50% more yield by growing in worm castings. Hence the reason worms and worms and worm, 184 \ 00:24:53.800 --> 00:25:02.630 \ simon Hill: worm growing is very, very prevalent in the wine-growing regions. And in Holland, I found out quite recently. 185 \ 00:25:02.630 --> 00:25:13.990 \ simon Hill: Because they grow marijuana, and they get, bigger plants with, with better yields, so, worms are quite, quite popular over there. So, yeah, so… 186 \ 00:25:14.310 --> 00:25:34.290 \ simon Hill: as I say, for the last year, this has been going on with Garlic Farm. We've now just done a collaboration with, the local school, who are… are going to take a couple of our worm bins for their teaching, and for use for their… from their waste from their refractory. And then we've also been approached by 187 \ 00:25:34.690 --> 00:25:51.339 \ simon Hill: Europe's largest, grower of leaves and herbs, a company called Vitacress. I was on a call with them yesterday, and we're going over to see them on, on the 10th of April, with a view to doing, a sort of a bespoke 188 \ 00:25:51.530 --> 00:25:56.089 \ simon Hill: Machine for them, because they create about 200 tons of waste leaves. 189 \ 00:25:56.480 --> 00:26:02.279 \ simon Hill: So, just to give you a recipe… well, not a recipe, but what the worms eat, so… 190 \ 00:26:02.610 --> 00:26:15.599 \ simon Hill: they work best… worms work best on a diet of carbon and nitrogen, so some of you may know this, I may be boring you, but… so you need a carbon source and a nitrogen source. 191 \ 00:26:15.630 --> 00:26:34.829 \ simon Hill: On our own farm, where we've got 30 llamas, we use, the llama poo for our nitrogen, and then we gather up, cardboard. We've got a massive shredder, so we mix, 50% carbon from the cardboard 192 \ 00:26:34.870 --> 00:26:50.589 \ simon Hill: And 50% nitrogen from the llama poo. But at the garlic farm, they use… they also use shredded cardboard, but they use, as a nitrogen source, coffee grounds, and the, the waste from their… their kitchen, vegetable waste from their kitchen. Again. 193 \ 00:26:50.820 --> 00:27:04.089 \ simon Hill: It needs to be 50-50, and that's quite important, because if… if… and Dr. Parveen, did an experiment in… when she did a study in the Philippines to do with palm oil. 194 \ 00:27:04.560 --> 00:27:20.780 \ simon Hill: And she was feeding worms, and she took it to the extreme where she gave them 100% nitrogen. And that makes the composting bin, anaerobically, break down the food. 195 \ 00:27:20.780 --> 00:27:35.429 \ simon Hill: Because worms don't have any teeth, so they like their food quite mushy, and broken down. That's where they… where they come up and eat the leaves and the, the dried grass and the vegetables and the pools and everything in the poo that's on the ground. 196 \ 00:27:35.450 --> 00:27:40.879 \ simon Hill: So, if you go to 100% nitrogen, you'll kill them, because they'll just get hot and die. 197 \ 00:27:41.010 --> 00:27:57.100 \ simon Hill: In Australia, we've had… well, not we, the, the worm farmers in Australia and California, they usually put their worm operating machinery in the shade. 198 \ 00:27:57.220 --> 00:28:03.270 \ simon Hill: And they quite often freeze the vegetables that they feed to the bins to cool the bins down. 199 \ 00:28:03.530 --> 00:28:22.910 \ simon Hill: Whereas in wintertime, Rose and I were adding extra nitrogen, so we were probably 60-40 to try and heat the bin up here in this country. So there is a… but if you can keep them in a polytunnel, or if you can keep them in… indoors in, like, as I say, these, containers, which we're now using. 200 \ 00:28:23.140 --> 00:28:37.699 \ simon Hill: Then they keep them at just about the perfect temperature. And they just need, you know, as long as you get the right amount of moisture, it's quite an easy machine to operate and get the best possible results. 201 \ 00:28:37.830 --> 00:28:39.440 \ simon Hill: So, 202 \ 00:28:40.070 --> 00:28:46.309 \ simon Hill: Yeah, so I'll ask you to, you know, when I said, what have the worms ever done for us? 203 \ 00:28:46.570 --> 00:29:02.990 \ simon Hill: they've done an awful lot, and, you know, they… they prevent runoff for farmers. If you… without… without worms, there would be compaction in the soil, you'd have runoff, there'd be lack of nitrogen, so, any… any farmer will tell you, or any 204 \ 00:29:03.010 --> 00:29:09.399 \ simon Hill: agronomist. The best way to find out what's going on under there is to dig a sort of a foot square. 205 \ 00:29:09.430 --> 00:29:14.999 \ simon Hill: Hole, and have a look how many worms you've got in there, and that'll dictate how healthy your soil is. 206 \ 00:29:15.140 --> 00:29:20.899 \ simon Hill: So, you know, this is what we're trying to do, one worm at a time. 207 \ 00:29:21.280 --> 00:29:30.059 \ simon Hill: Has anybody got any, any questions, or anything I can answer? I've tried… I don't know how to show my screen, I could show you some images of our bins. 208 \ 00:29:31.310 --> 00:29:44.500 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Funny enough, Simon, I was going to ask you if you had any, presentation to give. So, yes, if you could move your mouse down to the bottom of your Zoom screen, a green arrow will come up saying share screen. 209 \ 00:29:46.210 --> 00:29:48.580 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: You're on a regular Windows PC? 210 \ 00:29:49.370 --> 00:29:52.099 \ simon Hill: This laptop, yeah. So where is it at the bottom? 211 \ 00:29:52.100 --> 00:30:10.230 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: So if you… Sure. You need to be on your Zoom screen, and then move the mouse down to the bottom, and a little, whole bunch of buttons pops up, and one of them is called Share, just… there you go. And then it'll ask you another question, which is, which of your browser window… there you go, you're in great shape. 212 \ 00:30:10.430 --> 00:30:12.990 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: So, I'll leave it to you to go through these. Thank you. 213 \ 00:30:13.440 --> 00:30:14.660 \ simon Hill: Can you… can you see that? 214 \ 00:30:14.660 --> 00:30:15.730 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Absolutely. 215 \ 00:30:15.940 --> 00:30:24.950 \ simon Hill: So that's one of our… this is one of our worm bins and a little advert for them. So, if you… I don't know, can you see my mouse moving on there? Can you see that? Yep. 216 \ 00:30:24.950 --> 00:30:25.690 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Yep, yep, yep. 217 \ 00:30:25.690 --> 00:30:40.660 \ simon Hill: Yeah, so this is the blade system which sits inside here, and I've got a little video, which I'm hoping I'm going to be able to share with you, if I can find out to share it again, of, Joe at the garlic farm starting off our first one. 218 \ 00:30:40.720 --> 00:30:50.109 \ simon Hill: So, what we do in the very first instance, and hopefully I'm going to get slicker and better at this as I have to speak to people, I'm not a salesperson. 219 \ 00:30:50.140 --> 00:31:03.200 \ simon Hill: And this is the first, sort of, presentation I've ever done. So, we feed in the top, a mixture, so it's easy to say, say a shovel of, of ground, chopped up cardboard. 220 \ 00:31:03.270 --> 00:31:22.450 \ simon Hill: Along with, you know, G-chopped up vegetable, the same amount. But to start the bin off, that's probably the… not the hardest thing, but that's the most important thing. So, inside the bin is a grid system. So, in America, I watched this guy do it, and he did it with just conduit. 221 \ 00:31:22.500 --> 00:31:36.300 \ simon Hill: With about one of my fingers gaps in between each conduit, and when the bin's built itself up, it naturally sits there, so all of you have probably done it, I don't know, you've dug into your compost heap. 222 \ 00:31:36.300 --> 00:31:53.090 \ simon Hill: You know, after a couple of years, and you can dig in there, and it'll just sit there, and then obviously eventually it'll fall down again, but it sort of self-suspends itself. And other ones I was seeing in California, they had almost, like, 223 \ 00:31:53.320 --> 00:31:59.419 \ simon Hill: You know, squares, like chicken wire, chicken, mesh, at the bottom. 224 \ 00:31:59.750 --> 00:32:07.420 \ simon Hill: But the blade didn't work very well for that, so ours, we have a blade that runs between, if you imagine the conduit and the bars. 225 \ 00:32:07.500 --> 00:32:21.980 \ simon Hill: pulls… this bar pulls in and out from here, and the, the worm castings drop into the bottom. So, the very… the very… my very first prototype, I went to a boat builder in, here on the island, which there's quite a few of them. 226 \ 00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:35.300 \ simon Hill: And he wanted to charge me 10,000 quid, to build my prototype. Luckily, I sort of hooked up with a company called Island Sheet Metal, and they make, all sorts of boxes and everything for GKN. 227 \ 00:32:35.480 --> 00:32:44.729 \ simon Hill: Which are based here on the Isle of Wight. So, the panels are all insulated aluminium, so… and that's so that the, 228 \ 00:32:44.800 --> 00:32:57.439 \ simon Hill: So that vermin can't get into it. I've… I've got a massive great big weedy bin, and I show people the top of it, where the rats have eaten into the top part of it, a dirty, great, big hole. 229 \ 00:32:57.510 --> 00:33:07.240 \ simon Hill: So… so that we can keep, you know, worms and everything… all the… the vermin out, which is why we built out of aluminium. 230 \ 00:33:07.340 --> 00:33:09.620 \ simon Hill: Right, I'm gonna try and show you another. 231 \ 00:33:13.720 --> 00:33:22.610 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Whilst you're looking for your link to your video, I just need to say that I think whoever thought of the underground movement is a brilliant piece of mind. 232 \ 00:33:22.610 --> 00:33:23.180 \ simon Hill: Yep. 233 \ 00:33:23.330 --> 00:33:24.859 \ simon Hill: Doesn't be, and . 234 \ 00:33:24.860 --> 00:33:27.530 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: I think Genius, well done. 235 \ 00:33:27.530 --> 00:33:33.050 \ simon Hill: I've actually managed to trademark that as well. So, like I said, we were… we've been keeping quiet because 236 \ 00:33:33.380 --> 00:33:43.550 \ simon Hill: I think there will probably be quite a… I'm hoping there's going to be quite a lot of take-up, and I don't want to not be able to, meet the demand, if you understand me. 237 \ 00:33:43.550 --> 00:33:44.160 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Yo. 238 \ 00:33:44.160 --> 00:33:48.780 \ simon Hill: So, our plan at the moment 239 \ 00:33:48.960 --> 00:34:07.019 \ simon Hill: is we've got the tomato store here on the island as well, who are interested, and they sell tomatoes all over the country. And Isle of Wight tomatoes are becoming a thing. You know, we've got the garlic farm, and they've just… they had my original one, which is still going really well, and I've just delivered two more to them. 240 \ 00:34:07.020 --> 00:34:19.380 \ simon Hill: Which hopefully, if I can play this video, you can see, Joe Boswell, who's the owner. I filmed her last Thursday, where we just started the two bins off. I'm hoping this is gonna work. 241 \ 00:34:21.250 --> 00:34:22.369 \ simon Hill: Can you see that? 242 \ 00:34:22.860 --> 00:34:23.610 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Yes. 243 \ 00:34:28.540 --> 00:34:30.720 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Are you expecting us to hear sound? 244 \ 00:34:30.940 --> 00:34:31.710 \ simon Hill: Yes. 245 \ 00:34:31.710 --> 00:34:39.729 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: You need to stop and start again, because there's a special button you need to talk. When you go into the share screen in Zoom. 246 \ 00:34:39.730 --> 00:34:40.100 \ simon Hill: Yep. 247 \ 00:34:40.100 --> 00:34:46.290 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: there's a button on the second screen that says, share audio, or something like that. Bottom left, I think. 248 \ 00:34:47.310 --> 00:34:53.660 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: So you probably need to stop sharing, Simon, come out of where you are, and then go back into sharing. 249 \ 00:34:54.510 --> 00:35:04.190 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: There you go, yep, so now go back into sharing, and then on the second screen that pops up, there will be a, I think, a bottom left corner, it says something like sharing audio. 250 \ 00:35:10.630 --> 00:35:12.919 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Let me see if I can find it on my own screen. 251 \ 00:35:13.130 --> 00:35:14.099 \ simon Hill: I sound. 252 \ 00:35:14.250 --> 00:35:15.700 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: You found it, okay, good. 253 \ 00:35:21.290 --> 00:35:22.109 \ simon Hill: That's it. 254 \ 00:35:22.110 --> 00:35:23.769 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: Hi, so I'm very excited. 255 \ 00:35:23.770 --> 00:35:24.229 \ simon Hill: Can you hear that? 256 \ 00:35:24.450 --> 00:35:25.650 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Absolutely, brilliant. 257 \ 00:35:25.650 --> 00:35:28.950 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: These two new worm farms that we've got from the worm farm. 258 \ 00:35:29.100 --> 00:35:34.029 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: They are completely empty right now, so if we have a look inside… 259 \ 00:35:34.560 --> 00:35:39.270 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: What we've done is, we've put two layers of cardboard 260 \ 00:35:39.890 --> 00:35:43.250 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: So, underneath this cardboard, you can see is the bottom rack. 261 \ 00:35:44.290 --> 00:35:47.320 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: The cardboard goes on top. 262 \ 00:35:47.540 --> 00:35:50.589 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: With, as we've started in this one, you can see. 263 \ 00:35:50.710 --> 00:35:54.430 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: This is wet, quite wet, damp, coconut coir. 264 \ 00:35:54.630 --> 00:35:59.939 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: So we've soaked 10 blocks of coconut coir, which we're then gonna put in the base. 265 \ 00:36:00.130 --> 00:36:04.440 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: The cardboard is stopping that dropping straight through the grid. 266 \ 00:36:04.610 --> 00:36:13.919 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: But in time, obviously, that cardboard is gonna rot down, so that, eventually, we will be able to pull that bridge back and forth. 267 \ 00:36:14.820 --> 00:36:17.720 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: And… In this tray. 268 \ 00:36:18.190 --> 00:36:26.550 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: Collect our worm casts, or vermicast, which is the amazing stuff that we're doing this all for. 269 \ 00:36:26.850 --> 00:36:38.469 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: excellent for nourishing the soil. So, what else we're going to put in with this coya, so that the worms are happy in an environment that they understand and know? We've taken all of this. 270 \ 00:36:38.700 --> 00:36:41.709 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: From our previous worm farm. 271 \ 00:36:42.470 --> 00:36:44.129 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: And this is absolute… look at that! 272 \ 00:36:44.280 --> 00:36:46.460 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: It's absolutely filled with worms. 273 \ 00:36:46.720 --> 00:36:49.619 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: And what this is, is merely, 274 \ 00:36:49.730 --> 00:36:59.429 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: food waste from our Rydan, and wood chips, which you can see no sign of anymore. The worms have broken it all down, maybe a few eggshells in there. 275 \ 00:36:59.600 --> 00:37:09.139 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: But the worms have broken it all down, and they're very happy in there, so we're gonna take a bit of that, mix it in with the koir, and there we go, that's the start of our worm farms. 276 \ 00:37:13.480 --> 00:37:15.350 \ simon Hill: There you go. Can you hear that? Do you see that? 277 \ 00:37:15.350 --> 00:37:16.330 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Yeah, we did. 278 \ 00:37:16.530 --> 00:37:17.330 \ simon Hill: Totally good. 279 \ 00:37:17.450 --> 00:37:25.290 \ simon Hill: So that, that's, that was last Thursday, unedited, that's just as, as it was on my phone, so… 280 \ 00:37:25.980 --> 00:37:28.070 \ simon Hill: Takes about 3 months. 281 \ 00:37:28.420 --> 00:37:41.230 \ simon Hill: before you see any kind of progress. And what we would be expecting to do, in kilos terms, is the bin will probably take about 20 kilos a week. 282 \ 00:37:41.450 --> 00:37:54.079 \ simon Hill: And then after about 3 months, it depends on temperature and how well the worms are settled in, and they generally… worms don't know up from down. So, in the worm bin. 283 \ 00:37:54.640 --> 00:38:11.989 \ simon Hill: They, they live in the coya for a start, and then we put food on top, and we'll put cardboard on top of that as well, just to… to stop them escaping up the sides, so they know where… they don't have eyes, but they are… their skin is sensitive to light. 284 \ 00:38:12.120 --> 00:38:16.700 \ simon Hill: So they don't like the light, so they like it to be nice and dark. And 285 \ 00:38:17.990 --> 00:38:27.000 \ simon Hill: Adding 20 kilos each… each week, will build up just to about, 6 inches or so from the top. 286 \ 00:38:27.520 --> 00:38:46.030 \ simon Hill: And, then at the bottom, that cardboard, by those 3 minutes, the cardboard breaks down, and then worm castings start to just drop out of the bottom, and then on, you know, sort of once you get to the 12-week period, you can operate the blade and then scrape the worm castings off, so… 287 \ 00:38:46.330 --> 00:38:54.279 \ simon Hill: each week, you should be putting in about 20 kilos and getting about the same out in worm castings. So… 288 \ 00:38:54.760 --> 00:38:58.110 \ simon Hill: That's what… that's what's happening at the garlic farm. 289 \ 00:38:58.290 --> 00:39:12.399 \ simon Hill: So that's… that's, well, the Joes… they're so pleased with the first one that they had, that she's ordered two, so I have two of them, which I have. I can show you… I think I've got a picture of that. 290 \ 00:39:13.290 --> 00:39:16.780 \ simon Hill: So… Can you see that? 291 \ 00:39:17.730 --> 00:39:18.590 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Yes, we can. 292 \ 00:39:18.590 --> 00:39:22.520 \ simon Hill: So that's… that's two of our Mingocasters. 293 \ 00:39:22.630 --> 00:39:24.680 \ simon Hill: But, 294 \ 00:39:25.840 --> 00:39:32.110 \ simon Hill: At the worm farm. So that was in a… in a… this is… this container was only, 8 foot long. 295 \ 00:39:32.180 --> 00:39:46.229 \ simon Hill: But there'll be enough, and it keeps reasonably cool in the summer, and it's… they're really quite warm in the winter, so we have got great, great plans for this, so… 296 \ 00:39:46.340 --> 00:39:48.989 \ simon Hill: This is going to be my proving ground, so… 297 \ 00:39:49.300 --> 00:40:00.560 \ simon Hill: I mean, nature says it will work. Science says it will work. We've… it's been a… the other one is just down the… just down the opposite side of that field. 298 \ 00:40:00.620 --> 00:40:04.980 \ simon Hill: In… just to the side of the car park, so that's been outside for a year. 299 \ 00:40:05.040 --> 00:40:23.309 \ simon Hill: Just under a little lean-to, and we put a jacket on it during the winter last year, and that one worked all the way through the winter. So, yeah, so we are at a sort of a fledgling stage, and wherever we go, whoever we show, and, you know, wherever we talk people. 300 \ 00:40:23.490 --> 00:40:27.790 \ simon Hill: Are really interested and want to do something with it, so… 301 \ 00:40:27.900 --> 00:40:31.469 \ simon Hill: Like I say, they're designed to be bolted together. 302 \ 00:40:32.360 --> 00:40:41.209 \ simon Hill: So I can make a double one, a quadruple one, and we'd probably say up to about 5 in length. 303 \ 00:40:41.210 --> 00:40:54.329 \ simon Hill: And that would be… each… each one of those boxes there would do 100 acres of arable or… or pasture, depending on… and you would… you would use it, spraying on, folio spray on. 304 \ 00:40:54.600 --> 00:41:06.190 \ simon Hill: And we've done… we've got… I've got 10 that have just come off the production line now, of a smaller one, which is 400, millimeters, so… 305 \ 00:41:06.340 --> 00:41:11.679 \ simon Hill: So a third of the size of that. It fits nice and neatly in the back of my car. 306 \ 00:41:11.830 --> 00:41:28.120 \ simon Hill: And we're using it at the moment for demonstration for schools, and Rose has got about 4 of them going here, and we've sold a handful of them as well. And people are getting great results in their own… in their own, sort of, homes and in their own yards, but I think that 307 \ 00:41:28.800 --> 00:41:45.410 \ simon Hill: anyone who's got a polytunnel ought to have one of these. Anyone who's got a stables or a yard could recycle their own poo. We've just, been asked to provide two for the zoo, Graham, over your way. So, Wild at Heart, they're having two in a similar sort of setup as this. 308 \ 00:41:45.660 --> 00:41:48.720 \ simon Hill: But they're gonna build, a purpose-built shed. 309 \ 00:41:49.040 --> 00:42:00.469 \ simon Hill: because they have a garden club and everything there, so… and what I didn't realize is they're buying in worms, to feed the raccoons, 310 \ 00:42:00.510 --> 00:42:12.489 \ simon Hill: And… and… and… but they do what, sorry, composting. And composting, yeah. So they have a, like, a children's mud kitchen as well out there, and these are gonna sit next door to them, so… 311 \ 00:42:12.560 --> 00:42:14.610 \ simon Hill: I've got great plans for that. 312 \ 00:42:15.320 --> 00:42:17.960 \ simon Hill: Has anybody got any questions they want to ask me? 313 \ 00:42:18.960 --> 00:42:28.839 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: I have a whole host of questions, but let me give someone else an opportunity first, before I take up all the time. So if anyone else has a question, please, by all means, raise your hand. 314 \ 00:42:28.960 --> 00:42:30.900 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Or just start speaking. 315 \ 00:42:32.250 --> 00:42:34.599 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: There you go, I knew you'd be there, Stuart. 316 \ 00:42:34.930 --> 00:42:37.320 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Please go ahead, you're on mute at the moment. 317 \ 00:42:37.780 --> 00:42:40.869 \ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Right, thanks for that, that was a fascinating talk. 318 \ 00:42:41.370 --> 00:42:44.989 \ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: I do home composting. 319 \ 00:42:45.180 --> 00:42:49.409 \ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Yes. But I've never really thought of, 320 \ 00:42:49.760 --> 00:42:58.400 \ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: just trying to collect the worm casts from it and using that as a fertiliser. Have you done any analysis of the worm casts? 321 \ 00:42:58.920 --> 00:43:03.020 \ simon Hill: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we have all that. So, when we were working with Dr. Parvin. 322 \ 00:43:03.100 --> 00:43:19.150 \ simon Hill: And she, she had a load of our worms, and she, one of her interns, has done a load of… of… of research on that, which is a lot of… I can send you some links, to, to, to those papers that have been published. Yes, I mean… 323 \ 00:43:19.150 --> 00:43:19.710 \ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Right. 324 \ 00:43:20.340 --> 00:43:24.469 \ simon Hill: So, one of my plans is, and I don't know whether we will actually do this, I want to… 325 \ 00:43:24.780 --> 00:43:38.529 \ simon Hill: either give one of these to Charles Dowden, or… I don't know whether any of you follow Charles Dowden, but he's a great no-dig gardener and a great YouTube personality with, you know, millions of followers. 326 \ 00:43:38.530 --> 00:43:48.569 \ simon Hill: And he's mad keen on composting, and does hot bins, he does, you know, sort of traditional composting, and he has a whole composting area. And I just think… 327 \ 00:43:48.660 --> 00:43:58.000 \ simon Hill: it's… it's… unless you've thought about it, and if it wasn't for my wife, I wouldn't know anything about this, and I wouldn't have had any interest in it. It's just that… 328 \ 00:43:59.350 --> 00:44:13.319 \ simon Hill: When you understand how these flow-through worm bins work, whereas if you've had a… bought a worm farm or a worm, you know, wormery in the past, and the plastic trays, and all the fat that goes with it, 329 \ 00:44:13.620 --> 00:44:16.829 \ simon Hill: They do work, but people sort of lose interest, whereas 330 \ 00:44:17.290 --> 00:44:36.390 \ simon Hill: this system, you can kind of just leave it, you know, you can't really do it any damage. It just won't produce, but there are ways, you know, with adding the right amount of moisture, putting a temperature gauge in there, you know, checking your pH, and adjusting accordingly, whether you add some lime into it. 331 \ 00:44:36.390 --> 00:44:44.429 \ simon Hill: it's, you know, for a farmer who wants to save on fertiliser, I think these Could be priceless. 332 \ 00:44:46.040 --> 00:44:51.730 \ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Yeah, thank you. The other thing I want to know is, how long do they last for? 333 \ 00:44:52.100 --> 00:44:54.629 \ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Or do they just go on forever? 334 \ 00:44:54.860 --> 00:45:09.400 \ simon Hill: They go on forever. I mean, well, I don't know yet, because my first prototype, which I'm still using, I built 3 years ago, 4 years ago now? Yeah, 4 years ago, but I built them… first ones we built out of wood. 335 \ 00:45:09.540 --> 00:45:27.770 \ simon Hill: And there's a guy on YouTube called Captain Stan in California. The principle is exactly the same, but he just has a rake, and he rakes off the bottom of his, and he has followers, and does tutorials, but he doesn't capture it, whereas 336 \ 00:45:27.770 --> 00:45:31.910 \ simon Hill: I've tried, I don't know, my wife says I over-engineer everything, but, 337 \ 00:45:32.240 --> 00:45:36.780 \ simon Hill: I've tried to solve every single problem that I can imagine that people have. 338 \ 00:45:36.830 --> 00:45:43.250 \ simon Hill: And I… I flew out to, the Algarve just before Christmas to go and meet 339 \ 00:45:43.250 --> 00:46:01.849 \ simon Hill: a farm there, which is an education center, and I mean, I'm not woo-woo or anything like that, but it was… it's a bit… a bit woo-woo. But they've got, or they… they have a… a flow-through system very similar, to what I've seen in America. 340 \ 00:46:01.850 --> 00:46:10.399 \ simon Hill: And again, they'd obviously copied something and developed their own one out of wood, but they had a dreadful rat problem, on the farm, and I said, look. 341 \ 00:46:10.420 --> 00:46:25.310 \ simon Hill: I'd got as far as you've got, but then I've moved it on and we've gone to aluminium, so I'm trying to find a manufacturer in Portugal to do them, because of the wine, the amount of wine that's grown out there. 342 \ 00:46:25.620 --> 00:46:32.950 \ simon Hill: When you put one of these on a farm, rather than necessarily in a home setting, or in a council setting, or whatever. 343 \ 00:46:33.080 --> 00:46:44.359 \ simon Hill: you're keeping all the waste and everything on your farm. All your inputs come from your farm. There's no mileage in it. You know, if you're buying 344 \ 00:46:44.500 --> 00:46:47.250 \ simon Hill: artificial fertiliser from the Ukraine. 345 \ 00:46:47.590 --> 00:46:49.539 \ simon Hill: And spraying it on your land. 346 \ 00:46:49.840 --> 00:47:00.080 \ simon Hill: you know, with all the goodnesses coming out of the land, and you're not putting it back in, whereas this puts it all back in. So, yeah, I've retried… 347 \ 00:47:00.770 --> 00:47:05.239 \ simon Hill: to get some funding to develop it, which… 348 \ 00:47:05.370 --> 00:47:28.629 \ simon Hill: I don't know, I lost a bit of faith in it, to be honest with you, because we spent a lot of time, put a lot of effort into it, and we got through two or three rounds. Yes, we were asking for 50,000 quid, and they all loved it, but they couldn't quite understand it, so I've had to do the proving, as it were. So I've had to put the investment in, have them built with, you know, with money from our other business, to prove that they work, and… 349 \ 00:47:28.700 --> 00:47:38.989 \ simon Hill: And they're working, so, you know, at the moment, we've kept quiet, because we didn't… you didn't know whether it was going to work, was it going to fail, or… but now we're seeing it from the rooftops. 350 \ 00:47:39.000 --> 00:47:51.630 \ simon Hill: So when I was approached by Graham, I thought, yep, yep, I need to start talking about this, I need to tell people, you know, what we're doing and what's available, because you can go on Google, you can't find… you can't buy a flow-through worm farm. 351 \ 00:47:51.690 --> 00:47:52.760 \ simon Hill: In Europe. 352 \ 00:47:53.150 --> 00:48:01.530 \ simon Hill: People just aren't doing it necessarily, you know, to produce them, so it's quite a unique product, and, you know, we want to get it right. 353 \ 00:48:01.530 --> 00:48:13.189 \ simon Hill: And I think my ambition was, even before Christmas, I think, that I wanted it to be worldwide, and I wanted to do these things, and, you know, and I said, oh, we'll get them made in China. My wife says, you know what? 354 \ 00:48:13.190 --> 00:48:13.700 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: I can imagine. 355 \ 00:48:13.700 --> 00:48:31.780 \ simon Hill: So, they're hand-built here. They're hand-welded and crafted, so I… we're kind of thinking that what we want to do is… is grow the business or grow this as a kind of Isle of Wight things, because I can deliver. 356 \ 00:48:31.940 --> 00:48:47.529 \ simon Hill: each and every one of these to anywhere on the Isle of Wight. We're only 27 miles wide and 12, 14 miles high, so we're tiny. But there's a lot of interest, here in these, and people keep approaching us, and, you know. 357 \ 00:48:47.720 --> 00:49:08.790 \ simon Hill: So, I want it to kind of be an Isle of Wight thing, and so much so that, you know, I end up having to get on a ferry and go and deliver these, or we, you know, we have them manufactured, you know, on the mainland, but, but to this high standard, so that I can't do anything by half, so maybe it is over-engineered, like my answer. 358 \ 00:49:08.790 --> 00:49:13.450 \ simon Hill: going on forever. So, hopefully, yeah. 359 \ 00:49:13.990 --> 00:49:18.349 \ simon Hill: you know, I would easily put a 10-year guarantee on my worm bin. 360 \ 00:49:18.620 --> 00:49:19.470 \ simon Hill: There's this… 361 \ 00:49:19.470 --> 00:49:29.290 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: You need to… you need to talk to IKEA and get this built as a flat pack, that people can just ship it everywhere easily. But let's move on to other questions. Sue, you've been very patient. 362 \ 00:49:29.290 --> 00:49:34.330 \ Sue Burton: Oh, no, thank you. It's all fascinating, and I hear the impact. 363 \ 00:49:34.330 --> 00:49:34.960 \ Audio shared by simon Hill: that you could. 364 \ 00:49:34.960 --> 00:49:53.530 \ Sue Burton: have on farming. A lot of us here are more involved with our local communities. Just to clarify one point, the food waste is only organic vegetable-type stuff, rather than all the food waste, just to clarify that point. 365 \ 00:49:53.530 --> 00:50:13.410 \ simon Hill: Yeah, so to clarify, you can feed worms anything that grew out of the ground. So, cows and sheep don't grow out of the ground, so there's no meat, no fish going in there, and not too heavy on citrus, so no more than 10% of citrus. 366 \ 00:50:13.410 --> 00:50:14.149 \ Sue Burton: Fine. 367 \ 00:50:14.150 --> 00:50:15.650 \ simon Hill: They don't really like that. 368 \ 00:50:15.650 --> 00:50:18.389 \ Sue Burton: Yeah, okay, so… go on. 369 \ 00:50:19.370 --> 00:50:24.289 \ simon Hill: I mean, Rosa is presently developing, a system for dog poop. 370 \ 00:50:24.610 --> 00:50:25.330 \ Sue Burton: Oh, wow. 371 \ 00:50:25.570 --> 00:50:30.750 \ simon Hill: Yeah, so she's developing a bin for dog poo, but it wouldn't be… 372 \ 00:50:30.990 --> 00:50:38.069 \ simon Hill: So what… what would come out of the bottom, or what is coming out the bottom, is… is… is amazing. And… 373 \ 00:50:38.230 --> 00:50:42.879 \ simon Hill: But I think we… you wouldn't put it on your vegetables, but it'd be fine on your flowers. 374 \ 00:50:43.310 --> 00:50:53.660 \ simon Hill: Yeah. Likewise, anything that comes out, that leach out at the bottom, we generally either put it back in the top, or use it for flowers. 375 \ 00:50:54.250 --> 00:51:13.520 \ simon Hill: And our fertilizer that we spray on, with the worm castings, is a worm tea. Rosa also used to make, a worm, a tea with, not to drink, but to put on your plants. What happens when you, when you spray a tomato plant. 376 \ 00:51:13.790 --> 00:51:19.930 \ simon Hill: With worm castings, the way that we do, or garlic. The plant… 377 \ 00:51:20.550 --> 00:51:31.579 \ simon Hill: thinks it's under attack. So what it does, it puts up its defenses. So although it's not a pesticide, it kind of acts as a pesticide when you're… when you're applying it. 378 \ 00:51:32.650 --> 00:51:34.340 \ simon Hill: I'm told by the scientists. 379 \ 00:51:35.460 --> 00:51:48.429 \ Sue Burton: Yeah. So, thank you. So, basically, looking at our… we've got two important things that are happening at the moment, that the food waste is coming in under Simply Recycling. 380 \ 00:51:48.430 --> 00:52:09.659 \ Sue Burton: for most areas from the 1st of April, and I personally, think it's going to create… make it more difficult to encourage people to home compost, and how you sort that out, but that's not for today. But my main thing is, how do we take this forward to, say, schools. 381 \ 00:52:09.660 --> 00:52:21.700 \ Sue Burton: allotment sites, how can we make it work that there's a cycle there for those? You put one of your little ones on an allotment site. 382 \ 00:52:21.700 --> 00:52:30.270 \ Sue Burton: encourage a community to bring their stuff, you get somebody to look after it. How can you make that work within that sort of setting? 383 \ 00:52:30.840 --> 00:52:31.219 \ simon Hill: I mean. 384 \ 00:52:31.220 --> 00:52:32.489 \ Sue Burton: That's a school. 385 \ 00:52:32.660 --> 00:52:52.820 \ simon Hill: Okay, so that… your echo… what I'm sniggering is because my wife sat in front of me, and that's always her next question. So, the question you just asked me is exactly… so, we've set up, a CIC, a community interest company, called Isle of Worms. 386 \ 00:52:52.930 --> 00:53:01.079 \ simon Hill: And, that is specifically for the teachings. So, with… when we… 387 \ 00:53:01.100 --> 00:53:14.060 \ simon Hill: when we… when we're selling these… these, these worm bins, I've… I've written a whole… what happens in the first 12 weeks, or what to expect in the first 12 weeks. There's about… 388 \ 00:53:15.000 --> 00:53:21.130 \ simon Hill: 20, 30 pages of frequently asked questions, and all the problems that we've ever encountered. 389 \ 00:53:21.130 --> 00:53:35.959 \ simon Hill: lack of moisture. So teaching is always going to be a fundamental part of our business, and, and certainly my wife's charity side of it, you know, for the community, so… 390 \ 00:53:36.120 --> 00:53:46.590 \ simon Hill: we've been approached by, the Gernard people here on the Isle of Wight, growing in Gernard, and, you know, we will… 391 \ 00:53:47.030 --> 00:54:02.890 \ simon Hill: We're discussing whether we'd donate one to them, for them to use, and, you know, we'll use the results from that as part of our publicity, so that will be part of our advertising, if, you know, advertising budget, as it were. 392 \ 00:54:02.910 --> 00:54:09.450 \ simon Hill: So, in… the most important thing, Sue, what you'd said. 393 \ 00:54:09.450 --> 00:54:14.509 \ simon Hill: was that somebody would take ownership, of the VIN, so… 394 \ 00:54:14.510 --> 00:54:28.260 \ simon Hill: where we… where we've been able to work closely with the garden farm with our first… the one that first went in there, you know, we were very hands-on. I mean, they've got a lovely restaurant, so it's no big deal for Rose and I to go at least once a week and have breakfast, and… 395 \ 00:54:28.260 --> 00:54:37.469 \ simon Hill: And, you know, make sure, monitor that they're bin, that they're doing the right things, and everything is working perfectly. But it's when you hand it over to somebody else. It's very… 396 \ 00:54:37.960 --> 00:54:54.509 \ simon Hill: there's very few skills you need, you just need to use your eyes and ears and, you know, and take ownership of the bin. So, yes, I mean, and that's for schools, I mean, every second breath, my wife says she's doing this, yeah, but what about the schools? So, 397 \ 00:54:55.480 --> 00:55:12.230 \ simon Hill: we've gone to ride private school here on the Isle of Wight, and they're going to, put it in as part of their curriculum. They're also introducing bees. They're fortunate they've got a little polytunnel, and it's… they've got from prep school right up to A levels. 398 \ 00:55:12.230 --> 00:55:26.209 \ simon Hill: So, you know, they're looking to bring that in there. I honestly don't know how it works in the mainstream school, A, because I haven't ventured in there, although my local 399 \ 00:55:26.210 --> 00:55:32.620 \ simon Hill: Parish counsellor, she's a teacher, and she's asked if we can go and do a talk at her school, which is… 400 \ 00:55:32.660 --> 00:55:45.409 \ simon Hill: Absolutely no problem, but, you know, I would love to see it find its way onto the curriculum. I mean, you know, you should know how to add up and speak and read, but you should also know what's going on below your feet, so… 401 \ 00:55:46.390 --> 00:55:47.660 \ Sue Burton: So, on the practical. 402 \ 00:55:47.660 --> 00:55:48.669 \ simon Hill: Because I'm sorry. 403 \ 00:55:48.670 --> 00:56:03.439 \ Sue Burton: To be absolutely clear, the castings that come out of the bottom cannot be used, like, as you… when your compost bin has finished, and it's reasonable, nothing like as good as yours, I can tell you that. 404 \ 00:56:03.440 --> 00:56:16.320 \ Sue Burton: You can use it straight away on the soil, with what is produced for the castings isn't suitable for putting within your soil. Is that… am I understanding it correctly? 405 \ 00:56:16.320 --> 00:56:25.569 \ simon Hill: No, no, with the greatest respect, no, I haven't explained it clearly enough. So, I found a way, a vehicle, of explaining it, so… 406 \ 00:56:26.080 --> 00:56:29.300 \ simon Hill: You know what… you know what I mean by a molehill, don't you? 407 \ 00:56:29.300 --> 00:56:30.000 \ Sue Burton: Yep. 408 \ 00:56:30.310 --> 00:56:32.039 \ simon Hill: Do you know what the molehill's made of? 409 \ 00:56:32.290 --> 00:56:35.099 \ Sue Burton: worms crawling around inside, I think. 410 \ 00:56:35.100 --> 00:56:52.229 \ simon Hill: So, you are 100% right. So, my father used to tell me, and he didn't know what it was, he used to tell me it was topsoil, but it's the best topsoil known to man. He said, if you've got a molehill, scoop it over into a plant pot and shove some tomato plants in there, and watch what grows. 411 \ 00:56:52.500 --> 00:56:53.610 \ simon Hill: So… 412 \ 00:56:54.020 --> 00:57:05.869 \ simon Hill: Moles eat worms, alright? So… and they also use the… it's… imagine a layer of cake, so where the worm castings sit 6 inches or so below the soil. 413 \ 00:57:05.960 --> 00:57:23.409 \ simon Hill: the moles work their way through the worm castings. They then push those worm castings out of the soil, and that's where you end up at the top. So that's a pile of worm castings. That's why it's so black and golden. And that's all we're doing. So rather than… 414 \ 00:57:23.630 --> 00:57:39.419 \ simon Hill: finding a machine that can push it up to the top and we can pick it off the top. I've created a machine that just pulls it off the bottom where they leave it. So that… that… you can use it as an amendment to the soil. It's just that… 415 \ 00:57:39.750 --> 00:57:55.630 \ simon Hill: I've probably skipped a stage, because most people, would dig in, you know, a bag of worm castings into their soil to improve it, and that's what you used to do. In California, I would watch them 10, 12 years ago. 416 \ 00:57:56.170 --> 00:58:14.090 \ simon Hill: where they would get the worm castings out of big log bins like we were doing. They weren't little units like this. They were great big long bins, and they'd dig them out, and then they would dig that into the soil, and they'd put it around the roots of the… of the vines. 417 \ 00:58:14.300 --> 00:58:18.880 \ simon Hill: But it's… this… this system of making worm tea 418 \ 00:58:19.210 --> 00:58:23.269 \ simon Hill: There's people who've been doing it for 30, 40 years, maybe even longer. 419 \ 00:58:23.410 --> 00:58:26.650 \ simon Hill: But it's… in the last 5 years, it's… 420 \ 00:58:26.790 --> 00:58:34.199 \ simon Hill: Become known in the worm world, that it's probably the single best way to apply it to your land. 421 \ 00:58:34.480 --> 00:58:39.350 \ simon Hill: So there's… there's businesses in Australia that they'll come round with a… 422 \ 00:58:39.520 --> 00:58:53.660 \ simon Hill: with a machine and a vehicle, and they'll spray your lawn, and you pay, like, $20, $30. But it's just natural, you know, rather than green thumb coming around and putting nitrogen or whatever they put onto your lawn. 423 \ 00:58:53.660 --> 00:59:03.780 \ simon Hill: they just spray worm castings, you know, a worm tea onto your grass. We also add two other things in there, which I didn't mention earlier. When we make the tea. 424 \ 00:59:04.530 --> 00:59:18.480 \ simon Hill: And in Australia, if you wanted to, or in California, it's about the same price. If you wanted to buy one of those IBCs for your farm to spray onto your land to cover 100 acres, that's $2,000 to buy it. 425 \ 00:59:18.490 --> 00:59:38.310 \ simon Hill: And where… where farmers have got their own inputs, and gardeners have got their own inputs, they can use it there. So, yeah, spraying it with a… with, with a… from a tea is one of the best, most useful ways of… of covering a large area with the right amount of fertiliser. 426 \ 00:59:40.800 --> 00:59:41.970 \ Sue Burton: Brilliant, thank you. 427 \ 00:59:42.160 --> 00:59:43.189 \ simon Hill: You're welcome, Sue. 428 \ 00:59:43.860 --> 00:59:47.209 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Kirsten, would you like to leap in, please? 429 \ 00:59:49.530 --> 01:00:03.030 \ Kirsten Newble Cambridge: Hi, thank you. Actually, you've been so comprehensive answering other people's questions, that part of mine is answered. However, the bit that I haven't quite got a handle on is you mentioned a very large increase in the number of worms. 430 \ 01:00:03.030 --> 01:00:09.550 \ Kirsten Newble Cambridge: Up to a thousand… a thousand going up to another huge number of thousands, thank you. 431 \ 01:00:09.880 --> 01:00:23.820 \ Kirsten Newble Cambridge: You mentioned the fishermen, but one assumes that to keep these bins going, you almost have to divide, a bit like you divide a beehive, to take some of those worms off. Can you just elaborate on how often you have to do that, and what you would do with them, please? 432 \ 01:00:23.820 --> 01:00:30.640 \ simon Hill: Thank you. So they are… and a bit like they say where a fish will, grow to the size of his tank. 433 \ 01:00:30.750 --> 01:00:34.170 \ simon Hill: Worms will do exactly the same thing, so… 434 \ 01:00:34.250 --> 01:00:56.399 \ simon Hill: if you're not feeding them, and they're not going to need moisture, and they're freezing cold, they're not going to reproduce. However, they'll just keep reproducing, reproducing, until there's not enough space. So if they run out of space, they'll stop reproducing. If they… so what you… what you would do, you would take the load of worms out, or in the instance of, 435 \ 01:00:56.430 --> 01:01:09.579 \ simon Hill: the Wild at Heart, Animal Sanctuary Zoo here on the island, so that they will be taking them out and feeding them to the raccoons. Whereas we take them out and start off another bin, or you can sell them online. 436 \ 01:01:09.860 --> 01:01:20.609 \ simon Hill: Or put them into your garden, or feed them to the robins. So… but they will just keep going and going. So they'll live for about 3, maybe 4 years, a worm. 437 \ 01:01:20.770 --> 01:01:28.339 \ simon Hill: So the one we just did, at the garlic farm, so they've been in there for a year. There was loads and loads of juveniles. 438 \ 01:01:28.340 --> 01:01:28.810 \ Kirsten Newble Cambridge: Oh. 439 \ 01:01:28.810 --> 01:01:43.419 \ simon Hill: That we also transferred. So, in those two that I've left on the screen there, when we finished preparing their first stage last Thursday, we removed a load of worms and worm castings. 440 \ 01:01:43.420 --> 01:01:50.359 \ simon Hill: From the first bin that went into those, yeah. So there is a little bit of maintenance to be had. 441 \ 01:01:50.370 --> 01:02:10.160 \ simon Hill: But you can… you can always… you can always get worms out of your bin. You just feed in one area. So, as you look at the bin, if you just feed an area the size of your hand to put vegetables or whatever there, they'll… they'll migrate to that area, so then you'll be able to take them out from there. 442 \ 01:02:11.040 --> 01:02:27.109 \ Kirsten Newble Cambridge: So, in a related question, I also home compost, and I get very excited by the worms in the compost and putting them on my garden. I have a particular corner of the garden that is really awful. It's, I think, ex-farm old or something that's really compacted, hasn't got worms, not in great shape. 443 \ 01:02:27.150 --> 01:02:35.640 \ Kirsten Newble Cambridge: what… what ben… I mean, do… just putting worms on the top in a block of compost onto what is rubbish ground underneath? 444 \ 01:02:35.720 --> 01:02:43.209 \ Kirsten Newble Cambridge: Does that… does that give you any hope, of increasing the worm count, or do they just die off because they don't like the ground you put them on? 445 \ 01:02:43.210 --> 01:02:50.619 \ simon Hill: No, no, no, no, no, they'll be fine, they'll be fine. I mean, I would probably suggest broadfawking it first, if you've got a broadfork. 446 \ 01:02:51.110 --> 01:02:58.799 \ simon Hill: and then do it, yes. Yes, they would, they would, improve it. I mean, you do have… because I had the same 447 \ 01:02:58.920 --> 01:03:11.150 \ simon Hill: Question. So, where… where these, worm bins are on the garlic farm, immediately adjacent to it, they've got some… their neighbors have got horses, and they've got some… 448 \ 01:03:11.200 --> 01:03:16.640 \ simon Hill: They started off some composting bins out of, pallets. 449 \ 01:03:16.690 --> 01:03:21.559 \ simon Hill: And the guy said to me, he said, can I have some of your worms to put into here? I said. 450 \ 01:03:21.560 --> 01:03:45.870 \ simon Hill: you can. I said, but they're actually doing a job in here, and because we are containing them, they can't go anywhere, they don't disappear, they're going to do more work in here than they would do in there. I said, the chickens will probably go through there and nick them all out at the top of there, or they'll go down and disappear out of sight. So, yes, it does, but you are also feeding, you know, the 451 \ 01:03:45.870 --> 01:03:53.160 \ simon Hill: the birds and the hedgehogs. But that might be what you want to do as well, Kirsten, so… 452 \ 01:03:53.160 --> 01:04:01.529 \ Kirsten Newble Cambridge: Actually, I'm very into the wildlife side of things, in another capacity, so that doesn't bother me. I don't mind sharing. It's cool. Thank you very much. 453 \ 01:04:03.940 --> 01:04:07.680 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Anybody else got any questions, please, before I start leaping in? 454 \ 01:04:08.110 --> 01:04:18.750 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: And some of these are pertinent to the Outer White, so if people want to log off, that would be fine. And let me just take the opportunity of mentioning that, next week. 455 \ 01:04:18.880 --> 01:04:41.469 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: We are going to be having Rick Casal from The Carbon Copy coming up with their whole new way of collecting environmental stories, so I think it's really going to be worth listening to. I recommend it. And questions for Simon? Are you familiar with the regenerative farm on the island, where they're doing all the organic work? 456 \ 01:04:42.080 --> 01:04:44.890 \ simon Hill: The permaculture down in, the undercliff. 457 \ 01:04:44.890 --> 01:04:45.730 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Yes. 458 \ 01:04:45.730 --> 01:04:47.130 \ simon Hill: Yes, I am, yeah, yeah, yeah. 459 \ 01:04:47.130 --> 01:05:03.030 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Because I imagine they would be interested to see you. And I've done quite a lot of work in a previous job with the National Allotment Society, and they've always been brilliant and helpful. They've come up with all sorts of ideas that your average Joe never thinks of. 460 \ 01:05:03.140 --> 01:05:20.180 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Like, I always thought if you had an allotment, you had to find a piece of decent land, but they say, no, no, no, so you just put decent ground on… soil on top of it in a, sort of a ridge-type form, and away you go. It doesn't matter what the land is underneath. 461 \ 01:05:20.510 --> 01:05:21.010 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Well, you… 462 \ 01:05:21.010 --> 01:05:21.400 \ simon Hill: God. 463 \ 01:05:21.400 --> 01:05:25.599 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: What they're doing across the country would actually go quite well together. 464 \ 01:05:25.600 --> 01:05:36.910 \ simon Hill: Yeah, that sounds amazing. I mean, for, at our farm in, in Shelfley, Rose and I are… we're planning and under construction. 465 \ 01:05:36.910 --> 01:05:46.729 \ simon Hill: We're duplicating what we're doing at the garlic farm, so at the garlic farm, we've done… set these, worm bins there, and in front of it is going to be a market garden. 466 \ 01:05:47.460 --> 01:06:04.700 \ simon Hill: Okay. So, and it's going to be a no-dig market garden, so, it's cardboard's going down, and then on top of that, worm castings, and some… some stuff from the Isle of Wight compost. So, some Isle of Wight compost. So they're growing in Isle of Wight compost with wood chip. 467 \ 01:06:04.860 --> 01:06:11.150 \ simon Hill: Borders, walkways, all the way around. So, 75cm wide, 10 meters long. 468 \ 01:06:12.170 --> 01:06:12.940 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Okay. 469 \ 01:06:13.350 --> 01:06:16.030 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: So, moving on from that… 470 \ 01:06:16.200 --> 01:06:29.200 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: We're having in Bembridge on the 18th of April, an environment event day, where we're actually bringing in all sorts of people to tell our populace what can be done in the environment. I would love it if you could come along. 471 \ 01:06:29.710 --> 01:06:35.440 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Which is this Saturday, by the way. And it's also going to be, I don't know if you've heard about the, 472 \ 01:06:36.340 --> 01:06:52.959 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: national emergency briefing, which is, that… okay, so there's a… in November last year, there was a big meeting of bigwigs who wanted to make it clear to the politicians that the climate emergency is much more severe than anybody had actually appreciated, and they're coming. 473 \ 01:06:52.960 --> 01:06:53.290 \ simon Hill: I don't. 474 \ 01:06:53.290 --> 01:07:12.819 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: movie. And we're going to be building on the back of that, of what we can be doing locally to improve things. So I think that having worm farms all over Bembridge is going to be a big deal, so I hope… I do hope you can come along. I think it's going to be a big thing. And the local school, I think, would love to hear from you, so… 475 \ 01:07:12.820 --> 01:07:13.400 \ simon Hill: Definitely, yeah. 476 \ 01:07:13.400 --> 01:07:16.990 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Basically, booking your time for the next couple of months, if you wouldn't mind, please. 477 \ 01:07:18.070 --> 01:07:21.490 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: It was a really, really, wonderful… 478 \ 01:07:21.490 --> 01:07:40.159 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: expression. I do have one question which arose from your position. You've, you've sold a first unit to the garlic farm, which was just big enough to spray their 100 acres, so you had covered what they've got. So my natural question is, why have they bought two more from you? What are they going to do with those products? 479 \ 01:07:40.420 --> 01:07:43.100 \ simon Hill: Specifically, the Market Garden. 480 \ 01:07:43.320 --> 01:07:53.160 \ simon Hill: So, where… where… where they're positioned, if you go to the garlic farm, you know where the… the meadow used to be, the wild meadow? 481 \ 01:07:53.160 --> 01:07:54.890 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Yes, we're on the car park, yep. 482 \ 01:07:54.890 --> 01:08:03.050 \ simon Hill: Right, so that whole area is now being given over to Joe, and she's basically building a showcase. 483 \ 01:08:03.090 --> 01:08:19.359 \ simon Hill: For her talents, as a grower. And, she's complete… I don't know, do you… you know who Richard Perkins is? Yep. So… Bro, both Rose and I have done his masterclass in, market gardening. 484 \ 01:08:19.479 --> 01:08:32.990 \ simon Hill: Having tried to get away from farming and growing my entire life. I'm just enveloped in it. And so she's doing the same thing. So she's doing what we're doing. So we're building a market garden predominantly 485 \ 01:08:33.040 --> 01:08:51.949 \ simon Hill: At the request of a couple of, restaurants as well who want us to grow for them, and also to show off how good our product, the worm castings are, because with the no-dig system, you don't… you don't dig it, you, you cover the ground with cardboard, and you basically build the soil up. 486 \ 01:08:52.290 --> 01:08:56.889 \ simon Hill: From the ground up, so they've had these to create enough 487 \ 01:08:56.950 --> 01:09:15.900 \ simon Hill: compost to grow, so there's 10… 10-10 meter beds first, and then that'll grow to 20, and then a great big pumpkin patch, right down by where the, where the car park is. And that'll all be, fertilized by worm castings. 488 \ 01:09:16.510 --> 01:09:21.400 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Okay, thank you. I'll be in touch with you about all of that. Let's go on to Kirsten. You've got another question? 489 \ 01:09:26.330 --> 01:09:28.719 \ Kirsten Newble Cambridge: No, I think I forgot to lower my hand. Apologies. 490 \ 01:09:28.729 --> 01:09:33.999 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: And Stuart, did I see you come up for a moment and then disappear again? 491 \ 01:09:34.200 --> 01:09:43.609 \ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Yeah, I was just going to finally ask, as an engineer, when are you going to make one of these which is self-regulated thermally? 492 \ 01:09:44.090 --> 01:09:46.339 \ simon Hill: Well, there you go. So, this is… 493 \ 01:09:46.340 --> 01:09:47.040 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: This didn't. 494 \ 01:09:47.040 --> 01:09:54.429 \ simon Hill: This is exactly where I'm at. So, the idea of, boy, putting them in a container and putting one of those, Jackery 495 \ 01:09:56.020 --> 01:10:15.370 \ simon Hill: photovoltaic, cells on top, and a battery, then I can have Wi-Fi and I can monitor everything from the moisture to the MPK. And that's… yeah, that's… that's where I am heading. I want to put little copper bars in it so I can know exactly what the temperature is. 496 \ 01:10:15.370 --> 01:10:17.269 \ simon Hill: Yeah, there's… 497 \ 01:10:17.480 --> 01:10:32.749 \ simon Hill: I don't know… I love my music as well, and they always say when they sign a band, they want to know, you know, what the third album's going to be, and I've got all sorts of iterations and where I can take this, so I'm starting here. 498 \ 01:10:32.780 --> 01:10:39.770 \ simon Hill: But my mind is forced of ways that they can be regulated. Just… 499 \ 01:10:39.840 --> 01:10:57.089 \ simon Hill: just because they don't… worms don't send… send you invoices. They just repay, you know, good management. So, that's what I want to be. So if you be a good custodian of them, keep them as damp as they want to be, and provide them with the best habitat, they'll… they'll work… they'll work and work for you. 500 \ 01:10:58.400 --> 01:10:58.880 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Right. 501 \ 01:10:58.880 --> 01:10:59.710 \ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Thank you. 502 \ 01:10:59.960 --> 01:11:02.319 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Is there any questions from anyone, please? 503 \ 01:11:02.700 --> 01:11:15.150 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Right, well, Simon, that was just brilliant. Thank you so much. So, if this is your first public engagement, I hope it's given you the groundings for lots more, because it was really quite intriguing. 504 \ 01:11:15.240 --> 01:11:24.169 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: So, you're on a good topic. Thank you very much. I will be back in touch with you shortly, and thank you everybody for showing up. 505 \ 01:11:24.290 --> 01:11:24.870 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Okay. 506 \ 01:11:24.870 --> 01:11:26.079 \ Cllr.Stuart Withington, Gt Dunmow TC, Essex: Thanks, Simon. Thanks, Graham. 507 \ 01:11:26.590 --> 01:11:27.010 \ simon Hill: 10th grade. 508 \ 01:11:27.010 --> 01:11:27.570 \ Sue Burton: Good morning! 509 \ 01:11:27.570 --> 01:11:28.520 \ Graham Stoddart-Stones - Great Collaboration - Bembridge: Bye. 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