Arizona Worm Farm

Arizona Worm Farm Our mission is to turn "garbage" into food and show you how you can too.

Our mission is to decrease our impact on the local waste stream, reduce time spent composting and create a safe and organic benefit to our garden

Frost cloth going up on our small citrus trees. It’s going to be cold for a couple of days. Don’t forget to cover your f...
01/11/2025

Frost cloth going up on our small citrus trees. It’s going to be cold for a couple of days. Don’t forget to cover your frost sensitive trees and plants.

01/05/2025

Some Sunday Morning video before you go outside to water your garden.

The headline: our friend, Josh Heyneke (Parc Carreg) is a duck farmer from Wales that has used worms to turn a problem into black gold!

The long version: small farmers all over the world struggle to make ends meet. Brexit in the UK exacerbated the challenges for agriculture in Britain and Wales. Subsidies and trade agreements were allowed to lapse for political reasons - but the impact on small farmers was enormous. For a humorous snapshot, watch Clarkson's Farm on Prime Video.

This is really an American Dream I hear about regularly - except it happened in London. In 2015, Josh and Abi Heyneke quit safe city jobs to become regenerative farmers. They sold their flat in London and left for the Welsh countryside. At one point, they were the UKs only producer of organic duck eggs and, while every day was a struggle, seemed on track for success.

Then came Brexit in 2020 and Covid after that plus some overreach from new regulators, and a series of financial challenges. Josh and Abi decided to stick it out to create the life they wanted for themselves and their now growing family. (The details of their story is here: https://youtu.be/V_p1FuI1Bsg?si=6L-zV1ZxSBHDRH9z)

Josh reached out to me a couple of years ago to learn about what we were doing with worms and Black Soldier Fly Larvae and we have been corresponding periodically back and forth over the years. As you will see in the attached video, he is using worms to turn what used to be a problem into an asset for his farm and the community.

A self serving postscript: this Thursday and Friday the Arizona Worm Farm will again host the World Worm Business Conference. 50 worm farmers from all over the world will come to Phoenix to learn about how to raise worms and produce castings so they can go back to their communities and work to save soil and reduce the waste that goes into landfills. Look for some updates from the conference later this week.

Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/YhelSEjqX5Y?si=wIzUf3K4GLGnaCoN

It is Winter Harvest time here at the Arizona Worm Farm.  Join us as we harvest and cook a hearty vegetable soup - which...
01/04/2025

It is Winter Harvest time here at the Arizona Worm Farm. Join us as we harvest and cook a hearty vegetable soup - which we will eat when we have cooked it.

Chef Jenna D’Agostino, who is a chef/instructor, will help us get prepared and set our soup to cooking. Then, out into the gardens to harvest a "soup kit" of vegetables and herbs for you to use when you get home. We will then return to a finished soup to eat.

Please note: class fee is for just one person.

Details are here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/2692940554229891/

So, we kind of won the Soil Nerd of the Month Olympics.......Soil and Mulch Producer News is a bi-monthly trade publicat...
01/02/2025

So, we kind of won the Soil Nerd of the Month Olympics.......

Soil and Mulch Producer News is a bi-monthly trade publication for companies that make compost and mulch and soil products. They put us on the cover this edition. It is one of the few magazines I read cover to cover.

Now if you swing by the farm and I'm wearing a compost tiara, you will know why.

The article is here: https://www.soilandmulchproducernews.com/arizona-worm-farm-turns-trash-to-treasure/

This is going to be a beautiful weekend to plant winter greens. Here’s what we have available:  Starts available 12/20Ve...
12/20/2024

This is going to be a beautiful weekend to plant winter greens. Here’s what we have available:

Starts available 12/20

Veggies:
Artichoke
Arugula
Spinach
Swiss chard
Collard Greens
Lettuce - romaine, red leaf & tricolor mix
Broccoli- Waltham & Green Magic
Cauliflower - Amazing & Snowball
Brussel Sprouts- Gladius
Kale-Lacinato & Red Russian
Celery
Cabbage - Golden acre, red acre, Caraflex, Napa
Red Bok Choi
Kohlrabi- White & Purple
Sugar Snap Peas
Fava Beans
Mustard greens- Tatsoi & yellow
Bunching onions

Flowers:
Butterfly flower
Calendula
Ageratum
Alyssum
Snapdragons
Stock
Statice
Scabiosa
Sweet pea
Nasturtium
Hollyhock
Yarrow
Viola
Kurapia

Herbs:
Cilantro
Dill
Marjoram
Rosemary
Chamomile
Borage
Sage

Succulents:
Elephant food
Ice plant
Octopus Agave
Spruce Cone Cholla
Aloe Vera
Ponytail Palm

Trees:
Sugar cane
Morninga
White Guava
Everbearing black Mulberry
Vitex Chaste

Vines:
Tangerine Crossvine
Queen’s Wreath
Star Jasmine

Happy Holidays!  Please note that we will be closing early this Thursday (at 11:00) and then we will be closed Christmas...
12/16/2024

Happy Holidays!

Please note that we will be closing early this Thursday (at 11:00) and then we will be closed Christmas Eve day and Christmas and New Years Eve day and New Years day.

We hope you enjoy time with your families, friends and your gardens!

12/13/2024

Over the last two weeks, we tested shipping live Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) all over the state with 100% success. The BSFL all arrived fat and happy and poultry in a bunch of places got special treats!

Money back guarantee: your chickens will love these way more than any dried bug or treat you give them. If they don't we will refund your full purchase price.

We are now offering this as a subscription service anywhere in Arizona. The cost is $12 a pound plus $3 shipping and you can choose from a one time purchase or the frequency of your choice. There is a 10% discount if you get them weekly.

The link is: https://azbsfl.square.site/

For our followers, your first delivery is free. Just sign up for a subscription and DM me, I will credit back your first payment. If you (and your chickens) don't love it, cancel at any time.

We still have these available in some local feed store (Shoppers in Chandler and Gilbert, Gordons in Phoenix, and the Mesa Feed Barn). You can save the shipping costs if you pick them up at one of this fine local stores.

Sorry to be so long, but I wanted to tell you a little about why you should buy our locally raised BSFL:

We raise BSFL on organic, pre-consumer waste here in Phoenix at our Worm Farm in South Phoenix. We welcome visitors at anytime to see our transparent process – we are very proud of our ultra-safe feeding and rearing techniques that ensure poultry fed on our Larvae get the best nutrition possible.

Some of the key things we do to keep our BSFL healthy for your poultry:

· Our larvae are feed organic waste from reputable local catering companies who take sustainability seriously

· We use only “pre-consumer” waste. The waste fed our larvae comes out of regulated and supervised kitchens. They don’t get any food we wouldn’t eat ourselves! And, they get it before it is fed to people (who, with all due respect, are not always disease-free)

· Our fly house and grow out rooms are climate controlled with “positive air” systems. These systems prevent foreign insects from getting into our Larvae.

BSFL are what are called “bioaccumulators”. Their digestive systems clean natural pathogens – but they can’t clean chemicals or heavy metals. They literally accumulate chemicals and heavy metals in their bodies and end up with higher levels in their bodies than in the environment. That is why it is so important to know what the BSFL are being fed. And, it is why we strongly recommend the purchase of US raised BSFL. Many imported Larvae (from countries like China and India) are raised on dairy manures from cows with suspect feed and high levels of antibiotics. Those contaminates can make their way into the BSFL.

Cold weather is coming - we strongly recommend you add our Worm Castings Tea this weekend (we brew it on Fridays and Sat...
12/12/2024

Cold weather is coming - we strongly recommend you add our Worm Castings Tea this weekend (we brew it on Fridays and Saturdays) to thicken leaves and help your plants and trees protect themselves against the cold.

How do we know the microbes will stay on the leaves when we spray it on trees and plant leaves?

The science goes back to this guy: Antonie Philips van Leeuwenhoek (1632–1723), who is famous as the discoverer of the single-celled microorganisms we now call protozoa and bacteria.

Leeuwenhoek discovered "biofilm" which "is an assemblage of surface-associated microbial cells that is enclosed in an extracellular polymeric substance matrix". Of course, he said it in Dutch.

What that means is this: when you spray our dense microbe aerated tea, the microbes form a film (almost like a glue) that will stick to leaves. When worm tea is sprayed on the plants, the microbes attach to the leaf and out compete the harmful disease causing microbes like black rot, mildew, early blight and also become food for the leaf.

Planting new trees? Drench the soil with worm tea - it will help roots develop more rapidly.

We brew the tea every Friday and Saturday at the farm.

Luffa Soap - fun to make and a great gift.We have a class this Saturday where you can learn to make soap.  You will harv...
12/05/2024

Luffa Soap - fun to make and a great gift.

We have a class this Saturday where you can learn to make soap. You will harvest fresh herbs and flowers from our garden and then make two bars of Luffa Soap to take home. It is a fun hour!

Each entry fee covers two people and two bars.

Details are here: https://www.facebook.com/events/547610968038253

Are you ready for cold and flu season?  There are herbs that can help prepare you for seasonal weather and "bug" changes...
12/02/2024

Are you ready for cold and flu season? There are herbs that can help prepare you for seasonal weather and "bug" changes.

A new class for us....Myles Franklin, our farm Medicinal Herb expert, will be teaching a class on Medicinal Herbs and Plants. We will cover about a dozen different herbs and share their properties and benefits.

During the class, we will harvest Basil from the farm and make a Basil/Honey tea with properties that have been shown to boost your natural immunities and prepare your body to adapt and protect you from the coming Winter cold season.

Each student will take home four starts of the herbs we discuss! You will also have the opportunity to take home herbs to dry and try for yourself.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1488360231846080/

Getting a gardening friend or relative a gift?  Lots to choose from (including AZ Worm Farm Gift Cards), but this is my ...
11/27/2024

Getting a gardening friend or relative a gift? Lots to choose from (including AZ Worm Farm Gift Cards), but this is my current favorite.

I have become more and more convinced, over the decades I have been gardening, that buying cheap tools is a mistake. Buy good tools and take care of them - they make gardening easier and in the long run are cheaper. I love my corona hand tools (and we don't get paid anything from those guys - we just want to help you get the right stuff).

This little clipper fits neatly in your hand like an extension of your fingers. Light and effective. Available in lots of places....here is the Amazon link where it is about $15: https://www.amazon.com/Corona-FS14630-ERGO-Deadheader-Snip/dp/B0CLYP2VGD

We will be closed on Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday.  We will reopen on Small Business Saturday from 8 to 1.This is a ...
11/25/2024

We will be closed on Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday. We will reopen on Small Business Saturday from 8 to 1.

This is a great time of year to add Worm Castings Tea to help your trees and plants prepare for Winter. Tea will be on sale half off ($4.50 per gallon - $4.00 if you bring your own container). And, castings will be 10% off.

Come say hi!

We have opened our December classes for registration (https://app.squarespacescheduling.com/schedule/038c2ee8/?categorie...
11/23/2024

We have opened our December classes for registration (https://app.squarespacescheduling.com/schedule/038c2ee8/?categories[]=Class).

Two new ones I really think some of you will like:

On December 14th we have a class dedicated to microgreens - you can grow these on your windowsill and they pop up super fast. My granddaughter eats them before I get them to my salad, but (when I can) cutting the tops directly to my salad is a blast. Hands on, like most of our classes, you will make three different microgreen trays to take home and grow and eat.

On December 21st we have added a class dedicated to teaching kids to love gardening called Kids Plant!. Kids ages 5 to 10 (more or less - you decide) will get to learn about gardening and make container plants they can take home and grow.

And, an important old favorite:

Stone Fruit Pruning is back. If you have a stone fruit tree like a peach or apricot or plum - this is a class that will help you "prune for fruit." Our fruit tree experts will show you how to prune your tree so it produces the most fruit possible while staying healthy for a lifetime. Again, this is a hands-on class; you will actually prune trees to learn exactly how. I have seen YouTube videos that claim to teach pruning - hands on is way better. Side note: this is NOT for citrus - we do that one in the Spring.

We have live Black Soldier Fly Larvae for sale at the farm all the time now.  But, customers have told me we are too far...
11/15/2024

We have live Black Soldier Fly Larvae for sale at the farm all the time now. But, customers have told me we are too far away for them to purchase regularly.

Cold calling on anyone is way out of my comfort zone - but I think your chickens will like this product so much (and it does so much good - taking food waste out of our landfills and turning garbage into delicious treats for your ladies) that I got out and did it!

I now have three stores and a local on-line company selling our Live Black Soldier Fly Larvae and two more that are considering it. And, of course, three that told me "no" in soul-crushing ways.

The following stores now have our live larvae:

Gordon's Feed at 600 W Broadway Rd in Phoenix
Higley Feed at 3091 E Williams Field Rd in Gilbert
Mesa Feed Barn at 240 E Broadway Rd in Mesa
www.phoenixorganicfeed.com - if you are picking up feed at Berridge Nursery tomorrow - please ask for them.

I'm going to tackle the West Side next week.

None of these places have a lot, so please be kind if they are sold out. But, we would really appreciate you suggesting they carry them!

I got two more "maybes" that I hope to turn to "yes" next week.

Funny story: I met with one manager, literally standing in front of a full rack of dried BSFL. I told her about our live BSFL and she said "we don't sell them". I said "you do - they are right here - and chickens like BSFL better live". She said (again) "we don't sell them".

11/08/2024

The short version: We have active worm castings tea for sale every Friday and Saturday at the farm. Applying it now will help your trees and plants prepare themselves for winter and ward off disease, pests, and pathogens.

We sell it by the gallon ($9 a gallon, $1 off if you bring your own container) and you can spray it on using a hose end sprayer (like in the video) or mix it with water and use your watering can to water soil and foliage.

My soil nerd version: Scientists have demonstrated that bacteria establish complex, compositionally consistent communities on healthy leaves. Since the leaf surface is an oligotrophic environment (just means its kind of a "food desert" so bacteria have to compete to be able to survive), species interactions (such as competition and cooperation) may be major contributors to shape community structure. In simple English, this means the good bacteria and bad bacteria fight over food and space. Healthy bacteria will almost always win - so we want lots of healthy bacteria on our leaves. They won't necessarily come naturally - so we add them in the form of Worm Casting Tea. Once they are present, they will win the battles and tend to survive.

Furthermore, the plants' immune systems will help our good bacteria build healthy microbial community composition, as plant cells respond to bacterial molecules and shape their responses according to the mixture of molecules present. Again in simple English: the plants talk to the microbes and help the good one and ignore the bad ones! Scientists think the "tunability" of the plant immune network lets the plant hosts differentiate between pathogenic and non-pathogenic colonisers, avoiding costly immune responses to non-pathogenic colonisers.

Tea add microbes that will live for months or years and help your plants prepare for winter, bugs, and disease.

Address

8430 S. 19th Avenue
Phoenix, AZ
85041

Opening Hours

Tuesday 7am - 2pm
Wednesday 7am - 2pm
Thursday 7am - 2pm
Friday 7am - 2pm
Saturday 7am - 12pm

Telephone

(602) 622-7663

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Arizona Worm Farm posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Arizona Worm Farm:

Videos

Share

Category