Carla, You could make this using separate components (molds) and cement them together. There is even a terra cotta cement dye that would mimic the look of this terra cotta clay castle. You'd have to experiment with the dye to get the right percentage of dye to mix. Too much dye and the mix will crumble. Too little dye and you get a strange pinkish look. Some mold suggestions: some of the terrets look like upsidedown clay flower pots, plastic flower vases, balls, bowls. The bodies can be made with plastic trash cans or plastic jugs. You can also make molds from ridig foam insulation sheets that they sell at home improvement stores. You can cut and carve the foam then duct tape it together. As each piece is in the first 24 hours of curing, you would have to carve the decorative embellishments. The only thing that might be hard to do is the thumb print shingle look on the two tiered ball terrets. Billie

I do not use a tier system but would if Santa brought it. For a long time there was just me and my bucket o vermi. The best vermi youtube is of the guy taking apart his tier system and showing how the worms love to dangle out of the bottom of each tier. I have not been able to find it for a while. It is short. CharlieBoring, How do you find the 5X10 garden size as far as standing at the edge and reaching in to plant, weed or harvest that middle area? I have some 4XvariousX10" garden squares and wonder if "When I'm 64" I will wish my gardens were 3XvariousX3'? I am also curious about the width of the path between gardens. In my youth I gazelle like leaped around my 4X4X0s with 16" wide paver paths and even jumped over the corner areas I removed two pavers from to squeeze in an extra 16"X16" square to plant in. Not much room to drive my wheel barrel down those avenues. Plus the tomato and summer squash always wanted to party in the pathways. I'm thinking I'm going to want to drive my way cool with pin stripes motorized scooter down a bit wider isles and have easy pickings at easy arm reach level. I'm also thinking I want a red scooter so it will be faster and sportier looking. I'm also thinking of loosing a foot at the corners of the bed for faster cornering in my scooter, possibly on two wheels. Now I'm thinking about longer straight a ways to really rack up the speeds and banked corners to harvest greens even faster for my squirm. I would feel less full going to 3' width garden beds would be practical for me in a few years. And I feel wasteful making pathways wider when I could have used the space for growing. Yet wider pathways may be what is needed. I am trying to balance the gardening spacing of my youth with what my needs may be to enjoy working in the garden in my later years. Bigger and better is the American way... until one can not lift the hive or the worm tray anymore. Then Chukie's Library of Vermi Bins starts to make a lot more sense. Also how do you edge all of that edge? I'm never sure. Should I have grass paths and mow them or wood chips or ? I see you have the decorative element of those pretty blocks edging a garden. Some materials I have choose were based on cost and not as nice looking. I would use logs as edging but then I would have to reach 6 more inches to get to the middle of my garden. Or have a garden 12 less inches wide. So I want a garden edge that is really thin. I also want one that I do not have to edge trim grass paths. And one that tilts out so I get more garden in less space and more path for chickens to patrol for tasty bits. And I do not want to have to reach all that way to the ground to plant, weed and harvest. Anything above ground level is an improvement. And I do not want sharp edges in the garden in case I fall. And I want the edge of the garden to hold supports for netting, etc. I might need a different forum. But I noticed in the picture you used a variety of methods to deal with garden edge issues. I'm not really relating to worm towers but the plant pot that covers the tower (unique, cool, first time I have seen this closure system) please put a plant into the pot. For some reason I am imagining a spider plant. This post was edited by equinoxequinox on Mon, Dec 1, 14 at 22:52

Not sure IF Im understanding your situattion. I also have the worm factory and a homemade setup and there are always worms left in the bottom tray that dont move up but most at least 80% or more should have moved up. One other thing that can be done if Im understanding you correctly is move the bottom tray to the top and put a bright light over it and move the mix around so the worms will urged to move down, but if you leave that tray on top all night you will have defeated your purpose as more worms will move up from underneath ,, thats just the way it is.

Looks like I missed this. Laurie, if I read correctly, you're planning on using 2 TBSPS of Almond Extract in a single cake recipe. If so, please don't do that. Unless you're embalming the cake for posterity, I would not recommend it. Almond extract is quite bitter, and for that reason, should be used sparingly. If your clients want a more assertive almond flavor, try adding a couple of tablespoons of Amaretto to the cake, plus a teaspoon of almond extract. Cake mixes typically yield 4 ½ to 5 cups batter. So, 2 tablespoons Almond Extract in a single cake mix, would be overkill. Or, how about this. Instead of artificially flavoring a cake mix, why not bake a true almond cake? My favorite almond cake calls for almond paste, so it packs a serious one-two punch of almond flavor. And if sometime you choose to bake an actual almond cake, you won't have any trouble finding a recipe online. Regarding the 'poof' on the last cakes pictured, I agree that trimming is necessary. You could do it, with a long, serrated knife, while the cake is still in the pan, by resting the knife flat against the pan, and slicing right through, using the pan as your guide. Another tip. I would then use the scraps, to fill the hole in the largest Bundt cake. This way, you can add more support to the center of your cake, without going further out into the cake, exposing the wooden dowels. There's also a way to avoid cutting the cake domes altogether. It's a tip I shared here, eons ago. But, this is your first wedding cake, and it's not my intention to overwhelm you with 'too much information.' Sorry if your head is spinning. At any rate, these are some of my tips. Good luck, and enjoy your cake endeavor. Sol