I noticed when I rolled the composter the past few times that our compost is now teeming with black soldier fly larvae – cool! We had them in the bins last year  when we lived in Candler, and at first I was very alarmed because I thought the compost had gotten infested with wasps that were going to get agitated and sting when I messed with the bins. Anyway, I got a couple of pictures back then, and did some research and discovered that these were a good thing. So when I looked at the compost the other day, and saw hundreds of huge gray wriggling larvae inside, I was very excited to see they’d found us again.

Soldier flies are very efficient at breaking down food waste and keeping pest flies away (hmmm… wonder if that’s why we also suddenly no longer have as much of a problem with fruit flies in there?) by making the material less inviting to them. Supposedly, the larvae are very nutritious; in fact people actually breed them to use as as a feed supplement for birds and as fish bait, which might be something to keep in mind for when we eventually get a few chickens. In the meantime, I am just happy to see they’ve taken up residence in our bin.

Soldier fly on our compost bin last year (not a very good picture, sorry)