Pivoting course, Souza went on to graduate with a degree in Biological Sciences, followed by a Master’s in Geosciences. During the last 13 plus years of her career, Niere has gathered impressive experience with environmental monitoring and laboratory analysis. After moving to Canada in the mid twenty teens, Niere further upskilled with a quality focused business program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), as well as an Agribusiness program at the University of Saskatchewan.
When Souza’s family moved to Nova Scotia in 2021, Niere joined the Oberland team. Niere now oversees the quality team, “We are developing a methodology for Oberland to prove the science behind the quality of our product.”
Under Souza’s experienced and meticulous guidance, Oberland’s co-op student from Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU), Sana Dhawan, is putting her passion for the field of nutrition into practice.
“Research and development is a growing field, with a lot to explore in the area of nutrition,” explains Sana, who is completing her Master of Science – Applied Human Nutrition. “My thesis is comparing infant growth from zero to six months in Nova Scotia, looking at the difference between breast fed and bottle-fed infants.”
Dhawan is adamant that the future of science needs more people who identify as women leading companies, being the governing body of organizations. “More women in science entrepreneurship (is important).” Sana feels that women have a lot of expected duties that men don’t have. “Basic equal division of household tasks to allow all parties time to focus on furthering their education and career” will help drive the movement of women in science.
As she completes her placement at Oberland Agriscience Inc. Sana is working with Niere on an experiment to enhance the weight and length of the larva, further securing Oberland’s position on the world stage.
“We are here to stay,” confirms Niere Souza, Director of Health, Quality & Safety at Oberland Agriscience Inc.
]]>Inhale. Pull on your garden gloves.
Exhale. Open your eyes and kneel beside your raised bed.
Inhale. Pick up your small trowel.
Exhale. Dig deep into the soil, churning up the fresh, moist, precious substance beneath the dry outer crust.
With every breath the morning rush fades further into the distance, and soon you are left with little more than the chirping of birds, the sun dancing through leaves in the soft morning breeze, and the slow, steady sound of your own breathing. Your soul (!) focus is on the repetition of freeing the rich, brown elixir from its winter cover. The stress you felt before starting this perceived arduous task has almost entirely evaporated. You picture what your garden will look like in full bloom. You are calm and at peace in your own perfect corner of the world. Your body, mind, and soul feel joyful.
May 3 is widely observed as Garden Meditation Day. Whether your garden is sprawling acres backing onto a lake, part of a community allotment in a bustling urban setting, or a window box overlooking a playground, it can bring the same holistic sense of wellbeing to your life. So today, all of us here at Oberland Agriscience encourage you to find some time for yourself in your outdoor oasis of calm. You deserve it, and your soul and Mother Nature will thank you for it!
Happy Garden Meditation Day, dear Obie’s Friends!
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We will focus more on Oberland’s dedication to supporting efforts in other UNSDGs in a future post, but for now, let’s delve into how Oberland is working towards becoming a zero-waste producer of insect protein, live feed, and frass, and how we are investing in our community and our planet.
Currently Oberland is operating out of its pilot facility; a 7500 sq ft warehouse that has the entire BSFL lifecycle churning away inside. Authorized to receive organic wastes by Nova Scotia Environment, Oberland is processing ~2 tonnes of pre-consumer organics per week. And we are scaling! Oberland has broken ground on its new 100,000 sq ft facility in the Ragged Lake industrial park. In this facility Oberland will channel over 12,000 tonnes of Atlantic Canada’s pre-consumer organic wastes and by-products per year. Wanger explained, “Once at our facility, we sustainably transform this waste into a nutritious insect feed to raise BSFL.”
Why BSFL, you may ask. “Well, insects, the black soldier fly in particular, are incredibly efficient in converting feed - in this case, an extensive variety of organic material - into biomass,” continued Wanger. “Our cycle raises the black soldier fly from egg, to larvae, to pupae, to adult black soldier flies ready to mate, beginning the cycle again.” Along the lifecycle of the BSFL, most of the larvae are harvested and become a highly nutritious protein product. Another product that Oberland siphons off is frass. Simply put, frass is the solid excrement of insect larvae - its poop!
Here comes the science bit, reader! Nutrients, water, and light are the basic ingredients for crops and plants to grow. As the world’s population continues to grow, water and soil resources are under pressure to perform. Common synthetic fertilizers can reintroduce nitrate levels into the soil, however the leaching of nitrate into waterways and aquatic ecosystems can contaminate and pollute groundwater. “Nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers are essential to raising healthy crops, however, only a fraction of conventional fertilizers are plant-available and end up being wasted into the environment or water supply,” added Dave Kilgour, Oberland’s new Director of Business Development - Agriculture.
BSFL frass has the potential to catch phosphorus and nitrogen being lost in food waste, for reuse as a fertilizer, reducing the need for chemical or synthetic fertilizers. Did you know that about 1.4% of global CO2 production and 1% of global energy is used to artificially fix nitrogen for fertilizer production? “Oberland’s naturally derived BSFL Frass is a great source of essential nutrients to give your plants, gardens, and crops an extra boost and foster improved soil health,” said Kilgour.
Earth Day 2022’s theme is Invest In Our Planet. This planet is the only home we have, we have the opportunity to do better everyday. Join Oberland in our commitment to make the world a little better tomorrow than it was yesterday.
]]>While this might not sound very exciting, frass plays a vital role in the health of our ecosystems, and it's a necessary part of sustainable agriculture. In addition to providing essential nutrients for plants, frass also helps control pests and pathogens. In this post, we'll take a closer look at frass and how it can benefit your land.
Frass is created through the digestive process of Hermetia Illucens, commonly called Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL). The process involves BSFL transforming organic waste into high-quality fertilizer. BSFL Frass contains high levels of proteins, fats and minerals, which have proven to be an excellent organic fertilizer for plants, and also Frass has been shown to increase drought resistance and salt tolerance in various plant species.
The composition of frass offers a wide supply of nutrients, organic matter and soil health benefits to the soil, promoting varied microbial communities and supporting plant behaviour. It also encourages healthy growing conditions for plants, with studies showing that additions to the soil can encourage more pollinators, more extensive plant growth, and a higher yield of flowers and seeds.
BSFL Frass presents an exciting, sustainable method for recycling and upgrading low-value food waste and animal tissue materials into rich organic fertilizer.
Oberland's BSFL Frass is made from black soldier fly larvae castings. It is an excellent source of soluble nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and contains bio-stimulants such as chitin. Frass also is a naturally derived, specialty fertilizer that gives household plants, home gardens, lawns, and greenhouse plants an extra boost and fosters improved soil health.
Stay tuned, and explore the benefits of frass and how you can use this product to improve your land, garden, or farming operation.
In the meantime, if you would like to start using frass in your garden or landscape, Obie's Worms can help. Visit our website to learn more about how you can get started with organic gardening today.
Thanks for reading!
]]>Obie’s Worms is excited to offer our customers a new way to earn rewards. For every purchase your friends make using your unique referral code, you will earn$10 off in a future order.
How do I refer a friend?
Referral codes are available through your Obie’s Rewards account. Click the "Obie’s Rewards" button at the bottom right of your browser to retrieve your unique referral link. Share your referral code with friends via email, Facebook or Twitter.
What do I get when I refer a friend?
For every friend you refer to Obie’s Worms, we’ll give you a coupon code for $10 off a future order (after they place their first order).
What does my friend get when I refer them to Obie’s Worms?
Your friend will get 20% off their first order when they use your referral link.
Why haven’t I received my reward for referring my friend?
You will receive your reward after your friend places their first order. Make sure they use your referral link when they place their first order so our system knows to send you a reward.
You may be curious about how insect larvae, specifically Black Soldier Fly Larvae (Hermetia illuciens) , can be incorporated into your pet's daily diet. Believe it or not, there are quite a few ways as Obie's BSFL (Black Soldier Fly Larvae) products are a versatile feed source that appeals to many a pet's palette!
Some pet owners use Obie's BSFL as a source of protein and calcium, while others provide Obie's BSFL as a tasty snack.
Obie's Live BSFL are the Nutrient-Rich Feed Your Pet Deserves!
Obie's black soldier fly larvae are the nutrient-rich, naturally high in calcium food staple for your pet. Obie's live BSFL contain >5500 ppm calcium, and >50% protein (dry weight) making them near ideal for insectivores. Obie's BSFL also contain all the essential nutrients your insectivore needs.
Our live grubs don’t chirp, and they don’t require dusting or gut loading. Simply feed your pet directly as part of a balanced diet.
Perfect For Birds, Reptiles, Hedgehogs or Any Insectivores Pet:
1. They’re insanely reproductive
Black Soldier Flies can lay up to 600 - 800 eggs at one time! That’s a lot of baby larvae.
2. Their growth-rate is off the chain
After hatching, a BSFL will grow to more than 8,000 times its size in as little as two weeks. Which is the same as a newborn human baby growing to the size of a humpback whole in two weeks! That’s some powerful protein!
3. They never stop eating
BSFL are known for their ability to devour waste. Just one square meter’s worth of BSFL can go through 15 kilograms of waste per day. We only need about 180 square feet of flies to process a TON of organic waste per day. They’re our own personal recycling army :)
Email us with your Black Solder Fly questions!
]]>The life cycle of the black soldier fly undergoes five distinct stages (egg, larval, pre-pupal, pupal and fly) over 45 days.
Larval Stage: The larval stage is when your Obie's BSFL are harvested and packaged. Black soldier flies remain in larvae form for approximately 14 days before they begin to pupate. You will notice large BSFL will begin to darken and enter their prepupal stage quicker than the smaller sizes of Obie’s BSFL as they have met their minimum nutritional requirement.
The black soldier fly larvae has five instar stages. Each instar is a phase when the larvae sheds its exoskeleton.
Pre-pupal & Pupal Stage: If you've ever noticed your Obie's BSFL begin to darken and become less active, they have begun their pre-pupal stage. They will progress to a full pupae within a few days of this stage beginning. As pre-pupae and pupae, Obie’s are still a nutritious treat for your pet and will stay in this stage for about 14 days before they emerge as flies.
Fly Emerges: After a black soldier fly larva pupates, it emerges as a fly. Black soldier flies are completely harmless - they don’t sting, bite, or carry disease and many pets love to hunt them!
Fly Mates: When flies are a few days old, if the conditions are ideal, are they will begin to mate. This mating period generally lasts a few days before the female lays her eggs.
Fly Lays Egg: In this part of their life cycle the female black soldier fly will lay her eggs to begin the life cycle again.
Egg Incubation: Black soldier fly eggs will incubate for three days before they hatch into larvae.
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With the holiday season approaching, we wanted to let you know about our order deadlines for shipped orders and local pick up in December.
Shipping carriers are expecting a large increase in packages this holiday season and may experience significant delays. Our last shipment date in December will be Monday December 20.
Our online store will remain open over the holidays and orders will be accepted. However, all orders placed after 12pm (noon) EST on December 20 will not be shipped until Monday, January 3, 2022.
Our last day to pick up orders at our Halifax location is Wednesday, December 22. Local pick up orders must be placed by Tuesday, December 21 (same day order and pick up is not available). Pick ups will be available again starting Monday, January 3, 2022.
If you need to restock your Obie’s Worms over the holidays, the following pet stores in Halifax carry Obie’s Worms:
There are two important reasons for this change:
We understand that some customers are unable to pick up during these days and times and we are working on being stocked in as many local pet stores as possible. Currently medium and large Obie's Worms are available in the following Pet Stores in the Halifax area:
If you would like your pet store to carry Obie’s Worms, let them know! And let us know what store so we can reach out to them. We will update our store location map on our homepage as we are stocked in more pet stores.
We appreciate your cooperation as we grow, and thank you for supporting Obie’s! If you have any questions, please email us at info@obiesworms.com.
]]>Your first Obie's subscription order will be billed the day you place your order. Going forward, your orders will be billed on Sunday in the interval you have chosen, and shipped the following day (Tuesdays when a holiday falls on Monday).
Log in to your Obie's account and click "Manage My Subscriptions". Here you can change the frequency of subscription, cancel or reactive your subscriptions, or add products to your subscriptions.
Have a question or problem with your subscription? Send us an email at info@obiesworms.com and we'll help you.
]]>While Obie’s Worms can happily live up to two weeks in our packaging and moist substrate, we certainly don’t want them to spend their entire life in a box on the way to your house! We want you and your pet to get the freshest BSFL possible which is why we only ship on Mondays after we do a fresh harvest.
Packaging and shipping Monday gives us the best chance of getting your worms where they need to go without being delayed over a weekend. We realize this may seem like your order takes longer to ship, especially if you order on a Tuesday, but we hold on to your order until we have fresh BSFL to send you the following week.
We ship orders to addresses in NS, NB and PE on Mondays and Wednesdays.
The fees for the shipping services we offer come directly from the carriers and are dependent on your postal code and volumetric (or dimensional) weight of your order. We’ve carefully selected our shipping options based on transit times across Canada, and we use the minimum amount of packaging possible to make sure you're not paying for empty space.
Obie’s Worms are packaged and shipped directly from our black soldier fly farm in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Sometimes this means it can take a day or two longer to reach customers in Western Canada, depending on the shipping service chosen.
We offer the following shipping options depending on what area of Canada you live in:
We are all getting used to free or flat rate shipping online. While we would love to offer this to our customers, it's just not a possibility right now. Since we ship live feeders we have to offer faster (which means more expensive) shipping options. Also, Canada is a big country! Shipping from our location in Halifax to a customer in British Columbia has a considerable cost difference than shipping to a customer in Atlantic Canada. Offering free or flat rate shipping would mean we would have to adjust the price of our products, and we want to remain competitive and give you the best value possible.
As we grow, we’re constantly looking for new ways to get Obie’s Worms to your pets. We want your pet to be able to enjoy Obie’s Worms all the time and make it easier (and more cost effective) for you! We are currently working on getting our live feeders into pet stores across Canada. For a list of stores that currently carry Obie’s Worms, check out the map on our homepage. If you want your local store to carry Obie’s Worms, let them know! And let us know so we can send them all the information they need to start stocking Obie’s for your pet.
*Unfortunately Canada Post is not currently guaranteeing delivery times. We will make every effort to get our product to you, but transit delays are beyond our control.
]]>Frass tea is a great way to give your plants and garden a mid-season boost. Without the hassle of mixing frass into your soil where your plants are already growing, frass tea can used as a foliar spray or to drench roots. All you need is BSLF frass and water!
Frass Tea
Mix frass and water with a spoon and let it sit overnight in your fridge.
Root Drenching
Pour frass tea into plant soil around roots with a watering can.
Foliar Spray
Spray frass tea onto leaves with spray bottle (best done early in the morning).
*Frass tea is not recommended for Blueberries or other plants that require acidic soil.
]]>Most live feeder insects for reptiles are naturally low in calcium and require dusting with calcium powder to be nutritionally adequate. Not only is this an extra expense and step to feed your reptile, it is difficult to measure the appropriate amount of calcium supplement for your reptile. If you opt to not dust your low calcium insect feeders, gut loading is another option. Gut loading is force feeding the insects a calcium packed diet to temporarily fill their GI tract before feeding to your reptile. Gut loading products can be highly inconsistent, and there is no guarantee your reptile will receive the calcium as it can easily be offloaded to the feeder.
Switching your live feeder insect to a high calcium option eliminates the downsides of gut loading and calcium dusting. Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) are the perfect option for your reptile - they naturally contain up to 80 times more calcium than mealworms! BSFL contain a near optimal 1:1.25 calcium to phosphorus ratio and low in fat (4%) and packed with protein (18% weight weight, 50% dry weight).
Obie’s BSFL are sustainably produced and a great staple live insect feeder that contain all the essential nutrients your reptile needs. With 3000ppm calcium- 10x the calcium content of crickets - Obie’s BSFL fulfill your reptile calcium requirements in one easy step. Obie’s BSFL are great for all sizes and types of insectivores, whether they are reptiles, amphibians, birds or mammals. Obie’s are also wriggly and lively with no chirping or escaping - making feeding time fun for your pet!
*MBD can be prevented by proper husbandry, proper UVB, proper nutrition, and a correct calcium:phosphorus ratio in feed.
Signs of MBD include:
We offer her a variety of sizes. Sometimes she eats as many as she can in one sitting, other times she’ll stalk the largest one and be satisfied with her one big catch.
If you're wondering what size BSFL to get for your pet, our guide below should help you find the ideal worm for your insectivore.
Obie's BSFL come in three sizes:
The size, type and age of your pet will help you pick out the right BSFL size.
Small BSFL
These are awesome for little herps, like growing babies and hatchlings, small frogs, turtles etc. Obie eats these on occasion - she tends to eat quite a few in one sitting.
Medium BSFL
They’re perfect for small beardies, geckos about the size of Obie and smaller lizards and reptiles. Medium worms are also great for other small animals like badgers, hedgehogs, gliders etc. Your cat and dog may love these as well!
Large BSFL
These are a perfect choice if you have a large reptile, including adult beardies, frilled and water dragons, skinks, large chameleons, any larger lizard species. They're also great for adult hedgehogs.
Contact us if you need help selecting a size for your pet.
]]>Keep Them Moist: One way to do this is to put an apple slice or a raw potato slice right in the package. They will gradually eat it providing moisture and food. You can also just sprinkle a little water into the container when it starts to look dry.
The substrate they come in is coconut coir. A gentle rinse in warm water before feeding to your pet livens them up and gets them wiggly. When they are warm they will give your pet more of a hunting challenge
When Obie's Worms start to darken in colour they are entering a "pre-pupae" phase (lasting approximately 5 - 7 days) of their life cycle. The darker worms are still nutritious for your pet but will gradually slow down their movements. The next phase is "pupae" (approximately 10 days) when they have a crunchy hard shell and don't move. Some hungry critters still find them a tasty snack at this stage. Within two weeks they will start to hatch as adult flies. The flies are harmless. Sometimes we even give these to Obie to hunt.
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