Worms eat my garbage

[Xyphir]

Inspired by a recent post about food going bad, I thought I'd mention another way to despose of food going bad, specifically fruit & vegetables. I started vermicomposting over 3 years ago, and it's a fantastic way to reduce waste and make your own fertilized soil. Techincally, the worms do all the work. I merely collect the food and dump it in every week or so. It's also much faster than a compost pile with little risk of vermin since the compost is secure.

I got started by ordering red wiggler worms online. You can get them shipped, and I think they got for about $30/pound. I had a friend split them with me. They breed pretty quickly so a half pound is all that is needed to get started. I'd recommend starting the soil with shredded newspaper, which is non-toxic since they use soy based ink. You can also use peat moss, but since it's a non-renewable resource I would discourage it. Top soil would work well as well, but porous soil works best. You can buy one of the overpriced worm bins, or simply go to your local box store and get a 30+ gallon tupperware container. Drill some holes in it for airation and viola!

I keep a ceramic container near my sink to collect veggies for the bin. Almost anything is fair game, even coffee grounds, but not citrus and onions/garlic. Meats are also a no-no. Since worms have gizzards similar to chickens you can ground up egg shells to put in as well. It's a pain in the ass though, and I typically wind up with a mound of eggshells in a bowl next to the sink for weeks.

Harvesting the soil involves spreading the soil out and covering half, leaving the other half exposed to the light. The worms will instinctively head towards the darker half. Once most of the worms have left, harvest the soil. Keep doing this until you have harvested most of the soil and dump the worms in a new batch of starter mix. The resulting liquid which collects can also be used as a fertilizing "tea". The soil the richest you can imagine, and smells like... dirt. You can blend it in with other soil in your garden and mix the tea with water to feed to plants.

The bin should be in the shade if possible. During winter, I keep it in my garage to keep it from freezing. Since heat adds to the decompsition, I don't get as rapid a turnover in the winter months. I use a heating pad to keep the bin somewhat warm, and the decomposing fruit/veggies also contribute.

If you want more information on this, I would suggest the book Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appelhof, which you can probably find at any public library.

[Boogahz]

I feed those items to my mother's chickens Then I EAT THEIR EGGS!

[Truant]

I remember doing this in 9th grade biology. Worms poop dirt!

[Spankes]

Doesn't it get stinky having bowls of old food sitting around for a week in your house?

[Xyphir]

Doesn't it get stinky having bowls of old food sitting around for a week in your house?

I use one ceramic container with a spring-loaded, sealing lid. It gets stinky when it gets full and I have to drain the excess liquid before putting it in the bin, but I follow it down the drain with some cleaner. The bowl with the egg shells doesn't smell at all since I wash them out with water.

[Xouqoa]

That sounds like a lot of work.







Hippy.