I’m only a few weeks into it and already there have been challenges. The first trick was finding a place to put the thing. Our kitchen is tiny and has no unused nooks or crannies where a box of decomposing food, shredded paper, and worms could unobtrusively do their thing. When I saw Alex’s homemade worm bin (a lot smaller than the large and expensive worm towers marketed to well-meaning UECs) I realized I could make my own compact bin that would fit handily inside the coat closet.I got up the nerve to order some Red Wigglers (a type of worms ideal for vermicomposting) and then this happened: Roscoe howled (as he usually does when the FedEx man shows up). I hadn’t received an email saying the worms had been shipped, but I went downstairs to check anyway: a small box rested next to the neighbor’s door. I went back inside. The next morning, the box was still there. I peeked at the label. Ack! My worms had been sitting there all night!
Rushing around in the ten minutes before I had to leave for work, I drilled holes in the bin’s lid, ripped open the FedEx box and emptied the worms (along with some soil) into the bottom, tossed in some spinach and an apple core, blanketed them with shredded paper, and slung the whole thing into the closet. I worried all day. Were they still alive? And would this even work? Did I have the right ratio of worms to soil to bedding? Would it start to stink? Did I put in enough food?The jury’s still out on my worm bin. I don’t think I’m the best vermicompost manager. But I checked just now and even though an apple core I recently added looked untouched, there was no trace of that first handful of spinach. Maybe those little wigglers are getting used to their new urban home.
I'm very excited for the next episode of "As the World Worms." I've always been intrigued by vermicomposting, but have to admit have always been put off a bit by having worms in, say, my coat closet. I have a feeling this would be the biggest barrier for most people in cities. Worms (like spiders, ants, and other beneficial crawling critters) typically invoke fear and often disgust. So what can we do to help people get past the "gross-out" factor of keeping a box of worms in their house?
ReplyDeleteI would say as more people start to try it, the less weird (and gross) it will be. Another part of the gross out factor is hanging on to decomposing food--even if it's out of sight in the worm bin, it's still kind of a sick thought.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how mine are doing. I added some more food scraps today and some of the worms were pretty immobile. :-( But it seemed like some of the previous scraps had been broken down. I never thought that it would be so hard to tell if it's "working"!