by Danielle

I’ve always liked the idea of total utilization of natural resources. As a young girl, I marveled at the genius with which the Plains Indians hunted and utilized buffalo – using fur for clothing, meat for food, horns for cups, skulls for ceremonies, hooves for glue, bones for tools and weapons, muscles for thread, and even stomachs for carrying liquids. Early in my life, I latched on to recycling. But now, as a young adult, I am much more aware of the potential to be environmentally conscious that goes beyond recycling. In my quest to do exactly that (by way of an online coupon), I discovered the art of vermicomposting.

Vermi-wha?

Essentially, vermicomposting is the equivalent of creating a small, contained (and much-less-stinky) composting pile in a small space. Proper ventilation and housing of waste eliminate the stench commonly associated with composting. As a result, vermicomposting is ideal for city dwellers looking to take their greening efforts to the next level. Resources needed to create your own mini-compost pile are limited and easy to obtain: a box, the right type of bedding (cardboard, newspaper, or peat moss), some soil, and moisture. Oh yea. And red worms.

Worms?!

Yes, worms. They’re the essential ingredient. They eat the table scraps given to them and produce nutrient-rich “castings” a.k.a. worm poop. Due to the design of the vermicomposting system, the castings can be harvested and used to make household plants extra resilient. You reuse your food scraps, your wormy pets eat like kings, and your flowers are full and brilliant. Everybody wins!

There are a lot of different options for a worm house if you’re considering starting a vermicomposting system. You can buy containers made for exactly that, or you can save a lot of money and make your own. I had the most luck with the design presented in Worms Eat My Garbage wherein the reader is taught to create multiple levels within the same box. The castings fall into a collection receptacle as the worms do their job and work through each level of dirt. NOTE: This method also minimizes hand-to-worm contact, for those who get squirmy at the thought of handling the creepy crawlers.

Once I started my quest for vermicomposting utopia, I quickly realized I generate anywhere between two and three pounds of food scrap waste each week! It was a great feeling to finally have a way to put to use all of the vegetables, grapefruits, orange rinds, apple peels, lettuce and cabbage, celery ends, spoiled food from the refrigerator, coffee grounds, tea bags, and egg shells I was throwing in the trash.