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Worm Composting
I'm sure most of us have gone out into our yard in the spring and raked up leaves that had gathered there since the previous fall, only to find a bunch of worms living in them. Worms love leaves. In fact, worms love lots of things that we habitually throw into our landfills!
I had a few reasons for beginning a compost area, which initially grew out of my interest in gardening as well as saving landfill space. Why throw food scraps into a landfill where they would be soon buried too far down for most insects and worms to get to? The town I live in also offers a "yard waste" service for grass clippings and leaf refuse, but being a gardener, I wanted all of these organic materials for my own compost pile. Still, you don't have to be a gardener to use compost. It can be used as a fertilizer for your lawn or potting soil for your house plants.
Worm composting is a nearly effortless way for everyone to participate in repurposing household food scraps! You don't need barrels and you don't necessarily have to turn the compost either, although I do occasionally. The only commitment it really involves is finding a space that you consider satisfactory for you to use, a little bit of set up and from that point forward, taking those previously mentioned household waste items and food scraps to the designated area to drop them into the pile.
Set up is relatively easy. Simply choose a corner of your yard, or perhaps an area behind your garage, that you can pile leaves into…and the worms will come. You can fence it in with a two or three foot fence, or not add a fence at all. It doesn't have to be a large area either. You can shred or rip paper and cardboard if you have some you'd like to "recycle". These should be moistened when you initially add them in, but I prefer to add them just prior to a good rain. Now you can add leaves, grass clippings , other plant debris, food scraps, etc. whenever it's available and be sure it stays somewhat moist. Worms need moisture! Water occasionally if it's needed, but I've found that my compost area is usually well cared for by the variety of moistures that Mother Nature provides!
You'd be astounded at what worms will eat, if given the chance. Among these items are such mundane things as food scraps like breads, cereals and pasta, fruits and vegetables and the skins they may have, coffee grounds -- filter included, tea bags (remove the staples and tag/string if it's plastic), cardboard and paper. You can add not only newspaper, junk mail is good too!
Then we have the more exotic things that even I hadn't heard of before, like dryer lint, dust from my vacuum and crushed egg shells. Even I was amazed at all the things worms would eat! Worms will multiply quite rapidly too, so eventually you can add more household scraps to your compost.
The most important rule for what NOT to add would be plastic. None, ever. It can kill your worms! The few limitations there might be other than that have more to do with odor and attracting "unwanted" attention from other animals (or worse, your neighbors), so don't add dairy products or meats. Ideal if you happen to be vegan!
My worm compost has grown to a degree that my neighbors are now included in my composting endeavors as well. I currently have three other families making regular contributions to my compost area. One of these families actually has a small compost area of their own, but often has an overabundance of leaves or grass clippings that I, quite happily, add to my own.
I rotate my composting area throughout my vegetable garden, meaning that one year I have it on one side of my garden, the next year it is on another side of the garden. This makes the benefits of those worm castings available for the plants placed there the following year while it minimizes my having to work at "harvesting" my castings and compost. Anything that hasn't been "recycled" by the worms in the spring, is simply moved to the new compost area at that time.
Even as I type away at this, my worms are working hard at my compost and I expect that they are eagerly looking forward to freshly added foliage from this new spring season!
I had a few reasons for beginning a compost area, which initially grew out of my interest in gardening as well as saving landfill space. Why throw food scraps into a landfill where they would be soon buried too far down for most insects and worms to get to? The town I live in also offers a "yard waste" service for grass clippings and leaf refuse, but being a gardener, I wanted all of these organic materials for my own compost pile. Still, you don't have to be a gardener to use compost. It can be used as a fertilizer for your lawn or potting soil for your house plants.
Worm composting is a nearly effortless way for everyone to participate in repurposing household food scraps! You don't need barrels and you don't necessarily have to turn the compost either, although I do occasionally. The only commitment it really involves is finding a space that you consider satisfactory for you to use, a little bit of set up and from that point forward, taking those previously mentioned household waste items and food scraps to the designated area to drop them into the pile.
Set up is relatively easy. Simply choose a corner of your yard, or perhaps an area behind your garage, that you can pile leaves into…and the worms will come. You can fence it in with a two or three foot fence, or not add a fence at all. It doesn't have to be a large area either. You can shred or rip paper and cardboard if you have some you'd like to "recycle". These should be moistened when you initially add them in, but I prefer to add them just prior to a good rain. Now you can add leaves, grass clippings , other plant debris, food scraps, etc. whenever it's available and be sure it stays somewhat moist. Worms need moisture! Water occasionally if it's needed, but I've found that my compost area is usually well cared for by the variety of moistures that Mother Nature provides!
You'd be astounded at what worms will eat, if given the chance. Among these items are such mundane things as food scraps like breads, cereals and pasta, fruits and vegetables and the skins they may have, coffee grounds -- filter included, tea bags (remove the staples and tag/string if it's plastic), cardboard and paper. You can add not only newspaper, junk mail is good too!
Then we have the more exotic things that even I hadn't heard of before, like dryer lint, dust from my vacuum and crushed egg shells. Even I was amazed at all the things worms would eat! Worms will multiply quite rapidly too, so eventually you can add more household scraps to your compost.
The most important rule for what NOT to add would be plastic. None, ever. It can kill your worms! The few limitations there might be other than that have more to do with odor and attracting "unwanted" attention from other animals (or worse, your neighbors), so don't add dairy products or meats. Ideal if you happen to be vegan!
My worm compost has grown to a degree that my neighbors are now included in my composting endeavors as well. I currently have three other families making regular contributions to my compost area. One of these families actually has a small compost area of their own, but often has an overabundance of leaves or grass clippings that I, quite happily, add to my own.
I rotate my composting area throughout my vegetable garden, meaning that one year I have it on one side of my garden, the next year it is on another side of the garden. This makes the benefits of those worm castings available for the plants placed there the following year while it minimizes my having to work at "harvesting" my castings and compost. Anything that hasn't been "recycled" by the worms in the spring, is simply moved to the new compost area at that time.
Even as I type away at this, my worms are working hard at my compost and I expect that they are eagerly looking forward to freshly added foliage from this new spring season!
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2. Smoothie recipes
How? It's easy!
Privacy policy:
Your email address is safe;
we NEVER share our list.
