A Little Dirt on Dirt

Waste weighs heavily on my mind these days. As I research how to live green on a budget, I keep coming across the recycling of food waste, namely the compost heap. Composting is a great way to produce nitrogen and nutrient rich soil for harvesting veggies in your own back yard, decreasing dependence on supermarket produce and lowering carbon emissions.

Well, the compost heap of my youth has transformed into a major new green industry that promotes sustainability, recycling and of course, offsets your carbon footprint. And you can even compost in your apartment these days. How far we have come.

So here’s a little dirt on dirt.

The range of composting bins offers something for everyone from large yard compost mechanisms that rotate and drain rain water to small indoor bins that fit under the kitchen sink. And the very latest carbon reducing, footprint offsetting trend? Vermic farming: a.k.a. harvesting worm poop.

Red worms or tiger worms are the wriggly planet saver of choice. These blind and deaf surface worms consume their body weight in waste scraps everyday making them efficient compost machines. A little TLC and the right sort of debris and these little guys can live in a plastic worm bin under your sink recycling while you do the dishes.

The internet abounds with eco-friendly recycled plastic worm bins so there’s something for every budget, but I’m always a fan of a local connection. I visited the worms at the local rural water office here in little old Glenrock and found out first hand how clean the whole set up was. I mean it was a bit of a shock…because, well…worms and worm poop, in the kitchen. But, it was pretty cool.

The bin was one of those designed by none other than worm guru, Mary Appelhof who became quite the expert in the worm business, producing her own line of bins. You take off the lid and it just looks like a bin full of the darkest richest FREE compost you ever saw. Throw in your leftovers from lunch and way hey! You’re saving the planet.

So basically it’s a plastic tub with a lid, air holes and a tray on the bottom that slides out. You could buy or make yourself depending on how creative and energetic you feel. Put in some worm bedding such as shredded newspaper or dry leaves, add a little water, a little soil and some food scraps, put the lid on (the wriggly guys aren’t fans of the light) and wait for the magic to happen.

Depending on the waste and the number of worms, you can expect your first pile of compost to show up in a few weeks. The compost usually gets a little warm what with all that warmish activity going on but it shouldn’t smell bad. A unit costs less than a hundred bucks and if that seems like too much of a cash splash, try offsetting the office footprint first before investing in a home unit. Be sure to throw in coffee grinds, veggies and waterlogged cardboard but avoid citrus fruits and onions. You are now the proud owner of your own carbon footprint reducing worm farm. Bravo you.

It’s amazing the things you come across online and who ever would have thought 20 years ago we’d be putting worms in our kitchen to save money and help our planet.

It’s a funny old world.

Full of eco friendly worms.