Adventures in Worm Composting...So Far...

After some ups and downs, I can now proudly proclaim that worms eat my garbage! It's a wonderful way to reduce waste and convert kitchen scraps and other organic material into nutrient-rich compost for plants. Plus the worms become your pets, and it's surprisingly exciting to watch your scraps transform into compost!

Round 1 ~ I forgot to add the worms!~

My first attempt at vermicomposting quickly descended into a horrendous failure. I researched how to convert a rubbermaid bin into a home for some worms, who would eat my food scraps and in exchange would produce beautiful rich vermicompost for my plants. Sounds easy! I drilled my holes in the bin, ripped up cardboard, newspaper, sprayed it with some water, layered some dry newspaper on top, then tucked it under my counter until the 'worm-sale' the following weekend. One vermi-guru suggests adding some food scraps and leaving them for a week or two before adding worms. The idea being that the food begins to 'ripen' and other bacteria that are essential to the whole process move in creating an appealing environment for the worms. I spent the week adding all of my vegetable scraps to the bin, and on Saturday - the day of the worm-sale - I slept-in and didn't go buy my worms! Feeling embarrassed and ashamed for standing the worm-lady up, I never contacted her about another opportunity to purchase them, and I shut the worm bin up tight - food scraps, bacteria, mold and all! Living in an apartment, there was no place to clean out the bin, so I moved it to the balcony and planned to deal with it when the Montreal winter froze the overly-ripened food and killed the mold. Winter came and went and by summer all that was left was relatively dry black goopy-ashy-papery remnants of my entire experiment. In light of this, I understand my partner's hesitant reaction when, once again, I said "honey, I want to get worms".

Round 2: ~ Learn from past mistakes and move forward~

Although my first attempt was abysmal, I was determined to join ranks with eco-conscious worm-composters. This time I decided to buy a system designed for composting, The Worm

Factory from Capital Worm Ranch (in Ottawa, Ontario), and I bought the worms at the same time. While many folk fair perfectly well constructing their own worm bins, I didn't and I wanted to set myself up for a better experience this time around. It uses a tray stacking system that allows the worms to migrate upwards as food and bedding run out in the lower trays. It also has a bottom tray with a little spout that catches and pours 'compost tea', and is made form 100% recycled plastic! So far I love the system!

What Should a Beginner Vermicomposter Know? (...and what have I learned so far)

- Mold will happen! Provided you have worms in your system everything will work itself out. I opened my bin up and found it full of mold after adding old pasta and rice (which I thought was ok). By removing the moldy food, adding dry bedding, allowing more air and circulation into the bin, and mixing up the bedding the problem was solved.

- Get used to looking in the bin frequently and observing the conditions. Dig around and see when the worms are happy and fully engaged in their food, and what food they like. Similarly, see what foods affect them negatively. One day all of my worms had left the tray and were hiding in the lower 'collection tray' away from the food and bedding. I had just added some fruits, and thought maybe it was too acidic for them. Adding bedding and crushed up egg shells neutralized this, and the worms were all back in the tray within a day.

- Bedding should be as wet as a wrung-out sponge. Don't let it get too dry or too wet.

- Leave pasta/rice/grains out for the first little while, until the worms have fully adjusted to their new home. Stick to veggies and fruits, coffee grounds, tea leaves.

- Feed worms slowly at first. Make sure that the food is getting eaten before adding more.

- Keep a compost bin under the sink for food scraps, add these as there is room in the bin for new food. If there is an overflow it's possible to freeze food, then completely thaw it out before adding to the bin. So far I haven't had any trouble with food under my sink. (But I also live in northern Canada and it's winter!)

- Get to know and love your worms!