The Art of Zen Living

Wednesday, I went to a class on worm composting at the Eco-living Center, at Rutenburg park.  It turned out to be a lot of fun, and on top of that I learned how to build a bin for worm composting.  I’ll tell you a bit about what happened, and then share with you what I learned about making a worm bin, and some of the benefits of Worm Composting.

Worms eat plant based organic waste, and excrete highly concentrated plant food.  Organic waste includes food scraps, leaves, newspaper, junk mail, sawdust, cardboard, seaweed - if it was a plant but now it’s garbage, the worms will eat it.  If you’re a gardener, the benefits are obvious.  It’s also a great project if you have kids.  Or if you fish, you’ll have a steady supply of worms.  You may also just like being kind to random plants - seeing as how they keep us provided with oxygen, it can’t hurt to drop a little extra grow juice on them from time to time, even if it’s just in a random manner!

*The picture is of a sculpture in front of the Eco-living center, called “climb every mountain”.  It has no relevance to this post other than being a pretty cool picture.

First, you’re going to need some supplies.  The following list assumes you already have a drill for the bore:

• Bin (rubbermaid 18 gallon): $4.50
• 6 two inch diameter round vent: $6.98 (I only used 4 of these)
• 1 two inch diameter bore: $5.96

You can also make due without the bore if you have a sharp utility knife and take the time to cut your holes carefully.

Use your bore (or knife) to make holes in the top your bin, and insert the vents.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I’ve put my vents in the top, because I was 100% certain that my bin would be under cover.  If you are planning to keep your bin somewhere it might get rained on, put the vents in the side, near the top.  You can keep keep it indoors or outside, but you want to keep it somewhere that the temperature isn’t going to get too hot (so here in Florida, the garage isn’t a good idea) or too cold.  Direct sunlight is also to be avoided.  I put mine on a small table under cover of the roof on the lanai (which is a fancy word that means “screened in porch”), but any shady spot in the yard should so fine.

Next, you need some bedding! I’d been collecting my paper trash for a few weeks - anything that was plain paper without color (or without much color, anyway) I set aside in a box.  My original plan had been to shred it and add it to my compost pile out back.  When I learned that it makes excellent bedding for the worms, that plan changed.  To speed this process, I did purchase a cheap paper shredder - less than $12 - and started shredding.  I’ll tell you this: if a thief can get my personal information off of papers that’s been eaten and pooped out by worms, then that thief has EARNED it.

Once you have enough bedding (enough to fill your container to the top), you want to add some water.  I added about 2 cups to start, and then started turning it over to get all of the bedding damp.  You also want to keep the bedding pulled apart, as wet paper tends to clump.  You want it to be about as damp as a towel you got wet, and then wrung out.  You also want it to be as clump free as possible, so that air can get down in there.

Now you need some worm food! The best suggestion I’ve seen is that you save a week’s worth of kitchen waste, and then weigh it.  You want about 1 square foot of surface area in your worm bin per pound of waste per week.  You’ll need about 2 pounds (approximately 2000) worms to process that much waste.  I have 2 problems with this.  First, I just started eating as a vegetarian, so I have no idea how much food waste I’ll have weekly.  Second, I only bought around 130 worms, so I have to wait for them to make more worms.  My plan is to check daily and add food when they need it, until it seems like they’re going through the same amount daily.  Once that happens, I know the worms have reached the point where their bin can’t support more worms.  At that point, I’ll add another bin, and if needed a third.  From what I’ve gathered online, worms reproduce rapidly, but even at a rapid rate, I’ve got a few weeks or months to wait for them to fill up the bin.

One other thing to note - the oils, lotions, fragrances and so on that get on our hands aren’t all that worm friendly.  You can see in this picture that I’ve used a small garden shovel to move the bedding aside so I could add the kitchen scraps.  The best tool for the job is a regular 3 prong “claw” garden cultivator.  I bought mine for $1.98.  I also left it in the car and it was raining like mad when I needed it.  The shovel filled in nicely.

OK, bin?  Check.  Bedding?  Check.  Food waste?  Check.  Worms?  Worms? Worms!

They really don’t like light - it stresses them out.  I had two resources in my area for worms - bait shops and other worm composters.  I checked craigslist.org and found a nice couple selling worms at one dollar a dozen.  That was a pretty good discount off of the $2.50 a dozen price at the bait shop.  It’s important to note that you really only need around two or three dozen worms to get started - they’ll make more worms once they’re in the bin.  At the price I got, I opted to buy 10 dozen, and she threw in a few extra for me.  More worms will get you up to speed faster.

Add the worms to the scraps, gently cover with the bedding, then sprinkle one cup sand and one cup soil over the top of the bedding.  Place in a nice, shady spot that doesn’t get too hot or too cold.  They don’t need much care, other than to have food added and compost removed.  There are two ways to remove the compost, and in about 2 months, when I have compost ready to be removed, we’ll go over those.  I’m choosing to go with the strainer and bucket method.

So what’s the total cost of this project?  Here’s the list of my expenses:

Bin: $4.50
6 two inch diameter round vent: $6.98 (I only used 4 of these)
1 two inch diameter bore: $5.96
10 dozen round wiggler worms: $10
Strainer (for harvesting compost) $3.50
Bucket: $1 (for harvesting compost)
3 prong cultivator: $1.98
Paper Shredder (optional) $11.44

Total: 45.36

I’d also like to note that the total cost per bin will come down a bit - I anticipate needing to add 2 more bins, which I can do for a total of $15.98:

2 bins: $9
1 set 6 vents: 6.98 (I still have 2 left from the first package)

That brings my total cost per bin to around $20.50.  Not a bad investment given that you’ll get years of organic plant food in return.

When we take the worms out of their natural environment and move them into a bin it creates a human responsibility.  These worms are living creatures, and they’re entering into a symbiotic relationship with us.  We provide them food and shelter, safe from predators, and in return they provide us with some of the best plant food available.  If you keep your end of the bargain, they’ll keep theirs.

Before I go, I want to leave you with some of the links I found useful in setting this project up.

The Savvy Gardener
City Farmer, Canada’s Office of Urban Agriculture
The Worm Woman