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Loading...Worms of Your Own
- The Nature Conservancy
- February 23, 2012
- 10:30 am
- 90 comments
Matt Miller, The Nature Conservancy
I lifted the coffee filter and found a raging party going on. A worm party, to be exact. Thousands of red worms crowded together in a wriggling mass as they enjoyed their morning coffee.
I wasn’t grossed out. After all, these little worms are my pets. For the past eight years, they’ve been eating, breeding and producing compost just 20 feet from my dinner table.
It’s true: My home has worms.
The colony of red worms resides in a small bin, a container that is both odorless and virtually unnoticeable to guests. Those worms also provide a valuable service: They turn our household vegetable waste—otherwise destined for a landfill—into rich, organic fertilizer for potting house plants and backyard gardening.
Vermicomposting—composting with worms—is an easy way to take care of food waste, even if you live in a small apartment.
A recent study by the Environmental Protection Agency found that more than 30 million tons of food is wasted each year, accounting for twelve percent of all household waste. About 98 percent of that food waste ends up in landfills.
That rotting food not only takes up space; it also generates methane—a major source of greenhouse gases.
You can do your part to reduce that waste: turn to the worm.
Read more: Conservation, Eco-friendly tips, Environment, Green, Green Kitchen Tips, Home, Lawns & Gardens, Bitter Creek Ale, compost, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, fertilizer, food waste, greenhouse gas, kitchen scraps, landfill, Matt Miller, methane, organic fertilizer, red worm, The Nature Conservancy, vermicompost, worm
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So funny! :D
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Thank you :)
cool ideas thanks for sharing x
90 comments
+ add your ownI have a 20 gallon worm bin under my awning on my back porch. I have just finished my first harvest, (designate a day off for this) and couldn't believe how much compost I got in just 2 months and they tripled in number. My chickens enjoy the live worm treats and my garden is blooming with color from it's rich compost. There are so many things worms love to eat that we throw in the trash. Paper towels, toilet paper centers, paper (organic, not treated), cardboard, animal waste,(including dog poop) kitchen scraps that my chickens don't eat, just about 80% of what we throw away! So start worm composting ! It's fun easy and cheap. Make your own bin. (mine cost $18.00 at Lowes, a 20 Gallon storage bin.)
I have a nice worm bin in the back yard that I have not worked for the last two years, time to buy some more worms.
Thank you
thanks
More worms please.
I find them so lovely and cute! Does anyone else think they are just super cute? When I was little I liked playing with earthworms in the yard... I never knew how much good they were doing. ^_^
We use soil from our compost bin on our garden and it is full of worms. I used to freak out about the worms, but now I am used to them. They make the soil so rich.
I love worms, they are fabulous in the garden.
Yay worms! I don't have a home of my own right now, but when I do you can bet there will be a worm bin sooner or later :)
i want to do this kind of composting but my husband wont allow it citing it would attract rats i disagree but cant get him to change his mind
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