All Posts Tagged With: "worms"

In the vein of our recent posts about food (one of our favorite topics here!), I wanted to write a little follow-up from my kitchen. The debate over HR875 and other such bills is certainly food for thought. The fact that Monsanto is able to sue farmers in the U.S. for having unwanted genetically-engineered seeds on their land — that blew there from other fields, thereby contaminating heirloom seeds — is nothing short of alarming. What if we just pause and imagine a better path forward?

What’s most important for a healthy crop is the biodiversity of the soil and microorganisms that produce it in the first place. Over the past few years, I’ve read success stories of a natural fertilizer business called Terra Cycle which uses the age-old genius of worms to compost waste and turn "worm tea" into a sought-after consumer product. The good news is, this isn’t rocket science. This stuff can be made for free inside your own home; that is, if you aren’t squeamish about some squishy worms.

I have a compost bin in my kitchen with about 500 to 1,000 worms inside eating my junk mail and food scraps. The particular bin I bought has a drainage spout, so that when there is heavy moisture content the extra water can simply drain to the bottom, be collected in a bottle, and fed to my house plants. The above picture displays the awesome power of worm tea. I had never fed my Money Tree worm tea before, but after only two servings and a couple of days’ growth, you can see the obvious difference this stuff makes. The water and nutrients shot up to the top leaves and what was similar to the bottom leaves only days ago is now a shimmering forest green (actually much shinier and green in real life!). Now, let’s see if some actual money starts growing. . . .

See our calender for composting workshops.

Treehugger article about Terracycle.

Having a vermicomposting system in your home might sound scary at first, what with all those worms, but I can assure you this experience has taught me that working in tandem with nature can provide a profound understanding of sustainability and inherent life cycles. For example, all over the U.S. our soil is degrading at alarming speed through monocultures and pesticides, which is stripping the soil of hundreds — if not thousands — of years’ worth of nutrient-rich support for healthy plentiful growth.

Leaves, for example, have always been a source of food for soil and every year we deprive that soil of its regenerating power by bagging leaves and hauling them elsewhere. Soil regenerates itself through the decomposition of mico-bacteria and with a lot of help from various species of worms. It was Darwin who discovered the amazing power of worms to bury and till the earth, which is also one reason that the deeper archaeologists dig, the older their findings.

We must start thinking of better ways of disposing of our waste, ways that give back in order to continue receiving. Vermicomposting is one way to get started. I made this video to engage people to take note of the values of life cycle systems. Worms will not only eat your food scrapes and leaves, but also your junk mail and holiday wrapping paper. Once decomposition is complete you’ll have rich black soil to use in your flower beds.

If you have any more questions about vermicomposting, please email us at info@goforchange.com or start a discussion thread on our social networking site. (goNetwork button)

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