By:Lawrence L. Feltz
The
Governor of the State of New Hampshire, is big into recycling. As an outgrowth
of that, she is an advocate of composting. She recommended "composting with red
worms" as one option. As Governor, she asked every library in New Hampshire
to set up displays featuring composting and red worms. One of the source books
is Worms Eat My Garbage . It is written by Mary Appelhof, the guru on the topic.
She has even been called "worm woman". http://www.wormwoman.com/ . Another excellent link for those with
internet can be found at http://www.cityfarmer.org/wormcomp61.html .
Having read the book, I
purchased 2000 "red worms" (Eisenia
fetida) via the Internet
from the "Worm man"( http://www.wormman.com/)
In anticipation of their
arrival, I built a box based on design recommendations from the "Worm
Woman" (her basic box is 1x2x3feet) as modified by the Cooperative
Extension - U.S Dept of Agriculture (Univ of New Hampshire at Durham, NH
03824). My box is a bit bigger than her basic box. It
is designed to serve also as a "garden bench" or for seating on the deck.
It features a 2x4 frame and 1/2 inch plywood (it can be cut from a single
4-x-8-foot sheet). The lid is heavy, hinged, and hooked to discourage animals
and children from entry.
I filled
the box with 15 pounds of shredded newspaper. Then I added 45 pounds of water
(about 5.5 gallons), and about 2 gallons of soil (earth worms require a bit of
grit for their gizzards to help grind their food - sort of like chickens). To
this "bedding" I added the worms and about 20 pounds of compostable garbage (no
meats, fats, dairy, or oils).
For the
next five months I added whatever organic household waste we
generated: corn husks and cobs, fruit and vegetable waste, egg
shells, coffee grounds, tea bags, stale chips, leftover pizza,
everything organic (except for the few above
mentioned items). The worms (and their allies) composted everything even
the newspaper-bedding. Gradually it all was passed through the gullets
of these tiny worms and what emerged were "worm castings" or the "black
gold" that gardeners praise as the best soil additive available. I had great
luck with this system and would highly recommend it to anyone interested
in recycling, composting, gardening, "live food" for tropical fish
hobbyists, "bait" for would-be "anglers".
But
Eisenia fetida normally can't live outside in the
earth. There is not enough organic matter, and they can not withstand
freezing temperatures. In fact they are most active right around 70
degrees F. They become pretty sluggish below 50 degrees. With the arrival
of fall, it was time for me to bring them inside for the winter. On
Wednesday, September 26, 2001, I emptied the contents of the
box.
