WoRmECYCLE in the NEWS

http://www.urbanitebaltimore.com/baltimore/community-supported-composting/Content?oid=1310257

Worm Tea: The Miracle Vermelixir

Our first distribution of worm tea to "Green Thumb" members is scheduled, so some explanation of the product is due.

First of all, what the heck is it:
Worm tea is liquid fertilizer formed when water percolates through worm compost. It is collected as drippings from the bottom of worm composting bins or can be brewed by soaking worm castings in aerated water.

How is it used?
Just about anyway you would use a commercial fertilizer intended to be applied with water, suggestions include...

• Dilute with water up to 10:1 (or even more, I actually pour it directly into my rain barrel in the summer) for regular use on plants
• Diluted 50:50 with water to use as a natural biweekly or monthly fertilizer
• Applied full strength once a week with water application between each use

Unlike commercially available fertilizers, it will not burn your plants and is not harmful to people or pets.

Benefits of the worm tea include:

• conditioning, feeding, and promoting healthy soil
• improving water retention
• promoting plant growth and production
• naturally repelling scale, mites, white flies, and aphids
• naturally inhibiting fungal growth in soil and on plant surfaces

Other claims go much further...EVEN Medicinal Benefits
M&B Williams (http://www.wormpro.co.uk/resources/worm-tea-benefits.php), suppliers of professional worm products and worm digestion systems (wow, who knew), reports

• Surprise to us was the value of Worm Tea when applying it to sun burn. We have testimonials from Australia where after a painful sunburn – placed worm tea on one shoulder and arm and another product on the other. The cooling effect was immediate and by the following day, saw tremendous difference between the two arms. Another Testimonial here in Apopka, FL. We have many nurseries growing Pothos and Diffenbachia. Some workers break out in a rash and have constant itching. Again – experimenting found the Worm Tea gave a cooling effect, the itching stopped and the rash disappeared. The testimonial given was that, "Finally she had a restful night's sleep".

If anyone is brave enough to test that claim, please let us know.

Community Through Compost

When we offered to pick up smelly, drippy kitchen scraps from our neighbors, we did not anticipate how much it would enrich our lives as well as our gardens. Over the few short weeks that we have been collecting, casual acquaintances have become friends, colleagues, mentors, and teachers, sharing interests far beyond worm products.

 

This morning we enjoyed a spontaneous art lesson while making our weekly pick-ups. One of our members invited us into her studio and showed us how to make prints using laser-printed images and natural citrus cleaning liquid.

Topping Rumpelstiltskin

Remember the story, popularize by the Brothers Grimm, about the dwarf who was able to spin straw into gold. Well, we think we might just be doing him one better. Granted we are not creating gold, but we are making rich compost. And, we are starting off with waste, not straw, which is perfectly useful for other purposes. Besides, the wealth we are generating is not going to line the already bloated coffers of some greedy monarch. It is reinvested to promote prosperity in other areas of the globe.

 

Anyway, as promised excess dues are designated for micro-loans through Kiva (http://www.kiva.org), a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that provides micro-loans to alleviate poverty and connect people through lending. The crew chose to support the arts and fell in love with the weavings of a woman in Peru (http://www.kiva.org/lend/230916). We are one of 8 investors that represent full funding for her loan. The loan will be repaid over the course of 1 year, at which time our funds will be available to reinvest through Kiva.

Farm Expansion

After last week's pick-up, we decided that we would soon need the extra composting capacity represented by the two bins that had been serving as lids for our auxiliary worm towers. We filled the old lids with bedding material and cut new lids from plywood. Five air holes were drilled in each lid to complete the job. Air circulation is important to keep the worms alive, control odor, and ensure a proper composting process.

We have been "feeding" all of our worm trays to encourage population growth in our worms. A hardy herd of red wigglers is important to keep up with the expanded supply of compost, but the upcoming cold months and subsequent compost harvest requires that we have the capacity to allow the composting process to move toward completion in some bins. These bins will no longer be supplied with compostable material, but the worms will continue working as long as newspaper or food waste is available. As the months grow colder, these bins will be positioned at the bottoms and tops of each tower. Bins in the center of the stacks will be "fed" to entice the worms to the middle of the farm. This arrangement uses the compost as insulation allowing the worms to continue their work through the winter.

Farm Tours

Interested visitors are always welcome to tour our operation and interact with our livestock.

Wiggler Booty: What Makes Good Worm Food?

Worms can eventually compost any organic material, but Vegetarian Scraps are preferred for a few reasons: they produce less odor and attract fewer undesirable insects and pests that might eat the worms along with the kitchen waste.

Fruit and vegetable material; breads, cereals, & grains; coffee grounds & filters; tea leaves & bags (w/staple removed);  paper towels & napkins,...

We are telling our members: "When in doubt toss it in!" We will remove questionable materials when we feed our little wigglers.

What Does It Mean to Be a Member?

As a CSV operation, WoRmECYCLE is supported in part by membership dues. WoRmECYCLE offers three levels of membership to accommodate individual desire for composting service and worm products.

The Compassionate Composter ($10/year) offers pick-up service only for those looking for a local alternative to county operated landfill and recycling services.

The Garden Guru ($25/year) provides pick-up service and annual delivery of the member's share of worm castings.

The Green Thumb ($35/year) provides pick-up service, annual delivery of the member's share of worm castings, and monthly delivery of the member's share of worm tea.

We Compost So You Don't Have To!

Our crew of conscientious composters pick-up kitchen waste and non-glossy newspaper once a week from our members. The kitchen scraps are buried in our worm farm. The newspaper is shredded for future worm bedding to cover kitchen waste, minimize odors, and add loft and aeration space in the bins. Worm tea is harvested regularly to maintain proper moisture levels in the bins. Worm castings are harvested as the worms complete their work in an individual bin.

Welcome to the Farm!

WoRmECYCLE is an experiment in Community Supported Vermiculture  to promote the benefits of worm composting. It is a small, local CSV consisting of three multi-tray worm composting units. The flagship of our operation is our year-old, 5-tray Gusanito WormWrangler Worm Farm (available through http://wormswrangler.com/). This unit and our original 2 lbs of worms served our family of six extremely well last year, producing approximately 20 lb of castings, a constant supply of worm tea, and an amazing herd of red wigglers. To handle the anticipated increase in compostable material, we recently added an additional tray (six trays were estimated to be maximum capacity for the base by the supplier) and constructed two additional stand-alone towers. The new towers were built using stackable, deep propagation bins (available through http://www.growers-inc.com/03an-dpflats.html). The bottom tray of each is lined with a sheet of semi-permeable root barrier cloth to prevent worm exodus. Another layer of root barrier cloth covers the top tray, which is currently covered by extra bins turned upside down. These extra bins will be used to expand capacity when necessary. The two new towers are propped up on bricks over two copper trays that were previously under house plants.