Composting with worms...greatgrandmother.org links to Joan and her most famous worms

 

Much has been written about the benefits of worms, both as indoor container-living composters and as active soil inhabitants in our gardens.

Often referred to as vermiculture, the technology comes from basic backyard gardening and incorporates the fundamental process of worms consuming raw organic material and escreting castings or nutrient-rich leftover material that reabsorbs into the soil as biomass. Nature's cycle at work with a little help from people like you and me, the worms, and some micro-organisms.

I've long had worms on the farm, in my black tumbler, and keeping control inside of my open compost heap. I just assumed that they were always there working overtime and delivering back to the earth stuff that humans couldn't possibly duplicate in the lab.

Some are a bit weary about worms. There are thousands of different kinds of worms. The largest species measure many feet or meters long, while the smallest worm cannot be seen without a microscope. Worms usually live in soil; some live in water. Many worms eat small plants and animals, others feed on decaying matter. Still other types of worms live as parasites in various animals and plants causing a number of diseases. Most types of worms have a well-developed sense of touch. They also have specialized organs that respond to chemicals in their surroundings. Many species have a sense of sight, with eyes or eyespots on the head.

Researchers have estimated that worms live from between four and eight years, in field conditions. But that does not mean that our backyard varieties, performing part of the year in a raised bed only to be transferred to an under-sink tub for the winter months, live the same number of years. But beyond the science, one thing is for sure: worms can play an important role, even during the winter months, helping us compost our vegetable and fruit scaps indoors.

Enter Joan O'Connor. This Henniker, NH resident and I met earlier this year, as Joan runs a number of New Hampshire's CSAs. Joan has been playing with worms, lecturing about them, and introducing people all over the globe to red wigglers--the composting worm of choice.

Joan's pamphlet speaks to the benefits of worms eating your garbage, how best to set up a worm bin, where to put it and how to "feed" it, and most popular of all, how to harvest the naturally rich composted soil.

Here are some interesting and fun facts that Joan will share with you:

--worms eat up to their body weight in food each day and never get fat

--worms love your garbage, including tea bags, crushed egg shells, fruit and vegetable skins, oatmeal, cornmeal, leaves, and bread.

--worms are hermaphrodites, meaning that they have both male and female sex organs. They can lay up to 900 eggs each year, and with the average lifespan of a red wiggler being two to five years, that's a lot of offspring.

Joan also has a lot of recommended reading, both in book form and Web site form. You can contact Joan, who will walk you through the process and ship you worms year 'round at 603.428.3530.

Telephone is her preferred method of communicating on the topic, so please call and leave her a message.

And as our days get shorter and our nights colder, we can build our own efficient indoor system with Joan's help. Call her today!