Boulder Vermicomposting

Discussion on winter worm composting

I’ve already published some of my thoughts on the topic of winter worm composting, but here’s an interesting discussion of the same on vermicomposters.com.

If you’re a wormkeeper and aren’t part of vermicomposters.com, it’s worth a look.  It’s a social network for worm composters.

Add comment December 21st, 2009

Vermicomposting on Wikipedia

I strongly encourage you to visit the Wikipedia page on vermicomposting.  Go ahead, I’ll wait.  Isn’t that cool?  So much information packed into one page.

One of the things I love about worm keeping is that it is such a hands on experience.  Are you curious if worms like cabbage?  How about carrot tops?  Rotten apples?  The answer is try it, if you have the room in your bin.  This culture of experimentation is prevalent everywhere I look in the worming community.

However, a lot of the knowledge people have is locked up, in mailing lists and on the web.  And, if a newcomer looks for advice on the web, they can find all kinds of crazy conflicting advice (yes, I realize I’m adding to the madness).

This is where Wikipedia comes in.  It can serve as a jumping off point, with references to other blogs and papers.  The Wikipedia article is already the top result for ‘vermicomposting’ on google.  But the best part is that you can edit the article yourself.  Notice an incorrect fact?  See a typo?  Found an article that explains an aspect of worm keeping?  Have a great picture of your bin?  Add it to the article, and keep pushing the knowledge of worm keeping forward.

Note, please be aware that you shouldn’t put links to your own blog posts on Wikipedia; it’s bad form to do so.  I did this, until someone else removed them.  And that brings up another point–editors and writers on Wikipedia can be a bit brusque, so be prepared with a thick skin.  Here’s the Wikipedia manual of style to get your editing started on the correct path.

Add comment October 16th, 2009

EPA promoting vermicomposting

The EPA (USA’s Environmental Protection Agency) has a great starter page about worm composting, with links to some pretty good information sources:

Through this method, red worms—not nightcrawlers or field worms found in gardens— are placed in bins with organic matter in order to break it down into a high-value compost called castings. Worm bins are easy to construct (they are also commercially available) and can be adapted to accommodate the volume of food scraps generated.

It’s more of a ‘what is vermicomposting’ than it is ‘how do I start’, but I love the fact that the US federal government (as well as some local governments) promotes vermicomposting.

Add comment July 8th, 2009

Internet Resource: RedWormComposting.com

Redwormcomposting.com, a blog and ecommerce site, is chock full of information on vermicomposting. Located in southwestern Ontario, the author is prolific; he writes for EcoSherpa and Compost Guy as well.  As well as redworms, he sells various products on the site; some of them look pretty interesting.  He answers readers’ questions fairly regularly, and also is always trying new approaches to vermiculture.   I especially like his experiments in keeping worms alive through the Canadian winter.  The writer is obviously gonzo about redworms and his site is worth reading through if you have any interest.

Add comment March 7th, 2009

Useful Internet Resource: Worm Digest

Worm Digest is an online collection of useful and not so useful articles about earthworms.  The useful articles include one about a Worm Guy in WA and a young persons’ guide to vermicomposting.  There are less useful articles (from a worm perspective) like Soil Improvement with Organic Materials.  I’m guessing that the owners of Worm Digest grab any articles that relate to worms and post it, though it does seem to have been a while since an update (the last update I saw was Mar 2008).  Also, note that the user interface is slightly confusing–all the content above the fold is taken up with navigation, including newest and most popular article listings.

However, the Worm Digest forums are useful and active, with a number of postings covering issues from what junk mail plastic does to worm castings to whether pond water is a useful addition to worm tea (the verdict is still out).

Add comment November 2nd, 2008

Useful Internet Resource: the_worm_bin

One of the great resources I’ve found on the internet for wormkeeping is a Yahoo! Groups mailing list.  I looked around, and it was clear that the_worm_bin was the most active (95 messages in September 2008) and had the most members of any mailing list I could find (920).  the_worm_bin also has a searchable archive of almost 10,000 messages (available to everyone).

There are also links and useful files, but I think the real value is in the conversations going on.  Some recent subjects of discussion include “air travel with worms”, “harvesting methods” and “bin sizes”.  I recently asked whether it was alright to put meat in a worm bin and received a number of responses.  (The answer, in case you’re wondering is, ‘yes, as long as you make sure the scraps are covered, watch out for wild animals, and don’t overload the bin’.)

Membership is free, but must be approved by a moderator.  So, if you are having a worm emergency, you’ll have to wait to post until the moderator approves you.

I joined the group recently and found it to be relatively low traffic and high in information.  One of the great things about being a wormkeeper is that it is so easy to experiment, and this group makes it easy to share that, and benefit from other’s experience.  (If you join and have a question to ask, please make sure you ask that question the smart way.)

2 comments October 14th, 2008