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April 26, 2009

Trash to fertilizer

By Dan Linehan

MANKATO — Janet Husak was hesitant at first about sharing her Mankato home with a box full of red wigglers.

“A few years ago, I couldn’t envision having worms in a sealed container anywhere in my house,” she said.

There’s the “ick” factor and the worries that the combination of worms and decomposing garbage in a box would create a less-than-pleasing aroma.

But over the months she came to value the worms for the compost, and how they replaced fertilizers potentially dangerous to her children and pets.

It didn’t happen all at once.

Over time, she came to believe composting was a way to work within the circle of life, not against it.

The feared-for stink never materialized. Turns out the only smell comes from mold, which only forms if the worms are overfed and don’t have time to make short work of their food.

“Worm composting” is a term for the process of using the squirmy invertebrates as food processors. Your common earthworm won’t work; a species called “red wigglers” is bred and sold specifically for this purpose. They don’t look as exotic as they sound — they’re basically just smaller versions of earthworms.

A general rule of thumb for the worms is that they can eat half their weight in food in about a week. So if your house generates one pound of food waste a week, two pounds of worms should cover it. They aren’t picky either; they’ll even eat paper.

Lisa Coons, coordinator of the Center for Earth Spirituality & Rural Ministry, has kept a box of red wigglers in her Good Counsel Drive office for about a year.

They subsist on the occasional apple core, and she hasn’t had to acquire more worms.

A free class on worm composting, taught by Blue Earth County recycling coordinator Jean Lundquist, is slated for 10 a.m. on Saturday at the red barn on the School Sisters of Notre Dame campus.

Lundquist will have some worms to give away from her office worm bin, but not an unlimited supply.

“Most of what they get is coffee grounds, so those are some pretty caffeinated worms.”



If You Go
What: A free class on how to start your own worm composting bin

When: 10 a.m. Saturday

Where: Red barn atop the hill on Good Counsel Drive

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