Tag: composting

How and why to set up a worm composting bin

Materials needed:

Big plastic bin with lid, with air holes drilled into it

Shredded cardboard and/or rotting leaves, wood chips

Scraps from kitchen: think vegan, but no oils; no citrus

Worms—see Uncle Jim’s worm farm https://unclejimswormfarm.com/

Set up:

Find a good spot for your worm bin and set it up so that air circulates underneath. There may be some water dripping from the bottom of the bin. Moisten your shredded cardboard/leaves/wood chips mix and add it to your bin. Get your worms and add them to the bin. Allow a day or two for worms to acclimate—then begin feeding. Don’t feed too much! Experiment to see what foods they like.

Why:

Appropriately sized, worm composting can be an alternative to throwing kitchen scraps into the trash and adding to the waste stream.

Even a small setup will create a soil additive rich in microbes. By cycling some of your kitchen waste through your worm bin and into your garden or yard you are adding to the cycle of life that is necessary to restoring a full and healthy microbial food web in our soils and for our plants.

Soil with a healthy food web has structure, which breaks up compaction and prevents erosion, and invites water to soak into it to prevent flooding.

Soil with a healthy food web structure provides plants the nutrients they need to thrive so that they are nutrient-rich and attract many fewer pests and diseases and compete well against weeds, which means synthetic fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides are not necessary.

Soil with a healthy food web structure sequesters carbon and supports more plant photosynthesis, which also captures carbon. This carbon capture, done by more of us, will mitigate climate change.

You become a beneficial actor within the living earth’s cycle. When you feed the worms your food scraps they break down the organic matter by passing it through their systems. In this process they feed on the micro-organisms within the organic matter, eliminate pathogenic bacteria, and create an aerobic and healthy microbial food web through their cast (poop) and mucus. Carrying that vermicast to growing plants puts you into the living earth cycle once again, by bringing growing plants what they need to thrive.

How to make a microbe pile in the city

Cultivate community:

coffee shops/roasters (grounds, chaff)

beer brewers (beer mash)

grocery stores (cracked seeds, grains, legumes)

tree trimming and removal companies, utilities, city agencies (wood chips)

residential and common areas with trees (leaves, branches, wood chips)

residential and common green areas (grass trimmings, weeds)

residential and commercial locations that get packages (cardboard, some paper)

Grow your own:

plant alfalfa early spring, harvest as hay

plant and cut early clovers

cut all weeds at base, mow grass and gather clippings

Collect tools/equipment:

2 wood pallets

hardware cloth ¼ or ½” mesh 3’x11’ or geobin plus hardware cloth to cover pallets

bungee cords

composting thermometer 3’

heavy canvas tarp 6’x8’

manure/pitch fork

40 5-gallon buckets

Plan for microbe pile:

Site prep—water source nearby (and a way to filter or treat for chlorine), flat area

Collect and measure materials listed above in proportion: 4-6 buckets high N, 12 buckets green, 24 buckets browns

Day before microbe pile making day: put all materials into 40 buckets and soak

Microbe pile making day: allow half-day to put pile together

Set aside time daily for checking pile temps at least once/day for at least 2 weeks

Plan on 2 hours at least twice during first 7-10 days to turn pile minimum number of times

Microbe pile should sit after it cools, 6-8 weeks depending

Bring community together and make your pile!

Result:

A soil additive rich in microbial life that brings the healthy, living cycle of micro-organisms, the full soil food web, to your soil and plants—that provides your plants continuing access to the nutrients they need to thrive.