http://www.redwormcomposting.com/
and others of similar earthy appeal, I determined to look into how to set up my own family vermicomposting system (optimistically figuring that perhaps a background in the arts would be as useful as one in biology...). Having barely mentioned this to some friends, family, and coworkers, I was offered some two hundred worms for FREE by a kind associate of mine!
I frantically read up on every possible way to store and feed my new worms and eventually settled on a large Rubbermaid bin as a starter home. Holes drilled around the sides, potting soil, compost, waste food, and shredded newspaper bedding prepared, I added some 3/4 of my worms to their new home, reserving the rest in the smaller original container as backups should I decimate their brethren. Contrary to my fears, continually pulling back my layer of moist shredded newspaper to add more family waste food was all that was really necessary to promote a population explosion over about two months that I would estimate to be at least tenfold.
The worm bin has been what I consider to be a great success. It only occasionally smells worse than I think it should, it encourages some pretty interesting conversation, it's allowed me to share some worms with family, and it's even got my mother saving bags of waste food in the freezer for my bi-weekly-or-so visits.
Having put out feelers for a possible restaurant to supply me with large amounts of waste food for my outdoor experiments, I was told by a friend that the head chef at a local restaurant called Calories would be happy to meet with me. He was, and my excitement about attempting my own version of the trench composting idea was met with equal enthusiasm. The chef described municipal waste management strategies in Germany that demand separation of food from other garbage prior to pickup on penalty of large fines. He very much supports local environmental initiatives and has given me a sense of affirmation where many others give either confused or bemused looks.
I wanted to be sure that this wouldn't become an uncomfortable situation for the restaurant (particularly the kitchen staff) so we discussed having four labeled 16 litre buckets on rotation that I could pick up each time two were filled. Wanting the process to be as simple as possible, I printed my cel number on the labels themselves with instructions to simply text "Full" to my number any time they were ready for pickup. The chef suggested that they could sit outside overnight, and that anytime I can't make it, all I need do is let the staff know with a phone call that the buckets should go into the cooler (if I would be there within ~48 hours) or the trash (if I couldn't make it within a reasonable period). Later I met with the owner, as well, and she was also on board with the plan.
So far my pocket has buzzed "Full" multiple times, I have added some of the restaurant waste to a typical back alley compost, and I've poured seven 16 litre buckets of waste food into three sections of trench in my backyard. One section has had red wiggler worms from my indoor vermicomposter added and the other two have not. More detailed descriptions of the worm bins themselves, as well as the trenches and my experience with restaurant composting, will follow in future posts.
