it is done

I just put the worms in their new home and put their new home in the garage. Vermicomposting, thank you Annette Triplett for introducing me to it. Thanks to incredible amounts of information online, it was just about the easiest, proactive, sustainable project I've taken on. Even recycling is more complicated than vermicomposting.

Let's just talk sustainability again! The more I *think* through where my waste is going -- trash, used (grey) water, leftovers, etc., the more obligated I feel to take care of it. Our society, and the US in particular, has a "throw away" mentality. There is absolutely no reason I should not compost. Landfills are half biodegradable, if not more. But if all that biodegradable, good trash is in a landfill, it's not doing any good. However, if it's in my garage becoming compost, it will do good for my future garden. I don't have a garden and I don't even know when I'll have a the garden I dream of. I can have healthy soil though. Or my neighbors can. The thought to sell my vermicompost has even crossed my mind. If all the wormies do is eat, poop and procreate, I could quite possibly have a little worm farm. Who wouldn't prefer organic fertilizer? Oh the possibilities!

There are million great things about composting, but the reason I decided to try the vermicomposting is because I can literally do it in my garage. There is little to no work involved. All I do is collect all the veggies, fruit and wood fiber and feed it to my worms. And they make fertilizer. Awesome.

I do have a couple concerns, so we'll have to see how the next few months go. The most obvious is the smell. If the worms don't eat it quick enough, the rotting ex-food will start to stink. While the concept of keeping it close to the door is brilliant, the possible smell is not so brilliant. I want to see just how little work I have to do, so we may have to deal with the stink until the balance between exertion and little to no stink is found. The solution for the stink is simple: help the worms break down the compost -- tear your wood fiber up more or shred it in a shredder, puree the ex-food, etc.

Another really cool thing about composting is that I don't necessarily have to use trash bags any more. If I am not putting wet into the trash, there's no reason to use a liner. When, however, I do need to toss the chicken guts and bones, where do they go? In a grocery bag and then out to the big trash can. I have often thought of putting those scraps out for the neighborhood cats. Mark doesn't think that's wise.

So we are recycling and composting. Our next big project will be either fixing the screens in the sun room or rain barrels. The rain barrels are a HUGE project, way bigger than creating my worms' home. After that, raised square foot gardens in the sunroom.