Ask Eartha Steward: Worm composting

Dear Eartha,
I’ve been inspired to start composting but my back yard is still covered in four feet of snow, is there any way I can get started inside? — Tracie R., Blue River

I can feel your pain. Will the spring melt ever arrive? Even my large tumbler is still buried in my back yard. But fortunately I’ve been able to supplement my big outdoor composting piles by using a worm bin that stays inside all year.

Before you wrinkle your nose, let me explain a little about worm composting. There is a wonderful breed of worm on our warm planet that just loves to eat our garbage.

Silently munching away, using powerful jaw muscles to grind up food and bacteria to break down waste, these amazing little Red Wigglers (Eisenia festida) just love to turn our garbage into amazing, rich castings.

For those that prefer a less active approach to composting, using worms (or vermicomposting) is a great solution. Generally speaking, vermicomposting is a low maintenance way to compost food scraps and paper materials. There is no turning necessary and you don’t need to monitor temperatures to ensure a good final product.

These specific red wiggler worms are so amazing that they really need little care once they are established in your bin. You can leave on vacation for a few weeks and not worry about them. But you may come home to find that they have multiplied as they do tend to breed quickly.

Worms do need to be kept moist and warm, so they are not suitable for our outdoor climate. But they don’t need a lot of space, so many vermicomposters keep the bins under the sink or in a pantry closet. A warm garage will also do the trick.

What about the smell, you wonder? Just like a good backyard composting system, a well maintained worm bin will not produce strong odors. I know my bin and worms are healthy when I open the lid and it smells like good soil after a rain.

To help avoid any odors, don’t over-feed these little critters, for even though they have a voracious appetite, they can only eat as much as their little bodies can process. It is also important to make sure your bin is not too moist. A good bin will have a system to let the nutrient rich liquid (often called compost tea) out of the bin.

Some bins even have little spouts to capture and drain the liquid.

A well maintained worm bin can be a great solution for composting year-round and inside. Plus, the final product (called worm castings) is a rich material that many find to be even better than good compost from a backyard bin. The castings have amazing nutrients from the worms and have terrific water retention characteristics.

But — fair warning — you do have to handle the worms to separate out the castings.

If this column has given you that icky feeling or if the thought of red worms wiggling away under your sink gives you the creeps, vermicomposting is likely not for you.

Wishing there was a magic solution? Every type of composting system I have ever used requires some level of care (and usually has a little ick-factor involved). Sure, compost happens, but it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a natural process that involves air, moisture, microbes and bacteria.

Many people are looking for that zero effort, magic black box type of composting system that can take food scraps and instantly turn them into garden amendments.

I’m not sure those magic compost systems exist, but there are new electric composters on the market that are intended to be in your kitchen and use power to aerate and mix compost for a hands-off approach. But before I recommend anything, I like to try it first or hear some firsthand experience with it.

So, until I can wrangle up $500 for an automatic composter, I’ll stick with using my “magic” worms. They take a little bit of care, but they produce an amazing product and are a great solution for composting in the mountains.

By sheer coincidence, there is a Vermicomposting Workshop this Saturday from 2-4 p.m. at the Frisco Community Center at 110 Third Ave., between Main and Granite.
This hands-on workshop will teach you how to build your own bin, handle the worms, and separate the rich castings. Plus, it’s a great project for kids and many of our Summit County vermicomposters make this a family experience.

For more information on the Vermicomposting Workshop, or to sign up, call Jen at (970) 668-5703. The workshop is $10 and includes all handouts. Hope to see you there. Until then, I’ll be dreaming of spring and sending worm wishes to you all!

Eartha Steward is written by Carly Wier, Jennifer Kirkpatrick and Beth Orstad, consultants on all things eco and chic at the High Country Conservation Center, a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization dedicated to waste reduction and resource conservation in our mountain community. Eartha believes that you can walk gently on our planet, even if you’re wearing stylie shoes.
Submit questions to Eartha at eartha@highcountryconservation.org or to High Country Conservation Center, PO Box 4506, Frisco, CO 80443.