Many people, when they think of recycling, they think of plastic bottles and aluminum cans being recycled in the green bins. But most don’t think of a direct impact they can make at home to recycle. Recycling that is easy to do and healthy for the environment. What I am talking about is vermicompost. This way of recycling reduces waste that a homeowner has to throw away and it helps nature’s recycling system to put back nutrients back into the soil.Vermicompost is when you take Red Wigglers (Eisenia Foetide) place them into a bin and then simply put food and paper in there for the worms to decompose the organic materials. Earthworms are major catalyst for decomposition in a health vermicomposting system. By making a vermicompost system, this can benefit the soil by improving its physical structure, enriching soil in micro-organisms, attracting deep burrowing earthworms already present in the soil, improving water holding capacity, enhancing germination in plant growth and improving root growth and structure (Wikipedia). More benefits are is that you save money but not using as much garbage bags and saving money on not buying topsoil for your garden.
Starting a vermicompost is easy. First you need a container. This can be made of anything like plastic, wood, Styrofoam, or metal (Cochran). Though you may need to be careful
with what your container is made of because some say that Styrofoam can leak chemicals and a metal bin may rust if it is being stored outside. But the best bin to use is a wooden bin because this can help the worms to breath because the wood has pores.
After picking out a bin, you then have to line the container with material high in carbon that mimics decaying dried leaves. For this you can use shredded up pieces of paper. After lining up the container with the paper you then add in a little dirt and worms in the container and then just add in the food. Worms prefer the ratio of carbon to nitrogen about 30:1 (Wikipedia). Your rich carbon foods are called “brown matter” which is your wood products such as paper and sawdust. Nitrogen food is called “green matter” and these consist of your food scraps. What is definitely not suitable to use as food is products sprayed with pesticides (Cochran). If you decide to use meat, don’t use too much meat for the feed because oil and fat can hinder the breathing of the worms, as they breathe through their skin. Also worms cannot break down bones either.
There are two method of feeding. One is called top feeding. This is when organic matter is placed directly on top of the existing layer of bedding in a bin and then covered with another layer of bedding. The second method is called pocket feeding. In order to feed, the top layer of the bedding is maintained and the food is buried beneath. The location of the feed is changed each time, rotating around the bin to give the worms time to decompose the food. Vermicompost is ready for harvest when is contains few to no scrapes of uneaten food or beading. To use all you need to do is just spread in a thin layer over the soil in the backyard.
Reading about vermicompost, I’ve decided to set up my own worm compost. The reason I am making this is because I want to see if this really works and if this can save my parents and I money with buying garbage bags. I am also hoping that the worms will make enough rich soil
that I can use in my own garden at home to help grow flowers because since I live around factories I have a hard time growing certain plants. Also, I hope with making richer soil that I can help with animal life in my backyard with bringing in more insects.
photo from: http://lancaster.unl.edu/pest/resources/Vermicompost107.shtml
