I am a rehabilitated worm murderer. A couple of years ago I was swept up in a tsunami of kitchen composting. Being big vegetable eaters, the amount of vegetable waste I was hauling out to the compost bin was in my opinion – overly huge. Here in Vermont, winter puts a halt to active compost processes. So I figured vermicomposting would be a logical way to deal with the mountain of scraps that I was arduously snowshoeing out to the bin.

The next thing I knew I was ordering a worm farm. I also ordered a couple pounds of red wigglers, Eisenia foetida, which are the best composters. I followed the instructions and figured it was a simple process. I gave the worms all of our kitchen scraps. Each time I opened the worm bin and looked in I was tickled to see activity. Things went well for a while, until the worm bin started to smell all wrong. My worms had died or were in the process of dying. I was instantly indicted as a murderer “Mommy the worm killer!!” was heard at every outing for some time afterward. Everybody laughed but me.  The guilt and the shame was unbearable.

I was left with a big multi-tiered worm farm, resplendent, yet empty. I kept eying it in the barn for a year. My Yankee headset would not allow me to toss it or give it away. I researched vermiculture and learned that I had overfed my worms. The abundant food scraps had super-heated and, um, parboiled them. Not only had I over fed the worms, but the scraps were rather large for them to actually eat (hence I was also starving them). I have since learned that using a food processor to grind down the waste, making it easier for the worms to slurp, is a kinder way to administer to their culinary needs.

This spring I gave vermiculture a new try. I now farm the little devils, and my population has grown splendidly. The worm farm sits right in the kitchen next to the waste bin. It is an odorless and tidy affair. This convenient location allows me to care for them easily. I also love to show them off – it amuses me how some people feel icky about them.They are tiny pets of mine, all 30,000 of the little toothless darlings. I have even been heard talking to them. The new refrain has become “Mommy’s got worms!” Not much of an improvement as a descriptive, but it is at least guilt free. I use shredded moistened newspaper, another burgeoning commodity of our household, for their bedding material. They not only eat kitchen scraps, but they eat the newspaper too!

Sometimes food can get away from us in the refrigerator. Mold is not a bad thing for worms, as it is one step closer to an easily digestible meal for them. I collect clean kitchen scraps, all vegetative (no citrus or onion family members). Eggshells are a good additive, but no animal proteins ever!

I grind them all together and keep them in a large canning jar which is placed in the fridge. As my dear husband found out with horror one morning while making his lunch for the work day, the nicely chopped worm food can be mistaken for human food. So a label is a good idea. I have discovered that worms have a sweet tooth and they love fruit. Melon skins and over soft berries and bananas are particular favorites. What isn’t to love about worms!? No more guilt about the fruit that got away! They like to live in nice even frost free temperatures. They would never make it through a Vermont winter.

I am looking forward to using the worm compost to make compost tea for fertilizing. The great thing about this method is that it maximizes the active biological bacteria of the worm castings by increasing exponentially in amount overnight in solution. It only takes about a pound (under 2 cups) of worm castings to make 5 gallons of basic tea. Five gallons of tea has beneficial organisms and plant health benefits equal to a yard of compost. From a very small amount of compost, a great amount of fertilizer for plants can arise.

Vermiculture has become very specialized. The use of compost tea is a science that has grown into huge service modalities for the green industry. Most compost teas are aerated while they are being brewed. It only takes about 18 hours to develop a good compost tea. Bacterial and fungal teas can be made to exacting standards for the actual plant species that is being fed. Fungal teas are best suited to trees and bacterial teas are favored by grasses and vegetables. I met a man who feeds his trees a concoction that is made with compost tea with added ground up tree stem tips of the species being fed, and to great advantage.