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May 23, 2006 The Green Toddler: Oh yes I did! 
Andrea: When I returned home from my business trip last Thursday night, I found this sitting on the front porch.
Dear Readers: What on earth did you get from Cathy's Crawly Composters? Andrea: Oh, you'll find out. After much snuggling of the WBBE, BN, and supper, and drinks, and unloading of luggage, I dug out this rubbermaid, which has a few holes drilled in the top and bottom and is conveniently full of shredded newspaper. And Dear Readers, I'll have you know that that shredded newspaper is not high on Erik's happy list right now, since some of it is still deeply embedded in the shredder. Not that you need a shredder, you know; I did most of it by hand first.
Dear Readers: So what is it? Some kind of weirdo recycling bin? Andrea: Kind of. Then I added lots and lots of water to make the newspaper good and soggy, kind of like the way a newspaper feels if it's been left outside on the porch in the rain. It was a few small pailfulls of water; not so much that any drips came out of the holes in the bottom of the bin, but enough that it was all soggy and there were no dry paper patches. I brought it downstairs and set it up in the furnace room in the basement, and added the contents of the Mystery Box.
Dear Readers: OH MY GOD! Please tell me that you are NOT subjecting me to a photograph of many hundreds of writhing worms! Andrea: Uh.... Dear Readers: I am never coming back! Yuck! I come here to read about FRANCES, not about your decision to set up some kind of weird hippy worm habitat in your basement. Andrea: Umm...well, Frances does like them. Frances: Can I hold a worm?
Frances: Can I hold another one?
Frances: Ooooh! Worms! Can I hold another worm? So cute! Look at all the worms! That is a little tiny baby worm. That is a big one! Wow. Look at all the worms. Can I hold one? Can I hold another one? Please? Please please please? Ooooooooh. Andrea: So don't you think that if my 29" not-quite-18-lb baby girl can hold the worms that you can look at and read about them? Dear Readers: !!! Andrea: OK. Look. It's a worm composter. The Town we live in keeps saying they're starting up a municipal composting green bin program sometime soon, but they've been saying that for a year now and several deadlines have already passed. I hate throwing out my food waste, considering it's like throwing out good soil; it just sits in those landfills and never rots and never does anyone any good, whereas if I compost it I can use it in my garden. Where it belongs. I don't want to get a backyard composter because there's nowhere in my backyard to set it up and if the green bin program ever gets started, I won't need a big backyard bin anymore. This way, I can have a small composter to take the edge off of the food waste, ease my guilt a bit, and have the best quality compost available anywhere to use to fertilize my plants. If the green bin program starts up, I can keep this going no problem because it's so small and the green bin can take the meat and other wastes that can't go into a worm composter anyways. Besides, Frances loves it. Frances: Ooooh! Worms! Look at all the worms. Can I hold another one? That's a big one! Andrea: See? So it's perfect for The Green Toddler. She never would have cared about the backyard kind, but this is small and inside--so we can use it year-round, it doesn't stop in the winter--and it's got worms, which she likes. She can help me feed the worms, so they can be kind of like pets, and the environmental benefits will be just an add-on. The worms themselves are totally harmless, they're red wigglers.... Erik: (sings) Red Wigglers! The Cadillac of Worms!
Andrea: Yes. Well. They are. It's not just an old WKRP joke. You don't want to use any kind of worm you might find in the garden as they all have different habits including different foods they will eat and a different quality of casting; red wigglers are the best for worm composting and regular earthworms are pretty terrible. Red wigglers eat any kind of fruit or veggie waste, as well as tea bags and coffee grounds, and they eat their body weight each day so if you have a half pound or pound of worms they can eat a lot of food waste. And as I've said before, worm shit is the foundation of everything. The worms stay in the bins where it's dark because they're afraid of the light and they need the moisture in the wet newspapers (which are free) in order to live. You don't have to deal with the other creepy crawlies you can get in backyard composters. They're clean and smelless systems if you run them properly (I should know, I used to do this as part of my job when I worked for a waste management department in my co-op days) and you can use one anywhere, in the kitchen or the basement or the garage, as long as it doesn't get too hot or below freezing. After about three months, I'll notice that the newspaper will be all gone and the bin will be full of gorgeous black soil and worm castings. Then, I just open the bin and turn on the overhead light. The worms burrow away from the light so I just skim of a layer of dirt, wait a few minutes, skim off another layer, wait a few more minutes, and so on--no worm touching necessary (though I personally don't have any problem worm wrangling, they're small and quite clean and they do one hell of a job). Once the dirt is gone and there's just a writhing ball of worms in the bottom, I add a new pile of soggy shredded newspapers and start adding food waste again. They reproduce quickly so I don't need to worry about maintaining a population in my composter. In fact I only bought half a pound but I expect I'll have a full pound in a week or two. And Frances gets to see the process of decomposition, and where dirt comes from, plus she gets to play with worms. Frances: Oooooh! Worms! That's a baby worm. Aw, it's cute. Can I hold it? Andrea: So really it's a win-win, for everyone but you, potentially, Dear Readers. I promise I won't show you any more pictures of writhing masses of red wigglers for at least another three months. Posted by Andrea at May 23, 2006 8:26 AM under The Green Toddler EMAIL this entry (comments fields are below this section) Comments congratulations. you are a far braver woman than I. The cognitive dissonance caused by my tossing away food waste has not yet surpassed my distaste for all things wiggily and writhing... I'm glad Frances likes the worms. I hope she stays unafraid of the creepy crawlies. It will make life much more enjoyable for her in the long run. :) Posted by: suze at May 23, 2006 7:58 AM
That's great! Our composter was really stanky, then my dear husband drilled a few more holes in it to drain it and now it is sweet smelling again. Added benefit that Frances likes them! Too cute... Posted by: Bridget at May 23, 2006 10:31 AM
Okay, I will admit that my first reaction was "you're keeping the composter IN YOUR HOUSE??" As bug-o-phobic as I am, it's a bit surprising to me that's it's not the worms themself that freak me out, but the ick factor of the rotting scraps that get to me. But, my curiousity is piqued now... How does stuff not ooze out the holes you punched in the bottom? So you can just add the compostable scraps to the top every day, or do you have to stockpile them and only add it when you skim out the worm shit? How much did the worms cost? I'm fascinated, in a peeking-through-my-fingers sort of way... Posted by: Danigirl at May 23, 2006 12:03 PM
Well I compost, but I haven't tried worms yet. This is inspiring! Posted by: cloudscome at May 23, 2006 12:25 PM
Dani, the stuff isn't small enough to get out the holes in the bottom until it's dirt, at which point, who cares? And you can add a bit every day or every few days. The trick is to bury it under two or three inches of bedding (the newspaper) which is what keeps it from smelling and from attracting bugs. And you just keep doing that until all the bedding is gone, at which point, it's time to take out the compost and start over again. How much the worms cost really varies by area. Some municipalities (like the Region of Peel) will give worms away to residents who call and ask. You can buy them at bait shops, which is probably the cheapest option. Or you can buy them from a composting store, like I did, which is the most expensive--so anywhere from free to $40, depending on where you live. Cloudscome, I'd bet a substantial amount of money that you have worms in your composter, whether or not you put them there. :) Posted by: Andrea at May 23, 2006 12:42 PM
Our soil is pretty sterile. After four years of gardening, yesterday I saw my very first worm! It was beside the sprinkler head, the wettest part of the lawn. I have been interested in worm composting but I don't have either a basement or attic, and it's too, too yucky to just have sitting in my living room! I mean, the kids'll get worms all over the carpet... *Can* they go outside or will the temperature swings kill them? Posted by: Jennifer at May 23, 2006 1:15 PM
oh boy! I've been meaning to start one of those for a few months now! I'm going to have to see how yours works out. I live in an apartment in ny, though, so I am little icked by not having a yard to deal with the compost bin in... but it's such a neat idea! Posted by: qp at May 23, 2006 1:16 PM
I've only heard terrific things about kitchen worm composting. I hope you have a great experience with that and I'm happy to hear that Frances is enjoying this experience too! My daughter got to hold her first worm today in our garden. We should declare this Toddler Worm week or something. Posted by: Miche at May 23, 2006 4:13 PM
*shudders* I don't like worms. I don't like worms. And I had to look away and scroll down really fast so I could read the rest of your post. Hooray for you for making new "friends". Just don't invite them for coffee when I come to visit. PLEASE?? Posted by: LauraJ at May 23, 2006 4:54 PM
Laura, you're a brave woman. qp--welcome. I don't think I've seen you here before. And I actually started worm composting as an apartment-dwelling student and did it for years, successfully, through several moves--I only stopped when we moved to the last house and got a backyard composter. It seemed superfluous then. Jennifer, did you know that earthworms are not native to North America? I only found that out about two weeks ago. Anyway. The answer is yes, as long as it's not below freezing. Basements and garages are usually fine b/c they rarely get cold enough, being at least slightly insulated. Posted by: Andrea at May 23, 2006 7:47 PM
not a fan of worms here either. thankfully we were First with the green bin. Love the green bin. But the worms are great composters, and a great lesson for Frances too. Posted by: marianne at May 23, 2006 8:02 PM
This is fascinating! I'm glad Frances likes the worms. Has she named any of them yet? Or do they all get the same name because they're hard to tell apart? Posted by: Sue at May 23, 2006 9:09 PM
Completely cool. I didn't know you could do this indoors! I need to start composting for the tomatoes and strawberries. Posted by: liz at May 23, 2006 9:37 PM
This is, quite possibly, the most ingenious composting plan I have ever heard of. That, coupled with the fact that you ordered worms from a company, has completely made my day. :) Posted by: Kerri. at May 23, 2006 10:37 PM
Neat!!! I've always wanted to do that...and you make it sound pretty easy. Funny...yesterday I was creating my gardening oasis at the side of the house, and while I was digging around sinking stepping stones, I found LOADS of worms (I'd move them as I found them, but unfortunately a few were sacrificed by my quick trowel...) and thot Cael would get a big kick out of them. Posted by: Tanya at May 24, 2006 7:30 AM
Sue, no names yet. Just "the worms," "a big one," and "a baby one." It is kind of hard to tell them apart. Well, impossible. Posted by: Andrea at May 24, 2006 8:24 AM
All i'll say is EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW I'll take my backyard composter over that anyday! Posted by: Tanya at May 25, 2006 8:24 PM
I'm proud to say we've had a vermicomposter for seven years and it's still going. And it still excites me! Our wigglers love banana peels, carrot and cucumber peels and leftover lettuce. We keep them in the basement too. This is all in addition to the three composting units in our backyard. There ain't nothin' like the black gold that comes from them. Posted by: andrea from the fishbowl at May 26, 2006 5:36 PM
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