Compost in your Home with Worms

Okay. Hi, everybody. It's just now two o'clock, so we're going to wait just a couple minutes for people to come in. But my name is Mackie McCoy, and I am the Education and Volunteer Coordinator at Earthway Center of the Missouri Botanical Garden. So today we're going to be talking about compost and worm compost here for this live stream for our virtual Earth Day Festival. So we were really excited that they were able to put this together, so that we were going to be able to live stream with you today, just to keep a couple housekeeping things while we're waiting for people to come in. If you're interested in asking questions today, you are going to need to be actually within youtube.com in order to do those questions. There'll be sort of like a comment section where you can type in your questions. So if you have any along the way, feel free to type those in and I'll get to them at several points along the way during the session. The other thing to know is that at the end of this, if you still have any questions, you can go to the Earthway Center virtual booth on the website and actually go and check out information we have about vermicomposting on the Earthways website, if you want to continue to learn more about this topic. Again, as we have people coming in, we'll kind of catch them up on things. So today we're going to be talking about composting and specifically worm composting. So how this is going to go is we're going to talk a little bit about compost in general, and why you might want to do compost, and then why you might specifically want to do worm composting in your home. And then we're going to actually move the camera over to the compost bin, so you guys can actually take a look inside the bin and see what's going on with the worms and with the food that goes inside the bin. Before I make that switch over, I'll check for questions. And then after we take a look at the bin, I'll come back and we'll be able to see some more questions. So again, since we're a couple minutes in, again, my name is Maggie McCoy. I'm the Education and Volunteer Coordinator at Earthway Center of the Missouri Botanical Garden. We are the sustainability division of the garden. So we do a lot of work out in the community, helping people to make more sustainable choices. And we really believe that compost is one of those options. And this is a really cool form of compost, worm composting, because you can actually do it indoors. So while this is not normally where I would have the compost bin today, we're actually in our office slash playroom. So you'll see that this is actually a method that can work really well in your home and actually indoors. So why might you be considering doing composting? Composting is a really great way of being able to reuse resources that we already have. So if you consider your food scraps, they have lots of good nutrients in them that can still be used by plants, but just not in a form that plants can use. So if you think about a banana peel, a plant can't really use those resources until it gets turned into compost. So composting helps us take that waste from our food and turn it into really good food for plants. If we just send all of our food waste to a landfill, it's just going to sit there and it's not really going to become nutrition for our plants again. So compost sort of helps to complete that cycle. The other reason why we really love compost is because it can actually be considered a solution to climate change. So one of our favorite resources at Earth Waste is a resource called Project Drawdown. So it came out a number of years ago and actually just got updated a couple months ago. But if you go to their website, Project Drawdown, you can see all types of solutions to climate change. And so they've sort of done the legwork of looking through which solutions are the best, how much they cost, how much carbon dioxide would they save us out of the atmosphere. But it turns out that composting would actually, over the next 30 years, would save us somewhere between two to three gigatons of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. And if you're having a hard time imagining what a gigaton looks like, a gigaton is about the same weight as about 400,000 Olympic-sized pools. So if you imagine an Olympic-sized pool of water and 400,000 of those, that's one gigatons worth of water. So two or three gigatons of carbon dioxide is a really big deal. And composting can be one of those really great ways to help pull our carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and have less go into it. So we really recommend composting as one of those options. So if you are interested in composting, if you've done composting before, there's three really important things to remember that all compost is going to need. So all compost is going to need water, it's going to need heat, and it's going to need air or oxygen. So that water helps to keep all the organisms that live in your compost pile going, and it helps to break things down. That heat helps those organisms work faster, so they can do a lot of that work, and it helps that decomposition process move along. And then also oxygen. Most of the organisms that are going to live in your compost pile need air or oxygen in order to survive. So they're going to need a lot of those resources in order to do well. So those are the three things you're going to need in your compost pile. The three types of things that are going to live in your compost pile are going to be things like fungus, bacteria, and you're going to need some invertebrates in there. I like to call it the FBI of composting. So fungus are things like mold and mushrooms. Bacteria that are going to live in there are those tiny little microscopic things that are going to help break things down. And then the invertebrates. So that's anything without a backbone. A lot of times you might think of it as a bug, but worms are sort of part of that invertebrate pile, and that's kind of the one we're going to be focusing on today. And they're the ones that are really doing a lot of the work within that compost pile in order to make sure that things are going well. So we're actually going to take a moment now to switch over to the compost bin, so we can actually look at it and get some ideas of kind of how you can actually use this worm composting method within your own home. So sorry for the camera movement there, but we're going to bring the camera over. So it sits right over our worm composting bin. Now the bin that I'm going to show you today is a really basic bin, and this is sort of the very do-it-yourself version of the bin. So it's just sort of like a Rubbermaid tub that we put all of our stuff into in order to start the bin. So this one is active, so I actually have worms in it right now. So I'm going to sort of peel back some of the newspaper that's in there, so you can actually see inside the bin. Now what I kind of want to go through today is sort of talk through the different parts of the bin, and then sort of show you, talk about how you might build your bin by showing you these different parts of it. So the first thing when you're building a worm compost bin is you need some kind of bedding. So bedding is just the stuff that they're going to live in, and the bedding that I've chosen to use for our worm bin is shredded paper. So this is mainly either shredded newspaper or shredded phone book paper, and that actually works really well because it's sort of a thin paper that's not as high quality that actually works out pretty well for bins like these. So we use that in there. You can use coconut fiber as well. Dried leaves are really, really good option as well to use inside these bins, but you have lots of choices. But we've sort of chosen the shredded paper. You get the shredded paper wet because worms really, really, really like for the bedding to be nice and wet so that they can move around easily inside it. So that's the bedding you're going to want to use, and you're going to want to get it wet. The next step that after you get your bedding wet and it's inside your bin is you're going to want to add some food to it. So worms really like things that we normally think of as being healthy, but think of fruits and veggies. So what you're going to do is if you're feeding them, you're just going to sort of dig a nice little spot in your bin where you can bury the food, and I actually brought some food with me today so you guys can see what I like to feed my worms. So this is the food that I like to feed my worms. You can see in here it's a colorful mixture of things, but we have some bits of shredded carrot we didn't use, some parsley, I think there's some apple chunks and some strawberries in there, and also coffee grounds and used coffee grounds. Worms really like those used coffee grounds because they provide a little grit. Worms don't have teeth, so those coffee grounds really really help them to sort of digest that food and grind it up, but they're really going to like fruits and veggies. So I'm just going to dump some of this food into here, and so they got some carrots too and some strawberries, and then I'll go ahead and I'll cover it up with the dirt and the bedding. Now these are all old scraps of food that we've put into this bin, and that's just kind of stuff out of our kitchen, parts of the foods we weren't going to use. Some of those strawberries were strawberries that went bad, so you kind of want to pick those things. We like to cut them up a little bit just because anything that's cut up is going to be easier for them to eat. We bury it like this just so we don't get any insects or invertebrates that we didn't really want in our bin. So this kind of keeps that down, and then I like to cover it back up again just with some newspaper or some larger sheets of paper just because they don't really like light. So I'm having this in the bin kind of keeps them from being exposed to too much light, and I would just cover it up like that. So you can also add more bedding or more dry material to the bin if you think it's getting too wet. Oftentimes I'll add pieces of egg carton, so this is egg carton that's made out of cardboard, and that can be a really good addition to your bin as well, just if you want to get up or if you just want to dry it out a little bit. My bin's a little dry right now, so I'm okay adding a lot of that wet food into it. So the next thing after you add your food is you do need to add some worms to your bin, and I actually went ahead and sort of found a worm a little bit earlier and pulled him out just so we could get a look at one of our red wigglers that's in the bin, and they're really really good at hiding. So now he's hidden away from me, so there he is. So this is one of our red wigglers. I'm going to make sure I get him in the camera and he's in my hand. So red wiggler worms are the type of worm that we like to use for worm composting. They're really easily findable at things like bait shops because lots of people like to go fishing with them, but as you can see they're pretty small and they're the worm that is preferred for worm composting. In the wild they like to live in leaf litter, so this kind of compost pile situation is really really good for them. You don't want something like an earthworm because earthworms like to move through really deep piles of dirt, and you're not really going to have that in your compost bin. They're not going to be very happy, so red wigglers tend to be the worm of choice. Again you can get them at a bait shop or you can go online and somebody will actually ship you worms. So normally when I start a worm bin I'll maybe start it with 500 to 1,000 worms because that'll be enough for them to sort of eat most of the waste that we would produce in our house in a week. But yeah it's a good way to get started, but this is kind of what they look like and they can eat anywhere. Most places I read say they eat about half their weight in food a day. I normally find it's closer to like a quarter or a third, but he wants to get back to his house so I'm going to let him go. But they will be the ones actually eating your food, and then the compost that you're going to have that comes from that food is their waste product or worm castings. And basically anything you see in the bin right now that looks a little bit like dirt or compost are those worm castings. So I haven't added any soil to this bin. Anything you see that looks like soil is those worm castings. So they do a really good job of converting all that paper and all those food products into compost within your home in a way that's pretty low odor. So that's kind of how this bin works. This is a really, really simple bin. You can get a bin that is a little bit more I guess high-tech I would say, and I do have an example of that here with me today. So this is sort of the do-it-yourself option if you would like to. If you want something that's a little bit fancier, make sure I get it in view, you can get something like the stacked bin situation. So this has multiple layers where your worms can live. You're seeing our a rocking horse there. But basically you add one layer to the bin at a time and you start by feeding them in your layer that you start with, which is like shredded paper and things like that, and your food. Once that gets kind of full, you add the second layer and you only feed them in that layer. Your third layer, once that gets full, and then you add on the fourth layer. And by the time you're to your fourth layer, your bottom layer is fully composted and you can pull out those worm compostings or those worm castings. In a bin like this one here, the biggest sort of, the hardest thing about operating a bin like this is actually getting the castings out and actually getting your compost out without pulling out all the worms. What I really like to do is when it looks like most everything is composted and everything is ready to go, I just sort of gently take my little rake here. I sort of pull everything over to one half of the bin. I start with fresh bedding in one half and then new food in that half and I cover it up so it's nice and dark and comfortable. And I wait for all the worms to move out of the old compost into the new place where you can feed them. So that's kind of the easiest way to do it. It takes them about two to three weeks to move. Worms can be kind of hard to persuade to sort of do what you want them to do, but in general they'll eventually move over. There are other methods. This is just my favorite one. Some people like to dump all their worm castings out onto a tarp and wait for the worms to sort of go to the bottom of those worm castings and then scoop everything off. But those are kind of the best options for getting out of this bin. With the stacked bin, you have the option of having the worms move up to the layer where they're getting fed and then it's a lot easier to get the worm castings out. So that's kind of the biggest difference between these bins and also managing water. So what I'll do is when I'm going to talk about that, I'm actually going to move my camera back to the desk just so you can see me again and I can get to answering some of those questions that I'm seeing come in. So we're going to do one more movement. Okay. So we'll kind of come back here. So some of those things that we were talking about, about like managing water in the bin, and I see there was a question about that, about do you get compost juice in this kind of compost? You do get compost juice, which is like the water that comes out of compost. In the bin that I was showing you, the do-it-yourself bin, you don't get as much water out of that bin because there's not necessarily a way to drain it. You could set up a system with the do-it-yourself bin where you drill holes in the bottom of the bin, have like another sort of layer under it or another bin underneath it that's a little bit bigger and collect all the water there. With this one, I just manage the water by adding more dry material if it gets too wet. What we call it in compost is we call it the squeeze test, but basically if you can pick up a handful of the compost and squeeze water out, it's too wet. In that stacked bin, you can get that compost juice out. It has a special little spigot at the bottom that you can just turn and that compost juice will come right out of the bin. You can use that on your plants. It's just advisable that you dilute it a little bit. I've heard anything from one to a hundred dilution of that compost juice that comes off. I've heard one to ten to dilute it just because it can be really, really acidic. Some people I know have put it right on their plants. I don't recommend that because of how acidic it is, but diluting it will go pretty far in doing that sort of compost. Troubleshooting tips for the bin. We already talked about moisture. You want to feed your worms enough food. Again, we said that rule of thumb is about half to a quarter to a third of their weight or a quarter to half their weight. It is hard to judge once the worms are in there how much they weigh anymore. If you know how much you bought in the first place, it's a good place to start. I always recommend starting by feeding them just a little bit of food because they will eat that dry material that you put in there. If you underfeed them a little bit, it's not the end of the world. If you overfeed your worms, a lot of times you're inviting other things into your bin that you might not necessarily want. Things like fruit flies, other things like that. You really want to be careful with how much you're feeding your worms. You also want to be careful what you feed your worms. We talked about fruits and veggies earlier. You definitely do not want to put meat or cheeses in your bin. Anything that's typically a no-no for compost, you don't want to put in there. Worms also have a little extra one. You don't want to put citrus into the bin. Citrus, like orange peels or lemon peels, can be really acidic and the worms don't like it at all. So it's a good idea to just not put any of that stuff in the bin because it can be a little hard on the worms. I'm trying to think what else I had on my troubleshooting. You do want it to be between about 45 and 90 degrees in the place that you're composting. If you're closer to that 45 degrees, the worms will just work a little bit slower. Worms, sometimes you hear that term cold-blooded, but it basically means that they get all their heat from the outside. They can't control their body temperature. So if they get cold, they just work a little bit slower. If they're warmer, they work a little bit faster. So if your bin is closer to 85 degrees, your worms are going to be churning out compost like that. But you just don't want them to get too cold or too hot because then they're going to die. So you want to make sure that they sort of have a constant temperature to work at. So especially if you're in the St. Louis area or in the Midwest, it's a really good idea to keep this bin indoors. Typically, I'll keep mine in the basement and that works out fine for them. So that's a really good way to do it. If you're doing this compost method correctly, it should be low. It should be no odor other than sort of the smell of dirt, but you'd have to be really close to smell that. You're not going to get pests and you can do it year round because you don't have to worry about in winter sort of that everything sort of cooling down in your compost pile not working as effectively. And I see there's another question in. And again, if you have any other questions, please send them in so we can get them answered before the end of the session. One of the questions asks, where can I get the worms to start my bin? Again, you can get them at a bait shop. So if you have a bait and tackle shop that's close to you can get them there. Ask for red wigglers and they'll be able to give them to you. If you're starting a bin, again, anywhere from 500 to a thousand worms is normally a good place to start. A thousand worms is about a pound depending on how big their worms are. But that's a good place to start. If you want to go online, because if you want to get started right away and you can't get out to a tackle shop, we typically use a place like Uncle Jim's Worm Farm is our online supplier and they'll actually ship worms to you. So they're a pretty good reputable source to use as well. And I see another question. Is there a place I can buy a bin specifically for this? So again, if you want to go the more do it yourself method, you can just go basically to almost any store that sells plastic bins and you can buy a bin there. If you want to get the one that's that more stackable one, I think that one is called like the Worm Factory. You can go online. I've gotten mine from Amazon before, but I think like Uncle Jim's Worm Farm sells them as well. But a lot of the models are pretty similar, but you can get them anywhere by looking online for those types of bins and buy one there. The only thing that if you're making your own bin or trying to do anything with your own bin is you want it to be dark on the sides just because those worms really do not like light. And so if there's too much light getting into that bin, they're not going to be happy. So you don't want anything clear. You want it to be dark. At some schools, I have seen some really cool worm bins made out of repurposed aquariums. And then they've just put a layer of cloth around the outside to actually darken it. But it's really nice because then kids can actually lift up one of those pieces of cloth and look inside and kind of see what's going on. So that is another option as well. I mean, you can repurpose something as well. Just anything where a little bit of air can get in. You don't want it to be fully sealed. And in general, if your worms are happy, they're not going to want to leave your bin. So I could loosely leave the top on my bin and the worms might not ever leave just because if it's the right temperature, it's the right moisture level and they have food, they'd want to go anywhere. So if your worm bin is a happy place, your worms are going to stay put and they're not going to go anywhere. If you see your worms leaving your bin, that probably means that something is not going right in the bin. And that's a good time to troubleshoot and kind of see if you can figure out anything that's going on. If you guys are sort of looking for another resource or a book that we recommend, we really like Worms Eat My Garbage by Mary Appleoff, which is a really good book. If you really want to get into this, it kind of talks about why we do all these different things within worm composting in a much more comprehensive way and can help you troubleshoot quite a bit as well. But there's lots of online resources as well. If you just Google worm composting, that can give you a lot of answers as well. And then also Earthways staff is always here to help you as well with worm composting. We teach classes about it. We have our green resource answer service where you can get questions answered about compost. So it's another really good resource to go to if you want somebody local to help answer your questions. And I don't see any more questions and I'm near the end of kind of what I was going to talk about my worm compost. So if you have any other questions, get them into that live chat and I can try and get them answered. I do want to recommend that you go back to Earth Day 365's website for more virtual Earth Day content. So you can check it out. You can check out our virtual booth, which is I believe in the kids corner this year. And so you can check out more of our resources there. We have Earthway staff who are doing presentations throughout the week. So it's a great time to sort of learn about anything sustainability related. Anyone else have any more questions? Okay. Well, thank you guys for a wonderful session today learning about the worms. Go ahead and give it a try in your own home so that you can see if you can get composting started. And if you have any further questions, you can ask us and let us know through Earthways and we'll be more than happy to help you. Thank you guys so much. Enjoy the rest of your Earth Day festival. Bye.