Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone!
8)
In the spirit of this ‘day of love’ I thought it might be fun to write about my love of vermicomposting – and, even more importantly, to see if I can get a lot of you to share your reasons for “loving” this dirty, rotten past-time (haha).
My interest in vermicomposting naturally started with the basic idea involved – i.e. throw “garbage” in a box with worms and create beautiful compost (which, in and of itself, will never cease to be a rather magical notion for me). As a critter-keener (and die-hard Nature Nerd) for most of my life, I was also…uhhh…naturally drawn to the amazing, complex ecosystem involved!
Over time, I’ve become more in more interested in a “bigger picture” view – essentially, all the various ways vermicomposting can be integrated into (thereby enhancing) other processes/systems – eg waste management, farming etc. It’s no secret that I’ve been utterly blown away with the results of integrating the process into my own little suburban agriculture projects (see “The Magic of Vermicomposting“), and I can only imagine what might be possible as this field gets more and more mainstream attention, interest and involvement!
So, enough about me (haha) – what do you guys “heart” about vermicomposting?
😉
The many aspects of vermicomposting and vermiculture provide something that is very important to me, and yet it is just one simple little word… Joy. This activity really gives back to it’s participants.
Making needed stuff from junk is a little piece of heaven.
My favoorite thing about vermicomposting is the potential it has to fix a good chunk of our economic problems, not to mention reducing our landfills by probably half. If everyone was to at least seperate their garbage from their ‘garbage’ (food scraps etc), and municipalities were to implement some sort of worm composting site, think how big a part worms could play in our world.
In our uncertain world with food prices continuing to climb, having a source of worm compost goes a long way to helping me grow healthier food. My wigglers and I love to teach others about starting their “freedom” gardens with worm composting.
I am humbled by the sheer power of the red worm. One of the most insignificant, bland, useless (ha ha) creatures has the ability to nurture (even repair ) the earth, and provide OUR habitat! The composting worm is a VITAL link in the web of life. Just amazing! That’s what I love about vermicomposting.
I love the endless fascination of the complex ecosystem they create in an outdoor bin. And, of course, I love the results of the compost on my plants. I live in the high desert of Albuquerque, New Mexico and the compost has made my plants look positively lush! I also like the little volunteer plants that sprout from avocado seeds, watermelon seeds, tomato seeds etc. I have managed to transplant some of them and keep them going. And, I love your blog!
I like seeing how long it takes for food waste to become vertilizer, adding castings to my indoor plants (and this year there should be enough for the co-op gardening) and the “accidental” forest in my window sill.
It’s the worms! I love the worms. I got them first many years ago as natural food for my turtles but couldn’t bring myself to do it. They just work so hard, seemed a shame to make food out of them. I love watching them work and I love seeing them healthy….simple as that.
I like watching food waste turn into VC. Having a project to keep me busy during the cold winter months. Being a step ahead of the other hot composting systems.