Worm Corps: Connecting to Our Natural Environment

Kate Kinsey is a junior at New York University juggling both the environmental studies and metropolitan studies programs. For the past six months, she has interned at the Lower East Side Ecology Center as an environmental education Intern. (LESEC serves Manhattan's composting needs through the Department of Sanitation funded Manhattan Compost Project.) After learning about the compost education program, she decided that the Master Composter Program would be a great way to learn more about composting and to communicate that knowledge to the community.

Q. Kate, with how many Worm Corps workshops have you been involved? What is it about them that keeps you coming back to do more?

A. At this point, I cannot even recall the amount of "wormshops" that I've taught. I would have to say that the positive feedback that I get after teaching the workshops keeps me coming back. The design of these workshops impacts the way that people think about their waste. After the workshop, people are always grateful for the knowledge that they receive and are enthusiastic to start composting. I think that composting is a great and easy way to reduce waste... and I love teaching other people about it.

Q. How do you gauge the developmental and age appropriateness of your material during your presentations? In way ways would your presentation vary depending on age and understanding?

A. The presentation definitely varies depending on age and understanding. For young children, I think that talking about red wiggler worms that make compost out of organic material like food scraps is the best avenue to take in order to peak their interest. Also, this is the easiest and simplest way to teach kids about the composting process. These children do not want to hear about the nitrogen cycle. They want to play with worms! So, the presentation needs to be gauged accordingly. Adults, on the other hand, are much more interested in the actual science behind composting and the environmental impact that results from composting. During these workshops, I will present more of the science of the composting process.

Q. What has the response been to these Worm Corps presentations—both by the kids and the adults in attendance?

A. These presentations have been accepted by both the kids and adults. This is in part due to the fact that people attending these workshops are usually environmentally-minded people who are interested in learning about composting. However, people that go into the workshop with no knowledge of composting also leave with a great deal of understanding and interest in the process.

Q. How have various educational communities and youth venues proven unique? What special needs have you found that are met in different ways?

A. I usually underestimate the knowledge that children actually have. When I enter a classroom, it is always a pleasant surprise to learn that the children know the basics of composting. This allows me to go into more detail about certain aspects of the process and leads to lively discussion. Other than that I think that the only special need that should be considered when teaching these workshops is age. You definitely have to play to the audience in order to get more people interested in composting.

Q. What kind of impact are you having? Do feel you are making a difference?

A. Composting is a foreign concept to most people—especially those living in New York City who have very little connection to the natural environment. People do not realize the amount of waste that they produce and the impact that this waste has on the environment. I think that composting outreach is very important in order to get people educated about the growing waste problem and teach people about a great way to reduce their waste. I definitely feel that I am making a difference through these workshops.

Tales of the Drosophila: Preventing Uninvited Guests

Possibly the presence of fruit flies is no big deal for composters in other parts of the country where they keep a bin in a utility room or something. Yet, to those of us living in cramped New York apartments, these hovering slow fliers can be a major pain! As Frank Teuton describes, drosophila are truly the “bete noire” of indoor vermicomposting. The urban composter is not helpless: There are options. Fruit fly eggs and larvae are found the skins/rinds of certain “tropical” fruits such as bananas, citrus fruits, pomegranates, avocados, etc. To destroy these eggs and larvae that live on the peels—and prevent fruit fly infestations—a good rule is to freeze or microwave food waste prior to placing it in your bin. Others even boil the problematic fruit additions.

[Also, don’t overdo citrus peels in the worm bin as the can irritate the worms’ skin. For an indoor bin, that means no more than one added per day.]

You can freeze the food waste overnight or until you are ready to add it to the bin.

Make sure your compost scraps are covered (especially in the summer). This is especially important if your scraps are kept near a window. Bury all food deep in your worm bin and keep the bedding layer at least three inches deep. Also, keep the food waste under several inches of bedding. Several sheets of damp newspaper or landscape fabric act as a barrier to odors, which will help to prevent attracting fruit flies. It will also reduce their access to the bedding below. (Hold off on dampening your paper bedding as food waste that has been frozen will cause extra dampness in the bin, and particularly in the bedding.)

For those with outdoor compost bins: If fruit flies become a nuisance, your ratio of food scraps (wets) to high carbon material (dries) is too high. Make sure high carbon materials, such as brown leaves, shredded paper, or cardboard comprise at least 50% of the bin’s total material. Keeping about a one foot height of high carbon material on your pile’s surface above the food scraps should do the trick.

One can find many examples of fruit fly traps on the web, but they are an action of last resort. An example of such a “trap” uses a liquid attractive to fruit flies, such as vinegar, wine, soda, or fruit juice. Put a few ounces of "bait" into a jar or cup and attach a plastic bag on top with a rubber band. Then, cut a few small holes in the plastic bag. The flies go in, but don't come out.

NYC Teacher Wormshop: Worm Composting for the Classroom

The NYC Compost Project has designed a workshop specifically for New York City school teachers. NYC teacher "wormshop": worm composting for the classroom is open to all New York City teachers grades K-12.

Composting with a worm bin is a practical, tangible approach to introducing natural science and recycling in the classroom. It appeals especially to tactile learning styles, allowing students to directly experience abstract notions by bringing textbook examples to life.

NYC TEACHER "WORMSHOP" DESCRIPTION
3 hours new-teacher training credit
Worm composting (vermicomposting) for the classroom is a fun, hands-on way to teach students about decomposition, the food chain, organic recycling, and other natural systems. In this workshop, teachers learn how to set up a worm bin, feed worms with food scraps, maintain a healthy worm bin ecosystem, and harvest finished compost. The workshop introduces teachers to activities, cross-curriculum ideas, and ways to incorporate worm composting into science, math, and language arts for all age levels. Participants receive a materials packet on composting and recycling, and a kit including the activity guide book Worms Eat Our Garbage, one pound of red wriggler worms, and a plastic bin to assemble with shredded newspaper in the classroom.

For dates and times of any upcoming workshops, see the nyc composting calendar.

Note: This workshop is open only to NYC teachers. Advance registration with payment is required. All participants must be prepared to take home the worms and set up the bin no later than two days after the workshop. If you will be traveling by public transportation, please bring a luggage cart to transport the worm bin. When registering, leave a phone number where you can be reached to confirm your reservation; include the name of your school and the grade level you teach.

For more information, see:

• indoor composting with a worm bin http://www.nyccompost.org/how/wormbin.html
• troubleshooting indoor composting http://www.nyccompost.org/how/troubleshoot2.html
• harvesting vermicompost http://www.nyccompost.org/how/vermicompost.html
• nyc compost project http://www.nyccompost.org/program/index.html

The Pee Wee Composting Series: An Interview With Larraine Roulston

Larraine Roulston—who regularly does worm bin demonstrations—has been writing on environmental issues in an array of venues since 1987. She regularly gives talks at libraries, schools, youth groups, environmental fairs, and conferences, and instructs a variety of communities on how to set up a worm bin. Her “Pee Wee at Castle Compost Puppet Show” is a hands-on 30 minute children's puppet show for ages K-5, in which Pee Wee entertains while explaining what should and should not be put into the composter.

Roulston’s first book in the Pee Wee Series, “Pee Wee and the Magical Compost Heap,” introduces children to backyard composting through the adventures of Pee Wee, an endearing little Red Wiggler worm, and all the insects in the compost heap. Adventures begin when four neighborhood children are magically transported on the back of a butterfly to visit Castle Compost. Its sequel, “Pee Wee's Great Adventure: A Guide to Vermicomposting,” which has Pee Wee describing an amazing adventure from a classroom worm bin to a backyard composter also instructs kids on how to care for worms and harvest their castings. “Pee Wee's Family in a Nutshell” unites Pee Wee with Reddy. With Vanessa—the magical butterfly—transporting everyone to the classroom worm bin to find Pee Wee's family, the book notes the differences between vermicomposting and backyard composting. Roulston’s latest book in the series, “Pee Wee goes to the Fair,” takes all the compost critters to a spring environmental science fair where Scott and friends display their elaborately decorated worm bin.

Roulston has been building a straw bale house and will be making a DVD of it. Kindly, she took some time from her schedule to tell Composting NYC about her work.

Q. What has been the response to your books: "Pee Wee and the Magical Compost Heap," "Pee Wee's Great Adventure: A Guide to Vermicomposting," "Pee Wee's Family in a Nutshell," and "Pee Wee Goes to the Fair"? How did authoring those books emerge from your work in writing on environmental issues and doing worm bin demonstrations?

L.R. The response has been very good. During the 1980s I was a volunteer for the Recycling Council of Ontario, who at that time, offered a puppet show on composting. As a writer, I thought it would be a good idea to combine the facts of composting with literature. During the 1990s the RCO lost funding and had to stop various outreach programs. They then gave me the rights to carry on with Pee Wee. I continued to do the show on my own and wrote three more stories. Currently, I am working on a fifth book for the series.

Q. What is your opinion on the dynamic of children educating their parents on the necessity and their ease with the process of composting? It's a turnaround of the usual situation: Do you think children will be the conduit by which a larger societal commitment to vermiculture takes hold?

L.R. Children do hold the key to the future. Given the opportunity, children will gladly compost. In any classroom grade from Day Care up, vermicomposting can be done. However, it takes a good teacher as well as a school with good environmental policies to keep up these programs. Children take home this information, but if their parents are either too busy or do not like worms then it is pretty hard to get it off the ground. It takes lots of peer pressure, too, for parents to get involved if they are not particularly interested in compost.

Q. How has the process of writing these warm books diverged from your workshops on vermiculture, your newspaper column, your composting demonstrations, your compost puppet show, and your talks on environmental issues—or have those experiences been integral to the writing of those books?

L.R. It is all connected. I do not have my column anymore as I moved away from the City of Pickering's region. It was a local paper and they wanted local writers. As well, I had done it for 17 years and with a change in editor, who wanted to make some changes. I was hoping that they would pick up another environmental writer, but unfortunately I do not think this has happened. I do continue to write articles for a variety of magazines and newspapers. Some are donations. If you Google “Canadian Teacher,” you will see my latest article on 3Rs crafts. The issue before had “Greening Your Graduation.”

My environmental focus has been on the 3Rs, children and composting. When I do the puppet show, I often get ideas from the experience and the children's questions and stories. As I live in a rural area and do not wish to travel great distances to do the show, I am happy to pass on the concept for others to follow. The show is available with the purchase of my books.

Q. How have responses varied among children, parents, and educators to your books? What are the differing angles that they have in response? Are there any notable responses in regards to the books? I personally have marveled at the willingness of youngsters to embrace environmental responsibility, and across gender. What have you found in reader response about larger environmental stewardship?

L.R. Children and educators embrace the books. Sometimes an adult watching the show does not like the worm bin. I tell them to step back. Some children are nervous to hold a worm, but when the see others doing it, most likely they will try too. It's too bad that somewhere in our youth, most people lost the love of worms and insects. The environment awareness is catching hold again. I saw it rise in the 70s and fall during the 90s due to lack of political will. Today, many people are embracing environment stewardship. Thanks to Al Gore, who raised the level of awareness, I believe we are heading for a revolution from being an industrial society to a conserving and sustainable society.

Q. What would you like to tell me about the character Pee Wee? Is he a composite of responses that you would like to receive in classrooms and at science fairs?

L.R. Yes. Firstly, Pee Wee is both male and female. I have named my worms all names that can be either male or female as worms are bi sexual. And luckily, Pee Wee can be either. I took great care not to say, "He said" throughout the books and I pointed that out in the glossary of my last book, “Pee Wee goes to the Fair.” It's hard though not to say, "He" when talking. I only gave Pee Wee eyes, to make the illustrations more appealing.

[Roulston also recommends the work of Cathy Nesbitt (www.cathyscomposters.com), Shelley Grossman (www.vermicoast.com), Oregon’s “Worm Digest,” the Mary Appelhof's Flowerfield Press in Kalamazoo (www.wormwoman.com for books and videos) Margaret Cecconet (www.cecconetpublishing.com). Roulston credited the late Mary Appelhof as a true pioneer. To order any of Larraine Roulston’s books or inquire about her work, call 705-778-1922 or e-mail peewee@castlecompost.com]

Eisenia Foetida: Mother Nature's Little Helper

No, not like “Mother’s Little Helper” in the song by the Rolling Stones! We’re talking about Eisenia foetida, those hungry little guys also known as Red Wiggler Worms, redworms, branding worms, or tiger worms. The most common type of composting worm, Red Wigglers swallow great quantities of organic material as they feed—digesting it, extracting its food value, and expelling the residue as worm castings. The latter are very rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Under ideal conditions, these hard voracious little critters can eat their body weight each day. They also reproduce quickly, and are very tolerant of changes in growing conditions.

Arriving in various stages of growth, a good rule of thumb is to release 5-10 worms per square foot. By keeping them fed and watered, they’ll be quite at home in your bins, compost piles, or windows. Normally smaller than night crawlers or regular earthworms—and inhabiting a much different niche than the other worms, the Red Wigglers more than make up for their size with their appetite. They have specifically adapted to the environment of decaying organic material—thriving in rotting vegetation, compost, and manure. Rarely found in soil, they prefer conditions in which other worms cannot survive.

They get their name because, when roughly handled, Red Wigglers exude a pungent liquid. Although,this is probably a chemical defense mechanism, there are no direct studies that confirm whether it confers protection against predators. Red Wigglers are readily and commercially available—primarily for their use in vermiculture (the composting process) due to their amazing ability to process organic matter into compost. While the process is vermiculture, its end result is vermicompost.

Thus, Red Wigglers will convert organic matter into high quality “humus,” and provide your garden with earthworm castings—a complete and odor-free natural fertilizer, mulch, soil conditioner, and topsoil additive. Prolific breeders, they can one egg capsule as often as every seven days. Each worm capsule hatches an average of 3 to 4 worms. The hatched worms grow into breeders in about three months. Keep your Red Wigglers happy and healthy, and they’ll help us consume our organic waste and reduce municipal garbage by about 30%. Naturally occurring organisms, such as bacteria and millipedes, also assist in the aerobic degradation of the organic material. Worm composting bins make it fairly simple to do your own vermicomposting indoors.