WormEzine Vol. I, Issue 2, July 2002

**"Wormwoman" ffsub@orion23.com>**

WormEzine                                                   Vol July 2002
News and information from Mary Appelhof
… about vermicomposting, worms, and other critters that live in the soil.
July 2002         Copyright Flowerfield Enterprises 2002             FREE
mary@wormwoman.com
http://www.wormwoman.com
Phone: 269-327-0108 (Note new area code)

Feel free to forward to those you think will be interested.
To subscribe click here
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/wormezine.html
To unsubscribe click here
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/wormezine_unsubscribe.html

For the Small Print, scroll to end.

They laughed when I said worms eat my garbage,
but I showed them how, and now thousands say the same thing …

A WORD FROM MARY APPELHOF
====================================================
Global warming is here … at least it feels like it here in Michigan. I'm
sweltering from
the 90+ degree temperatures and 75% relative humidity. I checked my patio
bench worm
bin, however, and the worms are doing just fine—nice, dark vermicompost,
lots of young
worms. They've pretty much consumed all of the extra food waste that had
gone uneaten
while it was frozen around the edges during the winter. Some of you may
remember that
I insulate my outside worm bin and insert a birdbath water heater immersed
in a 2-gallon
jug of water into the center of the bin. (A fall issue of the WormEzine will
guide you
through weatherproofing your worm bin.) Thermostat turns on at 40 degrees F,
and the
hardy worms find their way to the center core where they hang out until the
weather
warms up. I could use some of that COOL right now!
I complete my two-part worm composting basics article this month. Remember,
you are
welcome to use this article in print or electronic communications, just as
long as you
include the entire article and credit Mary Appelhof's WormEzine. I also give
a brief
report the Michigan Master Gardener's Conference in Lansing, MI.
WormEzine Vol 1 July/2002

Page 2 of 6
As always, give me a call or drop me a note and tell me what's going on in
your neck of
the woods.
To read the archives on the web, visit the following URL:
http://www.wormwoman.com
CONTENTS
1. Feature
2. Notable Bits
3. Resources
4. Humor
5. Coming events

1=========================FEATURE=======================
(Continued from WormEzine Vol. 1, No. 1, June 2002)
Worm Composting Solves a Problem, Yet is Educational and Fun
Part II
Part I of this series described the basic components of a worm composting
system,
including an aerated bin, bedding, small amount of soil, the right kind of
worms and food
waste. Part II continues with what to bury, how to use the vermicompost
produced in
your bin and additional resources available.
What to bury
All kinds of organic waste can go into your worm bin, although there are
good
reasons for not putting meat, cheese and bones in your inside home bin. As
these
nitrogen-rich materials decompose, they produce offensive odors, which can
attract flies
and vermin. Your worm bin can handle what you have been grinding up in your
garbage
disposal … lettuce, cabbage, potato peels, leftovers, tealeaves and coffee
grounds (tea
bags and coffee filters are OK, too). Eggshells add calcium and other
nutrients; the shells
break down faster when pulverized with a rolling pin. The good thing is, you
no longer
have to dilute your garbage with eight gallons of drinking water to flush a
pound of
garbage down the drain in a garbage disposal.
People expect to find disagreeable odors when they start burying all their
waste in
a small worm bin. Most people are surprised at how little odor there is. The
redworms
need lots of oxygen. As they move around in the bin throughout the bedding,
they help
create an environment where the true decomposers—the bacteria, fungi,
protozoa, and
nematodes, which break down the material, have oxygen too. In other words,
they are
aerobic. They produce carbon dioxide and water, among many other products,
as wastes
and these don't smell. I like to say, "The time you get odor is when you put
the lid on the
can." Cutting off the oxygen stimulates anaerobic organisms to do the
decomposing, and
they are the ones that produce foul odors.
WormEzine Vol 1 July/2002

Page 3 of 6
Cold climate dwellers keep their worm bins inside during winter so that the
worms don't freeze. Others adapt their systems with insulation and some form
of
supplemental heat to keep the worms from freezing. (Fall issues will guide
you through
weatherproofing your worm bin.)
Free fertilizer—healthy plants
The product from a worm bin is vermicompost: a mixture of worm castings,
partially decomposed waste, and uneaten bedding. Vermicompost can be used as
top
dressing for houseplants, as an ingredient in potting mixes, or as an
immediate source of
nutrients for transplants and seedbeds. In fact, recent research indicates
that the true value
of vermicompost may be from the millions of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and
nematodes,
known as the soil foodweb that you introduce into the root zone of plants
when you apply
vermicompost. These microorganisms eat each other and each other's wastes,
and in the
process make all those nutrients from your food waste available to plants.
How do I learn more?
My personal mission is to "Change the way the world thinks about garbage—to
view it as a resource, not something to dispose of." As owner of Flowerfield
Enterprises I
develop and produce excellent educational materials on vermicomposting for
use in
homes, schools, and institutions. My first book, Worms Eat My Garbage is a
basic
manual on how to set up and maintain worm-composting systems. It describes
kinds of
bins and where to locate them, types of worms, harvesting procedures,
biology of worms
and lots of worm facts.
Because I self-published the book, people whose lives were affected by this
simple way to deal with organic food waste on-site would call and say, "This
would make
such a great activity to use in the classroom. Do you have any specific
suggestions you
can give me?"
Well, of course, it is inefficient to do this hundreds of times over on a
one-to-one
basis over the phone, especially since even a one-person office has rent and
phone and
postage and fuel bills to pay. So I branched from self-publishing to
collaborating. Two
creative co-authors and fine educators joined me and for two years we worked
diligently
on producing a superb book of activities to use worms to teach not only
science, but
math, language, history, geography, and encourage creativity, art and music
activities.
The result is Worms Eat Our Garbage with over 150 activities. Although it
was designed
for the classroom, it has dozens and dozens of activities that will keep
children and adults
fascinated for years. My dentist bought a copy and told me he and a friend
spent an entire
Memorial Day weekend going through the book and doing the activities. He
said he
thought he knew a lot about worms (he'd had a worm bin for several years),
but he had to
keep looking up answers in the back of the book!
We also produced a video, Wormania!, which has attracted many popular
responses from both educators and kids because it shows live worms at work,
hatching
from their cocoons, the beating of their hearts, moving … all in a fun,
entertaining and
educational manner.
WormEzine Vol 1 July/2002

Page 4 of 6
Because any worm bin also eventually has many more creatures than
worms in it and they are usually too tiny to see with the naked eye, we
carry Warren
Hatch's video, Worm Bin Creatures Alive through a Microscope, which shows
mites and
springtails and enchytraeids and centipedes and millipedes … It's
fascinating.
We also have a patented Worm-a-way® worm bin and carry the worms to set it
up. It has a unique aeration system, is made from recycled plastic and its
manufacture
provides jobs and job training for differently-abled workers through our
local Goodwill
Industries.
Visit our website at http://www.wormwoman.com or feel free to call us at
269-
327-0108 (note new area code). We want to hear from you! After all, if worms
eat my
garbage, they can eat yours, too!
2=======================NOTABLE BITS=======================
A. WORM BANNERS ON THEIR WAY TO WALES. Remember the giant worm
banners that adorned the stage at the Vermillennium? Two colorful 16-foot
long
earthworms, complete with segments, a mouth and clitellum were painted on
fabric by
artist Mary Fordham from Montclair, New Jersey. We're loaning them to the
National
Museum of Wales for their Wonderful World of Worms exhibit to be up during
the
International Symposium on Earthworm Ecology 7 (ISEE7). According to the
organizers
the museum has a magnificent foyer and huge pillars and will be the site of
the
symposium banquet.
B. MICHIGAN MASTER GARDENERS—Over 400 eager, high-energy Master
Gardeners from Michigan attended the 3-day June conference in Lansing.
Between 23-30
attended each of my two presentations, "Worm Bins to Compost Tea." I
developed ideas
around the fact that as much nitrogen is fixed industrially these days as is
fixed by nature
through the action of nitrogen-fixing bacteria and lightning. This excess
nitrogen leaks
into our waterways and atmosphere—in the form of nitrates and nitrous
oxide—with
disastrous results. When nitrogen is part of living organisms it doesn't
leak, so adding
organisms back to the soil helps reduce toxicity. Compost tea is an
effective way of
getting these bacteria, fungi and protozoa back into the soil. And worm bins
provide a
good source of the organisms for compost tea! Of course, if this sounds like
it's based on
Dr. Elaine Ingham's work, it IS! We'll have more on the subject next month.
Meantime,
we now carry the Soil Biology Primer and Elaine's Compost Tea Manual on our
website.
See RESOURCES for details.
3=======================RESOURCES==========================
A. WORMS EAT MY GARBAGE by Mary Appelhof.
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/Wormwoman_catalog_Books_6.html
B. WORMS EAT OUR GARBAGE by Mary Appelhof, Mary Frances Fenton and
Barbara Loss Harris.
WormEzine Vol 1 July/2002

Page 5 of 6
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/Wormwoman_catalog_Books_6.html
C. SOIL BIOLOGY PRIMER by Elaine Ingham, et. al.
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/Wormwoman_catalog_Books_6.html
D. THE COMPOST TEA MANUAL by Elaine Ingham.
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/Wormwoman_catalog_Books_6.html
4===========================HUMOR========================
A. WORM DRIVE CD ROM—I just got a chance to listen to "Worm Drive: The
Musical." What fun! It's got an amusing story line, delightful characters,
and some
wonderful songs, including "The Dirtology Man," "Worm Lullaby," and
"Computers
Don't Grow Food." It has lots of good content about taking care of our soil
and, or course,
earthworms! Find out whether the worms make it to the back forty during the
Worm
Drive by listening to Ron Wright's Worm Drive. More information at:
http://www.wormwoman.com
5======================COMING EVENTS======================
A. July 27 RADIO INTERVIEW—A SATURDAY FOOD CHAIN, Michael Olson hosts
Saturday Food Chain, a 1 hour syndicated radio show on food issues such as
organic
farming, alternative agriculture and genetic engineering. His invited guest
Saturday July
27 is Mary Appelhof who will be talking about … what else? Worms! Expect her
to get
into how having a worm bin is s good way to get a source of microorganisms
for making
compost tea. The show is live and listeners are invited to call in with
questions and
comments. Tune in from 9 to 10 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, Saturday July 27
at AM
1080 KSCO, AM 1340 KOMY, AM 1480 KGOE, or 107.5 KMPH. Call 831-479-1080
or 800-624-2665. It also streams live and is archived on the Internet at
http://www.metrofarm.com
B. INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON EARTHWORM ECOLOGY 7 —Sept. 1-6 in
Cardiff, Wales. First major international earthworm conference since the
Vermillennium
that was held in Kalamazoo. For info:
http://www.cf.ac.uk/biosi/worm2002/registration/worm2002RegForm.pdf
C. MINI-SYMPOSIUM ON EARTHWORMS—Sept. 7 at The National Museum of
Wales, Cardiff. This event for youth takes place the Saturday following
ISEE7 and takes
advantage of local and international experts in town for the symposium. The
schedule
includes Mary Appelhof (Worms Eat My Garbage), Rhys Jones (Snakes are NOT
Worms
- Feel Them!), Geoff Baker (Worms Down Under), Trevor Piearce (Worms are
Nice - to
Eat!?), Jill Clapperton (Junior Science Experiences in Canada), and Liz
McCurdy
(Worms in the American Classroom).
D. VERMICO BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN VERMICOMPOSTING
October —Portland, OR; more info to come or for immediate details go to:
http://www.vermico.com
WormEzine Vol 1 July/2002

Page 6 of 6
Thanks for subscribing!
================================================
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mary Appelhof is founder and president of Flowerfield
Enterprises, which develops and markets educational materials on
vermicomposting. Its
publishing imprint is Flower Press, publisher of the how-to book Worms Eat
My
Garbage, the classroom activity book and curriculum guide, Worms Eat Our
Garbage:
Classroom Activities for a Better Environment, The Worm Cafe: Mid-scale
vermicomposting of lunchroom wastes and Diabetes at 14: Choosing tighter
control for
an active life.

====================== THE SMALL PRINT ======================
YOU ARE RECEIVING Mary Appelhof's WormEzine because you have communicated
with her previously. WormEzine is issued on an opt-in basis. You may
unsubscribe at any
time by clicking here.
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/wormezine_unsubscribe.html

PLEASE FORWARD a copy of this free ezine to anyone you know who may be
interested in learning more about worm bins, vermicomposting, and the field
of
vermiculture.
BACK ISSUES are archived at http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/wormezine.html

TO RECEIVE THIS NEWSLETTER FREE, sign up at
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/wormezine.html
PRIVACY STATEMENT: We will not distribute your email
address to anyone. Period.
IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO SHARE. Please send your news items and promotion
ideas to mary@wormwoman.com

_______________________________________________
gardenwriters mailing list
gardenwriters@lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/gardenwriters

GWL has searchable archives at:
http://www.hort.net/lists/gardenwriters

If you have photos for GWL, send them to gwlphotos@hort.net and they will
show up at: http://www.hort.net/lists/gwlphotos