vermicomposting

Inspiring compost initiative in Amsterdam

/ cultivatingjoy / 2 Comments

IMG_7448

JOYFUL GRATITUDE #108

I’m am grateful when I discover other people who are as obsessed with worms and composting as I am!  Last Friday I got to attend a great presentation, given by Peter Jan Brouwer, the founder of Stichting Buurtcompost, an organisation which is tackling this issue of food scraps/natural waste, from the ground up with the collaboration of the city of Amsterdam.

The city has committed to recycling 65% of its total waste by 2020. Though that deadline is just around the corner, we are still far from that target.  However, tackling fresh food waste could be a huge step towards reaching that goal.

So far Stichting Buurtcompost has worked extremely hard to set up 30 worm hotels , futuristic looking towers into which 5 families can dump their food scraps for worms to process, creating quality compost for them over time. The plan is to install another 50 worm hotels in 2019 all around the city.  Locals are super enthusiastic and there are already long waiting lists to be the next ‘worm-hoteliers’!

Furthermore, Stichting Buurtcompost has tested the option of an underground container to collect foodscraps from up to 150 families (identical to the containers in Amsterdam where you recycle your glass or paper)

The grass-roots initiative of this organisation are so inspiring, and the energy and passion of the presenter were contagious:)  It’s super impressive to see how a decentralised solution, created to solve one specific problem, actually leads to many other local benefits:

  • Social connection: the worm hotels create a sense of community as people tending to a worm-hotel together get to know their neighbours better (some locals even organise ‘harvesting celebrations’ when the time comes to collect the rich compost)
  • Better quality soil in the city: quality compost for local people’s gardens and balconies (they had the worm compost tested for pesticides and other contaminants, and it’s totally clean!)
  • Less transport : with the underground container, the food waste of 150 families can be accumulated and processed by the worms for 1 whole year without needing to be collected by a truck
  • Circularity: the worm hotel is made of pressed grass that was mowed close to the highway and is therefore not fit for consumption by animals (and it means the worm hotel is biodegradable in the long run)

Imagine if you could easily recycle every veggie peel and shriveled-up salad leaf just around the corner and the result could be used to feed the soil close…  In Amsterdam, today food scraps are not collected, and my lovely worm bin on the balcony is not quite big enough to process all our fruit and veggie peels (especially in the winter months). So my dream is that very soon every street corner has a worm hotel or underground container for food scraps, so we can use these precious resources to boost our plants, balconies and gardens instead of wasting them!

IMG_7473

There is plenty more info on their website should you be inclined to find out more:) http://buurtcompost.nl/

Making a simple worm bin

/ cultivatingjoy / 2 Comments

Three years ago I went to a wormshop to learn how to compost with worms. The introductory email warned that we would be “handling worms and powertools”, 2 things that sounded like lots of fun to me:)

What you need to start your worm bin:
-2 stackable plastic boxes about 60x30cm
-cardboard and egg-cartons
-cocopeat (not mandatory)
-egg shells
-a handful of Red Wriggler worms
-a banana or a few veggie scraps

First we drilled 12 holes in one plastic box that will serve as the cover (approx. 7mm diameter).  Then we filled the other box which will serve as their home with soaked egg cartons to make the initial bottom bedding.

The next step was to put a layer of coco peat, and wet that too. Then we crushed some egg shells finely in order to make some grit, necessary for the worms to eat. These broken shells were sprinkled onto the coco peat. (I let my egg shells dry, then put them in a paper bag and crush them through the bag by hand or with a rolling pin).

IMG_2184

The next step was to put in the worms. We each got a handful of thin red compost worms, otherwise known as Red Wrigglers. They don’t like light so we quickly covered them with another layer of bedding (wet cardboard) after having put in a piece of banana peel for them to start snacking on. Then we put the other bin (the one with the holes) on top.

IMG_2192

It’s important not to put too much food for them in the beginning as it takes a little while for them to acclimatize to their new setting. Also, the food bits should be relatively small (peels are great, if you have big parts I recommend to chop them into smaller pieces).

The key for a healthy worm bin is balance, it needs to be moist, but not too wet. If it does get too wet add cardboard. If it is too dry you can sprinkle a bit of water in it. It shouldn’t smell, but if it does stir the contents to add air and put more cardboard.

After the workshop, I rode through the city with the worm bin on the back of my bike and since then they’ve been in a cupboard on my balcony. I keep them there nearly all year round, except on some extremely cold winter days when I brought them in the flat to make sure they didn’t freeze.

IMG_2195

The worms have been doing a wonderful job for the last 3 years processing my vegetable craps and cardboard. I love the thought of how much less I throw out with my rubbish, and I have the added bonus of being able to use the resulting compost for my plants.

Composting worms for sale

/ cultivatingjoy / 1 Comment

I thought about calling this post “I’ve got worms!” but then realised it could easily be misinterpreted…  I should know better by now, as I regularly get quizzical looks from colleagues who overhear me talking about ‘having worms’ while standing around at the coffee machine at work.

So anyway, it’s finally (kind of) summer in Amsterdam and my worms are happily enjoying the sweet peel of melon and other summer fruits. They’re processing all the food scraps very fast and having a good time too it seems, as they are multiplying like crazy. So I have lots of worms to sell (fat adult ones and thousands of tiny ones).

Worms are great pets as they need very little attention, and in return they diligently get rid of your food scraps (and not to mention cardboard and toilet rolls). If you give them sufficient food before leaving, they will survive your holiday without anyone coming to feed them (and they won’t chew on your couch while you are away).

If you are interested in starting your own worm bin and want to buy some worms, let me know : simplycultivatingjoy [at] gmail.com