Homemade Worm Condominium

All my daughter’s teachers are getting holiday gifts of homemade cookies tomorrow. One teacher is getting an addition special homemade gift. I really hope she likes it.

The gift? A worm condominium. Yup, I’m giving my kid’s teacher worms!

I took a Master Composter/Recycler class earlier this year, one of the projects we did was to make our own worm bins. Vermi-composting is quite easy to do and can be a very efficient way  to compost your vegetable scraps in the cold winter months when your outdoor compost is frozen.

I had enough worms from my personal collection to divide them into a new bin. Added some veggie scraps and some freshly shredded NY Times. A few air holes in the top lid and we’re good to go.

If you squint, you can see a few of the red wriggler worms here.

The teacher I’m gifting the worms to will not run out of the room screaming.  She’s a science teacher who has a long track record of inspiring students to consider all things green. She got a grant for a composting project started in the school.

Many of her fellow teachers are still weary about regular composting. Most people don’t yet know that when compost is properly balanced, there is not smell and no mess either. Just decomposition into a rich dark, earthy soil amendment.

Its the same with worm composting. My bin has never been stinky or scary. These worms are impressive little critters that breakdown food scraps and newspaper into an even more nutrient dense material than regular compost.

I hope this unusual teacher gift will help both students and faculty to understand that worm composting is a great thing to do.