Originally posted on March 29, 2007 on Simple Katie.  Since this post I have begun teaching vermicomposting classes at the local community college and have another one scheduled for June 24th.

I’ve become the local worm lady. It’s been an interesting ride these last few weeks. A neighbor’s niece is taking an organic gardening class at our local community college. This niece wanted to learn more about vermicomposting. Said neighbor introduced her to me, she also works at the health food store so I knew her a bit anyway.

Neighbor and niece came by a few weeks ago with her Rubbermaid tub worm bin, to chat and see my worm bin set up. It was a fun few hours, chatting about organic gardening and worm bins. I shared what I’ve learned through trial and error and what didn’t work for me even though all the “expert” articles may recommend it. I gave her a few handfuls of worms from my bin to start out with as well.

Last night there was a knock at the door and the gal was back worm bin in hand. She was worried that the worms were dying and that she was doing something wrong. All appeared well to me, just that the small amount of worms she had weren’t quite up to handling all she had put in. Her newspaper also seemed a bit too wet to me, making it heavy for the worms to navigate but it’ll dry. The worms reproduce rather quickly but it takes a while for them to get big enough to handle waste quickly. Once a worm bin gets really active, lots of babies and dying worms the process is so smooth, really effortless. I explained that some worm death is to be expected and that they just get composted with the food scraps. Turns out someone bought her some worms that will be arriving this week in the mail, and then the bin will start keeping up with her food waste.

She’s shared my number with the folks in her class and to be honest I’m more then happy to help and get other gardeners started on the vermicomposting path. It also gave me an idea to see about teaching a continuing education class on vermicomposting. It could just be a one day 2 hour deal with demonstrations on setting up worm bins and tips. I’ve emailed the college and will begin filling out the paperwork to see if the class could fit into their schedule.

Another amazing thing about this is the network of folks I’m meeting because of the worms. Over the years the worms have taught me many things - everything has a purpose even lowly worms, natural processes are continually amazing, nature needs little if any help from humans, and now friends come from unexpected places.