Worm Bin Creatures Not Limited to Worms

Garbage disposal takes on a new life when it takes place in a worm bin. Feeding food waste from the kitchen to a resident population of redworms is becoming increasingly popular as people get more involved with recycling and gardening. Having a worm bin is an option to rolling smelly garbage cans out to the curb. Or to flushing potato peels, apple cores, and wilted lettuce down the drain in a garbage disposal, using gallons of fresh water in the process.

Food waste goes into the worm bin, basically a container with some provision for making oxygen available to the redworms and other oxygen-loving organisms. Its bedding of shredded newspaper, machine-shredded office paper, compost, and other carbon-rich materials helps keep the environment moist and airy. A bit of soil provides grit for the worm's gizzards. More importantly, it introduces a diverse set of bacteria, fungi, and other organisms to do the lion's share of breaking down the food waste buried in the bin. The worms turn it and churn it as they consume the microorganisms along with the food waste, converting it to worm manure which becomes food for plants. House plants. Garden plants. Vegetables. Trees. Shrubs. When the worm manure helps grow tomatoes or broccoli, it is truly a case of on-site recycling--turning food waste into plant-food which becomes people- food without ever having to be hauled away, buried in a landfill, or flushed down the drain.

People tend to get passionate about their worm bins ( vermicomposting system for the more sophisticated). They seem to want to talk about them all the time, much to the distress of those who prefer more genteel subjects during dinner conversations. Thousands of worm bin users based their system on that described in Mary Appelhof's book, Worms Eat My Garbage. Newly revised (Flower Press, 1997), this 162-page manual provides complete illustrated instructions on setting up and maintaining small-scale worm composting systems. Appelhof, a biologist, is internationally recognized for over two decades of work in the field. The book describes several plastic bins available commercially in addition to providing plans for wooden bins you can build yourself. Topics include what kind of worms to use, sex life of a worm, preparing worm beddings, how to meet the needs of the worms, what kinds of foods to feed the worms, harvesting worms, and making potting soil from the vermicompost produced. A 63-item bibliography, 24 annotated references, a glossary, and comprehensive index make this a valuable reference book as well as a practical manual.

Part of the popularity of several vermicomposting forums on the world wide web (over 4000 entries on one forum in its 2-year history) is undoubtedly due to finding kindred spirits who will put up with all this worm talk.

It doesn't take long, however, before creatures other than worms start showing up in a bin. Creepy crawly things that have legs. What are they? Will they hurt my worms? Do I need to get rid of them? Will they hurt my plants when I put the vermicompost (fancy name for worm manure) on my plants?

A new video, Worm Bin Creatures: Alive through a Microscope will provide answers to many of these questions. Produced by Warren Hatch, an elementary-school teacher from Portland, Oregon, this captivating video zeroes in on the tiny organisms often seen but rarely identified in a worm bin. Active little creatures such as springtails and mites amuse and entertain as they busily go about in search of food or shelter. The video has remarkable moving images of living sowbugs (no, they won't hurt your plants--they eat dead material). You can see nematodes slurp up a dead earthworm. A bit gross, yes, but you become so fascinated watching them you don't even think about one of your favorite creatures dying to give them sustenance!

Much smaller, hence more difficult to see under the magnification used in this video, bacteria and fungi and protozoa move and spiral and cruise across the screen. Food for the worms. Food for each other. Nature's recyclers in action.

The 31-minute video, Worm Bin Creatures: Alive through a Microscope, has some images so highly magnified they nearly fill the screen. They are well-lit, colorful, and in focus. Warren Hatch's narration is concise, interesting, and informative. He gives us names, information about how they are classified, how to distinguish them from related creatures, what they eat, who eats them. A book list included with the video gives over thirty references-enough sources to keep one occupied for a decade-or a lifetime! Mary Appelhof, who produced a video on worms called Wormania! says, "I've wanted to do such a video for years. Warren has done such a good job, I don't have to."

Kelly Slocum, vermiculture specialist and regular contributor to the Vermicomposting Forum on the World Wide Web says, "This video is a must-have for teachers and those involved with public education. Although it's geared toward middle to high school students, I feel that older elementary students would benefit, as well. The narration may go above the heads of younger viewers, but the images would benefit everyone learning about vermicomposting. I guarantee there isn't a kid alive that's going to lose interest in this video!"

As a full-time substitute teacher in the elementary grades in the Portland and Gresham OR public schools, Warren Hatch does not own a car. He takes city buses and trains to the more than thirty schools where he teaches, carrying his teaching equipment in a large file box. He always takes hand-held illuminated magnifiers with him, along with live spiders and a few live insects. Warren has learned that elementary students can develop a great desire to learn about insects, spiders,pondwater life and plants IF they get to see these things through a microscope in the 2nd or 3rd grade, or earlier. Over his 12-year teaching career he has also produced 17 videotapes using a microscope. His subjects include protozoa, crystals, insects, spiders, mites, sand. Warren says, "I know how fascinated and energized elementary students get when they have the rare opportunity to use a microscope or illuminated magnifier." He produces these videos to help students realize the endless resource for discovery, satisfaction, and learning that microscopes, as well as books and libraries, can bring.

Worm Bin Creatures Alive through a Microscope, (31 -minute, VHS, ISBN 1-884195-36-9) is available in US for $28 postpaid by check from Flowerfield Enterprises, 10332 Shaver Road, Kalamazoo, MI 49024. PAL versions and foreign shipping available at additional cost. Worms Eat My Garbage (ISBN 0-942256-10-7) by Mary Appelhof, is available for $15.45 at the same address.

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