The little red wigglers

What is red, slippery, lives in the dirt, and loves decomposed table scraps? Well, it is our family of red wigglers living in our garage. Tracy and I invested this year in the "Worm Factory," an easy odor-free way to compost your kitchen waste. It is very easy to use and has produced some great compost... and even compost tea (a nutrient-rich liquid that forms in the bottom of the bin). Here is how our composter works:

First we collect our kitchen scraps in a lovely stainless canister that has a carbon filter to eliminate any odor. We put everything from coffee grounds, egg shells, and fruit and veggie waste into the kitchen crock.

Then we dump the crock into the composter. There are four levels of trays in the composter, and each tray has a grate at the bottom so that the worms can work their way up to the top bin. They typically spend most of their time in the bottom trays and slowly work their way up. Once they move out of the bottom tray, it is ready for the garden and that tray then gets put onto the top to fill with new kitchen scraps.

We bought our Worm Factory on Amazon.com because we received one pound of red wigglers free. Cascade Sales in Bellingham is the main distributor, but you can find it elsewhere. The worms are usually sold separately. In full operation, the Worm Factory houses 10,000 to 12,000 worms, consumes 5 to 8 pounds of food a day, allowing you to harvest a full tray of castings per month. Very cool, don't you think? If you look closely at the next photo, you can see our little wiggly friends at work :). It is an easy thing you can do for the enviroment. Give it a try and give your sink disposal a rest!