NWPR Series Part 3, Vermiculture - A Different Kind of Black Gold

This is a transcript of  an interview that aired on NWPR the week of June 12, 2008.

Intro:

This is Bruce Bradberry with "Our Organic Northwest," a series of conversations on-air

and online about organic agriculture in the Northwest.

Today, we’re talking about vermiculture, or worm composting. Correspondent Glenn Mosley

spoke with Brad Jaeckel, the project manager of the organic farm at Washington State

University, and started with the basics.

Mosley:

So, Brad, let's start with this: what is vermiculture?

Jaeckel:

Vermiculture is the use of worms of a particular variety that will actually composte

organic materials. This would be any kind of food scraps, vegetable waste - they will eat

those types of materials - run [them] through their systems and digest [them] and they

will actually make a really useful fertilizer that can then be used on a garden. That's

the basic idea.

Mosley:

So there are some good reasons, then, to compost with worms?

Jaeckel:

Yeah. It's a really useful way to composte your kitchen scraps if you don't have a place

to do a outdoor composting. You can make a really small worm bin out of a plastic tote

container  - say 2 feet by 2 feet by 2 feet in dimension. There's all sorts of

information on the web about worm composting. You can do in right in your own home.

Mosley:

I can imagine there are some folks who might get a little squeemish when you start

talking about a worm farm in their home. Any reason to feel that way?

Jaeckel:

No, it's really fun, actually. And it's a great project to do if you have kids. It's not

smelly if you do it correctly and there's nothing to be afraid of.  The worms are

contained, and it's a pretty exciting process to see how they work through all that

material.  

Mosley:

What's the best way to get started, then?

Jaeckel:

You need to have a place to do it. You purchase some worms. There are places where you

can buy the correct variety of worm. You don't want to just go out and dig some up -

there's a particular type of worm that's good for composting. So, that's where you need

to start.

Host outro:

Brad Jaeckel (Jay-k'l) and Glenn Mosley on worm composting....A very small compost bin is

generally enough to compost for a family of four!....if you'd like complete instructions

on how to get started including recommendations on worms, what to gather for compost and

how to build your box, go to "Our Organic Northwest" now posted at N-W-P-R dot org.