by Wendy Gabriel

GREEN TIP:  Compost.  Recycle your yard and kitchen waste and reduce the volume of garbage needlessly sent to landfills.

When I was little my parents always had a compost pile.  I have to admit I was a little unsure of its purpose beyond the need to make trips to it seemingly every ten minutes.  

Now that I am an adult with my own children I decided to look into composting.  We recycle everything possible so it just seems right that we would recycle our organic waste.  I found an adorable Beehive Composter from Gardeners.com.  I could get the red so that it would match our front door.  Now, to look into HOW to compost. 

The first few things I read made composting seem a teeny bit daunting.  Brown organic matter, green organic matter, carbon/nitrogen ratios, chicken poop – not what I had in mind.  I called my Mom and she explained how easy it is to compost but advised looking into vermicompost because I have a tiny yard.  Fortunately, the bin would fit in our garage.  And have I mentioned my husband knows nothing about my plan yet?  I know he’ll be really delighted.  I digress.

So, I googled v-e-r-m-i-c-o-m-p-o-s-t.  That led me to TreeHugger.com  which said the following: “When beginning a vermicompost bin…” blah, blah, blah, “add the worms…”  WORMS?  I am not a worm sort of girl.  I love the outdoors, playing at the park, giving my parents a hand with things on their organic farm but to have worms in my own garage?  Maybe not. 

This quote from Gandhi always spurs me on when I think it might be a little too inconvenient for me to do my part to save the planet:  “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

I am picking up my bin next weekend.  Then my worms.  I will be thrilled to be recycling our food scraps and yard clippings into nutrient-rich fertilizer!  And, apparently my four-year old daughter LOVES worms and wants to name each of them… Wormy. 

I doubt my husband will be calling them by the same name.