newsflash...tepid off the wires. it's hip these days to eat organic and local food; it's lauded to drive a beat-up old car that runs on pure vegetable oil and to forego washing that car in the name of conserving water; it's becoming embarrassing to not bring your own bag to a grocery store or farmer's market (gasp! do you really want to bag that in...paper or plastic!?! which is worse!?!); recycling is mos def en vogue, and conversing about having a veranda that was made from smashed and reformed plastic soda bottles allows folks to establish themselves as more ecocologically aware than their poor, wasteful friends who still don't know what composting is (pity them)...need i go on?

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i jest at the elitism of something so fundamental as conservation and sustainability, but the nice thing about this trend is that it's competition and one-upsmanship in the name of a meaningful and pressing cause: the earth's limited resources and our future.

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in respect of earth day, 2008, i decided to do my own hip little activity to start reducing my carbon footprint (gawd, you do know what that means, don't you, muffy?): i set up a worm bin in my apartment so that i can recycle my very own food scraps into nutrient-dense compost (for my windowsill herb garden, fire-escape vegetable garden and my adopted house plants) instead of sending them either 65 miles away to the landfill where they'll encourage nasty methane emissions or on a diesel-powered 45-mile trip to the commercial composting yard where they'll eat up precious water resources and manpower so that they can be sold right back to me as Grover Wonder Grow compost.

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this project took me all of an hour, and it cost me all of $30. and it will require very little maintenence on my part. in exchange for my money and efforts, i now have about 1,000 new pets, an earth-friendly way to deal with a portion of my waste stream, and gourmet food for all the plants that i'm growing at home! i'll outline the process below, every few days adding a little more information within my explanations...as i gather it. if you have questions or want help in setting up a worm bin in your home, email me! keri.keifer@gmail.com

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Step 1: Purchase or build a bin. Now, you can get all kindsa fancy with this part. I've seen worm bins that double as patio benches and I've cared for 'worm bins' made from big plastic yogurt containers. You can make a worm bin out of many materials, but I'd suggest wood or plastic. And the general rule of thumb is: get a bin that's big enough so that there's one square foot of space per pound of food scraps* disposed per week (i'll get into this more...but if you're thinking to do this, maybe just weigh the amount of food scraps* you dispose of in one day, then multiply by seven. the average american family of two disposes of half a pound of food scraps* per day).

Step 2: Get some newspaper and start tearing. This is going to be the bedding for the worms. Ideally, you'd be using black and white newspaper. Or soy ink-based colored newspaper. Tear strips 1/2" to 1" wide, with the grain (it tears easily if you're tearing with the grain and gets all fussy if you're tearing against). Tear and tear and tear. I tore up about 3/4 of a Sunday SF Chronicle for this part. When you're done tearing, get in there and fluff that pile up. Start repeating this mantra "Rip, Fluff, Dip, Fluff!" Right now you're ripping and fluffing.

Step 3: Dip. Dip that fluffy paper into a bucket of water all quick-like, then wring it out a bit and then fluff it up again...and put it into the bin. You're shooting for the moisture content of a wrung out sponge. Not too wet and not too dry. And make sure you fluff that paper when you add it to the bin. Fill the bin up about 3/4 full with the fluffy wet paper. Worms are mostly water...and they really dig moist environments. If it's not wet enough, they'll dry up and die. Don't do that to the worms...they're good people.

Step 4: Add the wormies! Now, hear this. It's not just any old worm you're adding to your bin. Not your run-of-the-mill worm that you see after a big rainstorm on the sidewalk. We're talkin' Red Wigglers here. The kind you take fishing. You want these worms, specifically, because they are a surface-dwelling species of earthworm. They live in soil levels up to one foot deep and they process a whole heck of a lot of organic material (in nature it's decaying leaves and plant matter and such)...which is what you'll be feeding them. So, get yourself some of these worms...I got mine at Spiral Gardens in Berkeley (i'll add more here later on recources for worms)...$20 for one pound (1,000) of these guys. I got one pound because worms eat half their body weight in food each day. And since I, the veggie-lover that I am, generate about half a pound of food scraps* per day, I'll need worms to eat just that, per day. Voila, I need a pound of worms. Bury them just a little bit into the moist paper bedding. They don't like the light so much, so you'll notice them furiously trying to burrow into the depths of darkness in the bin.

Step 5: Feeding frenzy! Now, really, when you're starting a bin, you don't have to add any food. In fact, it's best not to. Your worms will come in compost, so they'll likely have a few carrot tops in there that they haven't fully gobbled down. Plus, they eat their bedding, too. that's right, it's not just newspaper, but the plat du jour for these little guys. So, you won't be starving them if you don't feed them. And you'll be giving them a chance to acclimate to their new home. That said, i couldn't resist spoiling my worms just a little by sprinkling in a couple lettuce leaves. That's it. As tempting as it might be to scrape in three pounds of zucchini peels and apple cores, don't do it. Give them a couple of weeks, then make them start working for their board. I plan to keep my worm bin closed for a week, then revisit it. You know, check out the food situation...make sure my worms are still alive and wriggling...and only then will I start feeding them...half a pound of food scraps per day (more on how often to feed them to come).

Step 6: Put on the covers and tuck your little compost into bed for the night. If you're interested in having a maggot-free and smell-free bin, and you may be, you must cover all your food offerings with a generous layer of dry newspaper shreds. Flies need food material to lay their eggs on/in and when you put a barrier of twisting newsprint between the flies and their beloved food scraps*, they become discouraged and opt to lay their eggs elsewhere.

Step 7: Cover and hide. Provided that you've drilled some aeration holes (no larger than 1/4" big!) near the top of the bin (which i still need to do), you can snap on that lid and put the worm bin away until you're ready to check in with it again. It's important to keep the bin out of direct sunlight and in an area that's generally around 50-70F. After a week of adjustment, open up the bin and check on your worms...and then start adding your food scraps*! (more on this part will soon come)

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*food scraps: fruit and vegetable trimmings, small amounts of grain products, crushed up eggshells, tea bags, coffee grounds, very small amounts of citrus. (do not add meat or dairy to the bin, nor too many fats or oils. worms are essentially vegan and will be happiest if you feed them what they prefer)