Newsstand: November 23, 2009
The Making of a Medley
The Daily Photoist: November 23, 2009
Transit City and Transit Cities
Every two weeks, Torontoist looks to fill up all the square feet in your abode. Eschewing the IKEA catalogue, delve into the unique design shops, interesting sales, and easy do-it-yourself projects that can be found scattered throughout Toronto.
The green bin program has been met with little resistance as one of the better initiatives the city has taken on to divert a greater percentage of waste from landfills. Since many of the residents of Toronto are apartment and condo dwellers, they may not get their hands on the environmentally friendly disposal system until mid-2008 and that's if things go according to plan. The thing is, we've got organic waste now.
Composting may conjure up images of fly-attracting, fetid piles of decomposing matter destined for large backyards in rural areas, but understanding some of the process behind it can show how composting can still be appropriate for the indoors. The quick version is that worms (which would normally come out from the ground) eat scraps and poop out a natural fertilizer that keeps just like any other fertilizer purchased in a bag. The worms can eat half their weight in one day which prevents food from emitting smells or attracting insects because of the quick consumption.
Vermicomposting is the name of the process and requires not just any worm, but Red Wiggler worms specifically. The main supplier of these worms to Toronto is Cathy's Crawly Composters from Bradford and she can get the wiggly things and a bin for them to you in two days. If her $13 shipping is a bit much, Grassroots Environmental Products offers a discount by ordering them several pounds at a time and allows their customers to get as little as half a pound. The wait time is substantially longer as they hold onto orders until they reach a five pound total, and that can easily amount to two weeks.
While you're waiting, you can book a workshop with Cathy or Lee Valley (in Spring or Fall only) to teach you how to care for your new hungry friends, but a quick Google search will provide you a wealth of information. Bins can be bought from a number of sources but the easiest and cheapest solution would be to build your own with these instructions or using a cheap bin from IKEA that already has several spots for breathing holes and can simply be tucked away into a cupboard. Your plants will thank you for all the gourmet food.
Photo by Vanessa Toye.
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The problem is that Cathy doesn't tell you just how finicky worms are; that you have to check the PH and moisture levels regularly or they could die, that they only like to be fed every few days and that you have to grind your scraps up into a soup for them to digest more easily.
I had a worm bin when I first moved into an apartment last year and I spent far too much time shredding newspapers, puréeing rotten carrot peels and scraping dead worms off the floor - they DO manage to escape fairly regularly.
As a pair of vegetarians, my husband and I created more organic waste than the worms could eat and had to dump 50% of it in the regular trash.
The process of sorting the compost when it's time to harvest it is also a huge pain for an apartment dweller with no large space to spread it out on the floor.
The kicker came when my doctor told me to get rid of the thing because people with mold allergies shouldn't have the things. Oh, and the mites didn't help either.
I might try it again if I had a balcony, but never in a regular apartment.
Oh, and despite my best efforts, it did smell and it did attract flies.
At first glance I thought this was a very strange restaurant review.
You should look at the worms as if they were a pet and consider that they'll have certain needs. I don't think it is as finicky as Cathy makes it seem with having to check pH levels, it might be better to check but that view might be because she is a worm farmer.
So far I'm into my second month with them and have experienced a mite bloom or two but now just leave it be. Mites are just part of the eco-system and I have to accept that they come and go. Drying out the box a bit with some extra paper and settling any escaping worms with a little light works well and I've only had to do it twice so far, including the initial move-in.
If you don't overfeed them they won't die, have flies or smell. If they don't have time to eat the food then it'll smell and attract flies as I mentioned in the article. Blending the food to mush is only necessary if you want them to eat it quicker. I do chop the food up a bit a store it in a container in the fridge until I feed them.
They do however eat less than expected and so depending on how much organic waste you're creating, you may need worms than you think.
After two months I actually have a decent amount of compost and am using the method of pushing compost to one side of the bin and starting a fresh section with just paper and food on the other side to let the worms migrate. I have to pick a few guys out but so far it's working out pretty well.
No doubt that it takes some effort and it might not work for everyone.