Today I visited Burnaby Red Wigglers and met Bintoro Gunadi, founder and Soil Biologist. It was fascinating having him explain what the worms are, what they need, and what to expect. I took home two handfuls of worms and a bag of worm cocoons and inoculum. When I got home my gardening friend, Honami, stopped by and showed me how to set up my worm nest in a food waste bucket. We added leaves and torn up paper to the small amount of food waste in the bucket. Then we tipped the bag of worms in, covering them with the inoculum. We left them to do their magic with a lid on the bucket, carefully placed in a shady area out of direct sun. Going forward, we will put the garden waste in the outdoor bins, and that is also where we will put our coffee grounds. They are too acidic for the worms to enjoy. So now we have a kitchen compost for food waste that is growing worms. I cannot explain how satisfying it feels to have this worm culture start up. The worms are so quiet and ...
Adele waits patiently in her crate while the caregiver gives Mom her morning personal care. Now that I am committed to setting up a comprehensive in-home composting system, I am thinking more deeply about the flow of organic waste throughout our household. Yard waste - leaves, weeds, grass clippings Kitchen waste Non-dairy, non-meat food waste Dairy, meat food waste Worm farming - feeding the worms yard and kitchen waste Pet waste - composting dog waste The heat is hitting us this week and with it comes the reminder that the dog waste waiting for collection from the City is also sitting and heating up. I am thinking about how to process the waste that cannot go into the yard waste, non-dairy/non-meat kitchen waste and worm farm. This is another stream for composting that will be suitable for fertilizing ornamental plants, not for the food garden. What I am going to do is set up a compost for pet waste, meat and dairy waste. This compost is going to be critter proof and specifical...
This is the basic organization of the ideas I am exploring to turn our property into a demonstration project for sustainable city living. The underlying impulse behind this initiative is a 21st century adaptation of the 'back to the land' movement of the 1970s. Instead of migrating out of the city to take up rural properties, this initiative brings rural, sustainable, organic farming practices to urban properties. At the same time, it rebuilds neighbourhood strengths lost in the 20th century pursuit of consumerism, materialism and individualism. These ideas work best when implemented as a neighbourhood collaboration, in the spirit of early, cooperative community building, where the many and diverse strengths of individual group members contribute to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. In this concept, any city property becomes a candidate for contributing to building food strength, neighbourhood self-reliance, water conservation, and emergency preparedness. A...
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