Making the Bin

Ok, so this is my worm bin:

Yep, that’s a $13 tool box from the Home Depot. Looks pretty innocuous, right? That’s the idea, since it has to meet both my needs and the worms’: I need it to fit in a small space and be generally unobtrusive, they need it to be dark and roomy. But since worms need air and tools don’t, I had to make the ventilation holes myself:

making holes

I knew that Leatherman was a good Christmas gift! I used a drill at first, but then I realized I could do it just as easily with some pointy handtools. Like I said, $13 tool box… not exactly puncture-proof material. The completed bin also needed a place for worm tea to drain. To be honest, I’m not sure what “tea” is a euphemism for, other than something you don’t want building up in the bottom of your compost and that your plants would love to drink. Most sources recommend putting holes in the bottom of your bin, then placing a tray underneath and propping the bin up off the tray. That seemed like a lot of work, and I want my bin to be mobile, since it will be living in a place that can be a pain to reach, so I talked with a knowledgeable composter and we came up with the following solution:

ooooh, tubing!

There’s a piece that is stationary halfway inside and halfway outside the bin, and the tubing connects to it with a stopper on the other end, making it easy to remove and replace after the tea is emptied out. Let me tell you, it was fun hammering that stationary piece into place–I’m so glad the hammer and the Leatherman are pretty much the only tools I own, otherwise I’d have to use the bin for its intended purpose!

Preparing for the Worms’ Arrival

With the bin all drilled up and ready to go, the next step was preparing bedding for the worms. I raided our shredder for small lovely paper scraps, and lovingly cut a pizza box with scissors just because I could. To these I added several cupfuls of coconut husk and perlite leftover from some hydroponic herb planting I did in my classroom (basil, cilantro, and sage–what herbs were you thinking?!).
These were mixed all together, and when the worms came, I dumped them right on top; left open to the light, they immediately start burrowing their way down. Amazing to watch!

in go the worms

Pan checks out the new roomies.

So How’s It Going?

Ok so far. I’m finding the balance between too dry (worms die), and too wet (mold, stronger smell). I didn’t realize how much moisture was in the leftovers I was feeding them, so my next step is to add more dry paper shreds instead of damp ones with their next meal. It’s a work in progress, like most things. But it’s a fascinating work, and once you’ve set up, pretty easy – just bury your food scraps and turn the contents once or twice a week! Voila, in a few months, vermicompost you can be proud to put in your garden.

If so, we’re looking for 2-4 other people to join us in visiting Alness and Forres in late April for a regional Transition Towns gathering, and a chance to see how these communities are responding to the challenges of peak oil and climate change.

The travel costs will be subsidised by Transition Towns Scotland, and this offers us an excellent opportunity to meet with many communities in the Highlands and Islands who are working on creative ways to help their community become more sustainable.

For those of you not familiar with Transition Towns, here’s how the Transition Towns website describes it:

It all starts off when a small collection of motivated individuals within a community come together with a shared concern: how can our community respond to the challenges, and opportunities, of Peak Oil and Climate Change?

They begin by forming a group, adopting the Transition Model, and getting a significant proportion of the people in the community to work together to increase self-sufficiency and reduce carbon emissions.

Then the group starts:

• awareness raising
• connecting with local groups
• building bridges to local government
• connecting with other transition initiatives
• forming groups to look at all the key areas of life (food, energy, transport, health, heart & soul, economics & livelihoods, etc)
• projects to build resilience and community engagement
• eventually launching a community defined, community implemented “Energy Descent Action Plan” over a 15 to 20 year timescale

It’s a massive undertaking, but one that has become hugely popular in the UK. As you can see from the map below, there are quite a few communities just in Scotland who are involved: (Google Map isn’t working, so click here for the map on the Transition Towns Scotland website).

You can get the book at the Kirkwall library, on Amazon or borrow our copy.

To be honest, I’ve come somewhat reluctantly to TT because it’s a massive project and I didn’t want to get sidetracked when there’s so much to do with Touchwood. I mean, do I really need another hugely ambitious project on my plate?

But then this past weekend as my friend Esther sat chatting with Malcolm about how the scientists are saying global warming is looking much worse than we’d anticipated, I asked them: “Are we — even just the three of us — doing enough to deal with global warming?”

And the answer’s no. Sure, I generally feel that global warming is too big to tackle, but how much longer can I wait for others to act? Besides, I’m already committed to finding out if Orkney is interested in doing a community project like Touchwood, so why not add Transition Towns to the mix. In for one wildly ambitious project, why not two?

The goals overlap so neatly, and the opportunity to meet up with like-minded folks and start to make things happen is just too good to pass up. So I’m heading down the road and seeing if anyone else would like to join me.

So if you fancy a trip down to Forres and would like to learn more about Transition Towns and how we might start one up on Orkney, get in touch with me at rachel [at] touchwood [dot] com.