Worms Eat My Garbage, 35th Anniversary Edition: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System: Compost Food Waste, Produce Fertilizer for Houseplants and Garden, and Educate Your Kids and Family

by Mary Appelhof, Joanne Olszewski, Amy Stewart (Foreword by)

Overview

For more than three decades, this best-selling guide to the practice of vermicomposting has taught people how to use worms to recycle food waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer for houseplants or gardens. Small-scale, self-contained worm bins can be kept indoors, in a basement, or even under the kitchen sink in an apartment — making vermicomposting a great option for city dwellers and anyone who doesn’t want or can’t have an outdoor compost pile. The fully revised 35th anniversary edition features the original’s same friendly tone, with up-to-date information on the entire process, from building or purchasing a bin (readily available at garden supply stores) to maintaining the worms and harvesting the finished compost.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781612129471
Publisher:	Storey Publishing, LLC
Publication date:	12/26/2017
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	206,167
Product dimensions:	6.01(w) x 9.01(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Worms Eat My Garbage was originally written by Mary Appelhof (1936–2005), an international authority and lecturer on small-scale vermicomposting whose honors included a National Science Foundation grant and the National Recycling Coalition’s Recycler of the Year. Joanne Olszewski, a close friend of Appelhof’s, has updated the book for the 35th Anniversary Edition. Olszewski is a fellow vermi-enthusiast and the owner of Wormwoman Inc., which manufactures and sells the Worm-A-Way worm bin. She lives in Arkansas.
 
 

Table of Contents

Foreword by Amy Stewart
Preface
The Worm Composter Checklist
1  It Starts with a Worm
2  Getting Started
3  Choosing the Right Worm Bin
4  Choosing the Right Bedding Material
5  Using the Right Kind of Worms
6  Acquiring Your Worms
7  Setting Up Your Worm Bin
8  What Can Your Worms Eat?
9  Taking Care of Your Worms
10  Frequently Asked Questions
11  Other Critters and Pests
12  How to Use Your Vermicompost
13  Treating Waste as a Resource
Appendix A: Record Sheet
Appendix B: Annotated References
Metric Conversions
Appendix C: How Many Worms in an Acre or a Hectare?
Glossary
Bibliography
Acknowledgments
Resources
Index

Editorial Reviews

Mary Appelhof's prescription for saving the world — in your own backyard. ... [My own worms] have proven to be surprisingly good pets: clean, industrious, self-sufficient, and always up for the job of devouring compost and enriching the soil.” — Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken Botanist

“Mary Appelhof turned complicated science into understandable and usable advice. She’s sculpted into my Mount Rushmore of the founders of the organic movement.” — Jeff Lowenfels, author of Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web

From the Publisher