Worms!

This is another zine preview, this time for In Praise of Trash, dedicated to all things DIY and subversive (or just grimey). When will these zines actually take physical form? Who even knows dude. I live slow and I don't make money.

It’s completely fucking ridiculous that compostable materials ever end up in landfills to mummify between layers of plastic, but this world is a sick joke so I’m not about to argue for the moral value of composting. I will argue, however, that home composting is cheap fun and everyone should try it to witness the magic of decomposition. If you don’t have any use for compost it shouldn’t be difficult to find a friend or community garden you can fob it off on, and I can promise you they’ll be more than grateful for it.

The best way to go if you’ve got no outdoor space is vermicomposting, which is a technical term for letting worms eat your organic waste. You can’t just dig up some earthworms or buy the ones for fishing, though; you’ll need to request red wigglers (unless those are the ones they sell for fishing? Idk I'm from the city ok). Once you’ve got your worms (I got a yogurt container full through an online trading group) all you need to do is cover the bottom of a perforated container (I drilled many holes into an old ikea storage bin) with some shredded paper and dirt, well moistened, to make them feel at home in the darkness of your kitchen cupboard. If you’re worried about flies, cover the lid with light fabric, like an old pillowcase.

Another caveat: the worms won’t eat just anything. They’re discerning invertebrates; no meat or dairy, nor any greasy or fermented foods, thank you. Also, don’t dump too large a quantity of anything in the bin at once. Start small and keep an eye on how quickly they consume the stuff to develop a feel for how much to give them. You’ll want to regularly replenish their supply of damp paper too.

Of course, eventually the bin will fill up with compost (brown gold) and worms (pink pals). When that happens, you’ll have to get a bit personal with the latter; dig out the compost and try to pick as many worms out of it as you can. If you can put them back into your bin do so, but if not you’ll have to pass them on. Worm chain!

This might sound like a lot of work, but it’s less laborious than maintaining a sourdough starter, and (not to reveal more than you need to know about me but) I love knowing that I’ve got like several hundred (thousand??) slimy friends in my kitchen. Give it a try!