While most people understand a lot about weeding and even more about tilling, not too many people think about the prospect of never weeding, or simply avoiding tilling all together.

Sheet mulching however, can both make life easier and replenish soil without ever using chemical fertilizers, weed kill or tilling.

There really isnt much to sheet mulching, just think like a really big cold pile that is going to compost itself overtime, turning all the weeds, seed and other organic matter under it, into a nutrient rich soil base, that built itself onsite, usually over winter.

First of all, mow down, roll over, stamp down, cut with a scythe or machete, and pile on all the kitchen scraps, doggy/kitty wastes or yard debris you can, mixing all those nitrogens and carbons as they come, mother nature knows how to tend it on her own with microorganisms and worms.

Then, over that, layer it with something that takes a long time to decompose and compost, like thick corrugated cardboard, newspaper (about ten sheets thick or so) or any recycled paper mattingmade specifically for sheet mulching, making sure to overlap about six inches between sheets, to be absolutely certain that none of those unwanted weeds/seeds and whatnot ever comeback in your grow bed.

Thirdly, backfill on top of your sheet with whatever organic mulch you wish, straw animal bedding with fewer or no seeds is great because it readily allows moisture and oxygen to accumulate, while sawdust or woodchips can also be wonderful, as long as this layer keeps out any unwanted weeds/seeds from seeping through, because if a single spot is missed, they will come back in force.

Lastly, simply place the plants in this mulch with enough soil to keep them healthy until everything breaks down (usually about six months or so is plenty of time), unless of course instead of mulch, worm castings or potting soils have been used in its place, in which case no extra soil is necessary, and there is also the risk of other kinds of seeds existing in this soil; so make sure it is seedless.

What is left within the year after sheet mulching? A raw boost of organic power that will supply your plants with enough food to last them years, and if they are the kinds of plants that search deep for more nutrients, they actually start to mend devastated soils.

Sheet Mulching video using a recycled paper product called ecocover in New Zealand as a barrier to cover the hard layer:

Many of the products that industry has produced since the revolution of the 19^thcentury have come to damage our planet beyond anything ever even imagined, and the time has come for us to take on our role as stewards of the land in a self-reliant and sustainable fashion that produces some form of bioremediation.

Composting is something natural and part of the way mother nature intended for mammals to rid themselves of their own organic wastes, it is also part of the life and death cycle of all living things, including those things in bodies of water, not just on land.

What makes most people cringe at the idea of doing industrial composting is usually the odor management systems or atmospheric dispersion, and they really are challenges for any human settlements above the size of small village.

Which is an excellent reason to use modern engineering to solve issues like odor when referring to industrial sized composting, since it is a field developed to find solutions to practical challenges.

It isnt impossible to make an industrial sized compost heap refrain from smelling, just as it isnt impossible to keep a landfill from smelling, but practically speakinganyone who has actually been to a landfill knows the truth about the nature of decaying odors and how little the city seems to care.

The days of the landfill are counted as our culture grows and we realize the importance of energy conservation, but it will take the expertise of people with passion and insight into the practical ways of doing things that will make that future truly sustainable.

This 717-page hardcover, written by Roger Tim Haug, published by CRC in July of 1993, measures 10.1 x 7.2 x 1.8 and ships at 3.2 lbs.

Understanding process, analysis, kinetic principles, thermodynamics, chemicals, physical aspects and basic biology, all unified into an analytical approach with a brief history of composting systems and modern techniques.

Compost Engineering has something for students, researchers,scientists, plant operators, engineers and practitioners looking for a more sustainable civilization that is self-reliant and gives back to the earth.

Over five thousand years ago, the people of Crete, Santorini, Knossos and many other places in Ancient Greece, worshiped a goddess known to us today as Gaia, goddess of the Earth, who took on many forms throughout history, a history that reachesout through time through Gaiam.

The essential belief of the Earth as being directly connected to the existence of daily life is what kept the followers of Gaia united, and the company Gaiam (from slurring Gaia) holds true to that belief through all of its products and services in the modern age of electron-slinging consumption, by developing tools we need in order to assume our role as stewards of the planet.

If your family is small (two or three), then the regular bucket should be an excellent size for less frequent trips to the compost pile.

For larger families (five or more) then the tall bucket is recommended.

Emptying your Gaiam Compost Bucket once a week is good, but with a filter, every two weeks should be fine if you arent using newspaper, sawdust or some kind of carbon to eliminate the odors of decomposing organic materials.

Remember, some people have tougher noses than others, so respecting everyone with a filter or dry paper materials like sawdust or newspaper is a great way to improve quality of life, but obviously, the filter saves more room for more organic materials and extends the your down time from trips to the compost bin.

Available in the color green only, all Gaiam Compost Buckets come with a disposable filterfor aeration (placed in the lid), each filter lasts for three months, thus a single bucket should not use anymore than four filters a year for greater energy conservation.

Two different sizes are available, 5.5 qt and 9.6 qt. with the regular size measuring 7¾” x 8″ x 7½” and the larger (tall) size measuring 11¼” x 9″ x 9″.

A name that echoes through time the value of education, science, art, recreation and above all our precious environment, for a healthy lifestyle and a more sustainable economy. Compost buckets carry our modern day Atlantean civilization just one step closer to mending its ways and returning to its true purpose, in stewardship of Earth.

Plastic bottles for drinking water and aluminum cans are two of the largest contributors to landfills in the world and they are items that we consume constantly as a civilization.

In the US alone, 130 billion beverage containers make their way to the landfills per year, and our country is one of the major recyclers and environmentally aware nations of the modern world, who would expect that kind of pollution from us?

Just having an EcoPod at home or in the office is like saying, hey, look, we are environmentally aware, are you? Anything that becomes trendy enough to become the latest fashion, will certainly change the world we live in forever, and EcoPods creators are looking to take advantage of this latest cultural trend to go green and sustainable right now, with a product that looks cool and doesboth people and the environment; a favor.

Two compartments under the upper lid area, offer space to hold other recycled materials, such as paper or glass, maximizing the containers total storage area and making better use of existing curbside recycling systems.

EcoPod will save time, space, money and CO2 emissions as the cans and bottles come compacting in and people notice your effort to make a difference in the world for a more sustainable way of life that focuses on stewarding the earth and taking responsibility for our role in creation on this planet.

BMW designworks, a company dedicated to sustainable development, helped put the EcoPod together, a compacting recycling system for the home and office, that is not only kool looking, but a global idea for that allows us to think global, while acting local.

Raising worms, raising them in your garden, in your vermicomposting bin on the thirty-sixth floor of a downtown high-rise or even as a business are all becoming popular trends in recent years, and with the market deciding that the time is ripe for such a topic, certain books that actually make the difference begin to stand out over time, The Worm Book is one of these.

The duo Nancarrow and Taylor really know their stuff, and they approached worm keeping from an easy to grasp, all-around most relevantpoint of view almost a decade ago, and their insight blended with passion, still makes sense today, offering a quick access to the dos and donts of this fine art in a thin manual that is easy to read.

This 152-page paperback written by Loren Nancorrow and Janet Hogan Taylor (authors of Dead Snails Leave No Trails), was first published for all ages by Ten Speed Press in March of 1998, measuring 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.5, it ships at only 8 ounces.

The Worm Book: The Complete Guide to Worms in Your Garden shows how to use worms, gives detailed insight into anatomy, building worm bins, composting, better foods, raising worms and even making the garden worm-friendly; this is the perfect text-book for classroom projects in vermiculture.

In the 20^th Century, we learned so many ways to increase the quality of foods, by destroying pests with chemicals and pesticides, but yet these methods can be so detrimental to our environment as well as our own health; there are more profound ways to deal with healthy supply and healthy demand of agriculture, if only we look to natures stomach, worms.

Instead of tilling, why not let Mother Nature do the tilling? Treated properly, worm populations can do all the tilling the soil needs, helping roots expand and increasing yields dramatically throughout the season.

By simply providing food sources near the surface of the field regularly, the field is transformed into a giant vermicomposting operation, where the worms live in their natural habitat, till soil, produce quality worm castings right where the plants need them and help increase yields more than expensive fertilizers can.

Compost tea is an excellent alternative to pesticides and will not harm the worms or people, but will make bugs look to other places to feed.

Provide them with a place to escape the intense conditions above ground, yet a healthy food supply near the roots where their castings will do the most good, always in the same place, and you will be sure to create a worm-friendly crop that needs no-tilling.

This 112-page paperback, written by David Ernst, published by Lessiter in June of 1995, measuring 9 x 5.7 x 0.7, ships at only 7.2 ounces.

The Farmers Earthworm Handbook is a manual to help people make their crops more profitable by using earthworms to till and fertilize soil so that roots cangrow deeper, stronger and create some of the most dramatic yields ever.

Our civilization needs to change, and what better way to start than with the future of our planet, children? Teaching children three basic words between the ages of 9 and 12, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle could make the difference between actually having a planet tomorrow or utterly destroying human culture from our own ignorance and lack of understanding.

We have created a machine that needs to use the knowledge it has achieved in the last 200 years to replenish and repair the damage we have caused the Earth and its life-forms through a technological crusade that now threatens us all with disasters like climate change, water shortage and energy shortage.

This 144-page paperback was intended for children around the ages of 9-12, written by Earthworks Group and published by Earthworks Press March of 1994, with black and white illustrations, measuring 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.5 and shipping at 0.8 ounces.

50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Recycle covers the three Rs Reducing, Reusing and Recycling for kids learning about sustainability and what they can do themselves to Save the Planet, starting today, starting right at home, where it counts most.

NoteNiks Software brings you Eco-Pack Games, this one specifically focused on teaching kids between ages 5 and 10 about recycling in well known places like the beach, park, city and school.

Children are meant to play, they love to play, and what better way to teach them about sustainability and the future, than through the wonderful world of games?

Knowing what goes in the trash and what can be recycled is a thing that needs to be taught while our children are small, and NoteNiks software takes that seriously, with Eco-Pack Recycling.

Endangered animals clean energy and composting make up the other titles in this series, as well as two other related games from NN, Healthy Eating and Exercise and Respect Our Earth Games; they even have a game on astronomy and one for the food service.

Each Eco-Pack Game comes with two games focused on specific lessons, at a price that is accessible to the average child-loving parent.

This recycling game for ages 5-10 comes with a curriculum for parents and teachers, certificates that can be printed/easily edited, enhanced sound control and game wide scoring.

Educators and concerned parents looking for a way to guarantee a more self-reliant and sustainable world for the next generation, will find NoteNiks Eco-Pack Games such as Recycling, fun, entertaining and educational from ages 5-10.

Fun:
Recycling Flash Game - Game to play online.

BioBag Kitchen Bags tall kitchen size are good for lining the traditional garbage can, and still do the same job as the food wastesize developed for the MACP but on a larger scale, more commonly used in raking up leaves in the back yard, at barbecues or even for commercial restaurants that already have a composting program going and are looking for a more economical solution than the constant cleaning that comes with nasty food waste barrels.

BioBag Kitchen Bags have a use and use again motto, because they work great as food grade quality refrigerator storage vegetable bags as well as compost pail liners, impeding leakage, but yet still allowing heat and moisture to escape from within.

This breathing quality allows food to stay fresh even longer than with traditional petroleum plastics, plus they can be used again in the compost pail for food wastes, then tied up and plopped into the compost pile for quick, efficient and tidy results that meet peoples standards for being ecologically friendly as well as hygienic.

Like all biodegradable bags, BioBag Kitchen Bags have a shelf life and need to be kept in dry places away from intense heat, nor should they go into a landfill, as it can slow their decomposition process up to as long as two years in some cases where as in the compost pile or just outside in the weather, they will degrade more rapidly.

BioBag Kitchen Bags come in two sizes, tall kitchen and food waste, the food waste size is for lining sink-side compost pails such as the Max Air, while the tall kitchen size is great for commercial use in lining any traditional sized trash bin.

BioBag Kitchen Bags allow for a sharp and intelligent way to deal with CO2 emission offsetting right at home or at your place of work, without giving up the creature comforts we have all come to appreciate and enjoy, doing wellfor the planet by doing well to ourselves.

Work smarter, not harder; that is what a recycling bin cart is for, doing the hardest part of the home or office paper recycling job, by giving you an efficient space saving tool that keeps durable boxes made just for this one chore in a well organized fashion that is both nice to look at and says something about taking care of the environment.

Hauling cardboard boxes to the curb has always been a difficult task, because after a time, those boxes tend to breakdown from all the lugging, dropping, lifting and so on, putting them on a cart can make things easier, but itis still messy; a recycling bin cart, that uses durable recycling bins however, is the right tool, for the right job.

This height-adjustable cart can have two or three tiers, is made of a rust-resistant tubular steel frame, mounts on a wheeled base that roles around smoothly without any stress, measures 62 x 19 x 17 ½, weighs 9 lbs and will hold a total of 90 lbs or 30 lbs per bin.

This recycling bin cart makes life more organized, eliminating the use of old cardboard boxes in favor of recycling boxes that are durable and easy to handle, made specifically for storing and transporting large quantities of waste paper from the home or office to the curb, effortlessly.

Color distinction is interesting for those delving into the trend of recycling, allowing bright colors like blue, to stand out as a place for recyclables.

The We Recycle symbol has already become universal, and accepted around the world, making it even harder for someone to make the mistake of throwing the wrong material into the recycling box.

Blue may yet become the standard for paper recycling boxes along with other main colors for tins or plastics and they can be used as a storage containers as well as a recycling bins.

At present, with the world of Web 2.0 and the word online becoming common everywhere, the use of computers has skyrocketed, taking with it, an overuse of precious wood to produce and abundance of paper; paper that can be recycled.

Commercial sized bulk ink adaptations for home printers have transformed the average user into an almost commercial consumer of paper, not to mention offices and Xerox machines that have always worked with large amounts of waste paper.

Having a blue recycling box in your home or office is a way to show others what is possible with just a small initiative, keeping things better organized, and helping to save the planet at the same time.

This blue recycling bin fore curbside programs, has built-in handles, was designed to stack or nest, for use with high-volumes of recycled paper products, measuring at 20 x 15 3/8 x 13½, holding 12 ½ gal and shipping at 3.4 lb.

This blue recycling bin is a box to keep things organized, it comes with the We Recycle symbol on the side, and will take loads of waste paper to and from the curb, it is easily stacked or nested, allowing you to think global, and act local, for a cleaner, healthier tomorrow, where trees, people and the environment, are all living in harmony together.

Most recycle bins are constantly being opened and closed, the Touchless has an automatic open/close function that does all the opening and closing for you as long as you have a hand within six inches of the sensor it stays open, once you remove your hand, it closes on its own after three seconds.

Keeping the kitchen free of sticky stuff is very important for hygienic reasons, but trash and recycle bins are always filling up with leftover sauces, oils and anything else that we need to constantly keep clean, so most people opt to keep them away from the kitchen, where we most need them!

Here is a kitchen recycling bin that offers the best of both worlds; neat, clean and tidy recycling that makes sense for the environment as well as our needs.

This recycling bin has two separate inner buckets for either organics in one or recyclables in the other, 30 liters each and capable of using regular 8 or 13 gallon trash bags in each, it runs off of four long living D batteries up to one year if used wisely (sold separately), it has wheels for easy movement as well as two buttons for manual opening/closing and an on/off switch, measuring 23.23 x 14.76 x 24.61, with a one-year limited warranty.

The Touchless is a kitchen recycling bin made specifically to keep your kitchen cleaner and yet still do the job recycling containers need to get done, keeping the messy stuff inside the bin and dirty fingers away.

When we think about the planet, and making sure that our children are going to have a better, brighter, more desirable tomorrow, we think of Mother Nature, the city, but most especially, we are reminded of trash, and waste, about where it goes, and maybe even why more people are not taking the forefront initiative to do a little bit of recycling where it counts most, at home.

Paper bags, plasticsacks, tin cans, disposable kitchen wear, two liter bottles and more, the list of products that we use and abuse, going through our kitchens is almost endless, but we can do something, we can start by providing a space that makes a difference, readily available to all the family members, color coded, dry, clean, nifty and verticalized to make better use of space, with stackable recycle bins.

Storage Trends 18 Gallon/72 Quart stacking Suncast recycle bin, for indoor/outdoor use, measures 18 1/4 wide x 24 3/8 deep x 17 high and ships at 20 pounds.

Stackable Recycle Bins are the perfect thing to save space in the kitchen, in the trash can, and just a little bit more of the planet, because they do the job we need to have done today, but with one foot set on the future we leave to our childrens children tomorrow.

Cleanliness and hygiene are part of what marks us as civilization, but some of the more hygienic practices we have inherited from ancient times are not as environmentally friendly as they could be, one of which includes how we take care of our kitchen scraps.

The consumer society that we have all grown up in is only now realizing what actually happens to our trash, and with products the help separate organics from non-organics, like MACP, consumers are beginning to take on a new role, that of stewards of Earth.

MACP keeps kitchen refuse separate from the non-organic trash by offering a first-step link to the compost bin that is both neat and tidy, something that compost pails have never been in the past, always leaving us with a nasty, smelly mess to clean up.

Good airflow is important to keep the slop that always ends up making its way into the bin, dry, thereby reducing mold, rot and those unpleasant odors drastically.

Small and cute, MACP is also sturdy and durable, making good use of recycled plastics for the long haul, taking up very little space on the kitchen counter, yet still able to hold large quantities of banana peals, eggs shells, coffee grounds…etc. with biodegradable plastic bags like those made by Bio-Bag.

MACP has aeration around and under the bag, a collection gutter to catch spillage, grooves at the bottom to maximize ventilation, flush wall-mounting slot, six-year guarantee if used normally, convenient carrying handle and will provide a weight reduction of up to 20% over a five day period while under the kitchen counter.

Max Air Compost Pail (MACP) helps keep kitchen scraps in their place and highly ventilated and was developed to be used along with biodegradable plastic bags, that keep the whole organic part of composting both tidy and environmentally friendly; helping our planet work towards a better tomorrow for the children of our childrens children, starting with you.

There isnt much to the concepts of living out in the country, but there is a whole lot that country living can teach those that find themselves trapped below the spiraling concrete and plexiglass of urban landscapes that seem to go on and on; composting is a lesson worth learning.

Nick Noyes offers a straightforward method for dealing with our kitchen refuse, garden debris and other organic waste, in a humane and ecologically correct manner that Mother Nature will thank us for.

Step by step, you too can learn to build your very own composter for country or city living, with new or used materials, and just a few basic carpenter skills that read as easily as a cookie recipe.

Single bin, double bin, triple or even quadruple, your needs can be met in this all encompassing book that not only teaches you how to build your veryown composter with what you have on hand, but also how to make the best use of our natural resources, right at home, to produce a simple and powerful garden amendment.

This 32-page paperback published by Storey Publishing, LLC in January of 1995, measurs 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.2, and ships at 1.6 ounces, bringing you the personal freedom and independence from polluting landfills; helping you make a difference today.

Build a composter on your own, by following the simple to understand directions in Easy Composters You Can Build by Nick Noyes, an author that brings the wisdom of country living into your library and hopefully into mainstream knowledge as well, making the future, just that much brighter.

Compost, the natural way to make food for your garden was written by Ken Thompson, a senior lecturer at the University of Sheffield, England, columnist for organic gardening magazines, plant ecologist and author of An Ear to the Ground: Gardens Science for Ordinary Mortals.

You will get to know exactly what to do to get good compost, how and why, even the scientific aspect is all easily grasped with concepts like Carbon:Nitrogen ratios, the role of water content, grass or kitchen waste, fungus, bacteria, worms and especially microorganisms.

Honestly written by a man who knows what the future is all about, low-impact techniques that help our civilization work in harmony with Mother Nature this is a tome of knowledge made specifically for the first time composter, looking to understand this ancient art, as a whole, in search of a more sustainable future, one home at a time…

This 192-page hardcover by DK Publishing, released in February of 2007 measures 7.7 x 6.1 x 1 inches and ships at 1.2 pounds.

Composting from home to home, learning just a little more about how our planet works, why and what the ecological values are behind doing-it-yourself is basically what makes Compost, the natural way to make food for your garden such an amazing book, so much in fact that it has even been marketed as The gardener’s essential compost and recycling bible.

This book brings the expertise and life experiences of successful organic farmer CEO Malcolm Beck as well as the remarks of Acres USA publishings Charles Walters (specialist in sustainable farms), to your home library with all the information you need to make your very own compost; making the world we live in, a better tomorrow.

What happens inside compost? How does it do what it does? What are the best kinds of blends of C:N ratios and how can you decide when the time is right to take advantage of your very own black gold?

Malcom Beck puts all his decades of organic farming knowledge and commercially successful composting business secrets into one single volume that shows us what a passionate person can do if they really put their mind to it.

Years of experimenting with a variety of soil compositions went into The Secret Life of Compost, and this 150-page composting treasure comes in paperback or hardcover, published by Acres USA in January of 1997, with the paperback measuring 8.9 x 6x 0.5 and shipping at 10.4 ounces; a valuable edition to any organic gardeners book collection.

Knowing how to compost, and how to compost in such a way that gardeners not only seek you out, end up forcing you into selling your compost pile, just to keep some yourself, it is the truest test of a real pioneer, a test that Malcom Beck has passed with flying colors, and that he now passes on to those of us looking to develop our own sustainable farms; through The Secret Life of Compost.

Conserving water, recycling waste, especially human fecal material, is really the most important step in reducing civilizations carbon footprints, as the most efficient way to deal with our waste, is to follow the simple, basic models, mother earth has given us already.

Are we fish that we would leave our number one and two in the rivers, lakes, streams and oceans, or are we humans, that would be caretakers and proper stewards that would enrich the land?

Nature is a perfection all of its own that we as humans cannot hope to improve; either we choose to model the perfection in natural physics, or we end up destroying that beauty, the choice is ours and sustainable architect Sim Van Der Ryn, has been fighting the cause of Earth Day from the very beginning, and The Toilet Papers is a well researched and insightful argument that people are willing to listen to once again.

Why pollute water, when we can take our organic human wastes and deal with them as Mother Nature intended? Safe, energetically efficient, inexpensive, self-reliance and most of all, very attractive to the human eye, this book is the philosophy of turning organic waste into rich and fertile humus, for ensuring our civilizations well-being without waste and most of all, without harm to nature.

This 124-page paperback was published in august of 1999 by Chelsea Green Publishing, measuring 8 x 4.8 x 0.5 and shipping at 5.6 ounces.

Eco-architect Sim Van Der Ryns The Toilet Papers, offers historical facts and philosophies on the proper recycling of our humanfecal material in the form of dry toilets, how to conserve fresh water, replenish aquifers, biologically filter greywater and do it all with astonishingly superb designs that make the soul soar!

Yes, the most popular places to find some pet worms for doing your own worm farm at home is a fishing supply store or local farm, the hardest thing always seems to be keeping them in good enough health conditions to actually survive the trip.

Filling this bait container is enough to get a whole new worm farm started up to show others what vermicomposting can really do.

Even hardy and aggressive worms like eisenia fetida (red wigglers) can just sit around and chill out for a while, this is not a really big problem, but what can happen during transport is they get a little traumatized from the sudden change in routine and that can be too hard on them.

One of the most interesting things about vermicomposting is studying the habits of our slimy brothers of the earth; their survival depends on keeping them as much within the parameters nature preset for them as possible, if they undergo too much stress, even the hardiest will perish in sad and agonizing fates.

Some rules include such conditions as: remaining moist, within a temperature range between 50 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit, avoid too much light, receive enough oxygen (yes they breath oxygen), be kept clear of predators (like chickens and mischievous children), have space to crawl and be fed regularly.

Worms need to be provided with a constant supply of food, such as in the case of red wigglers their weight in organics daily, but they will survive a few days/weeks without food.

Problems can arise if they run out of moist bedding for your worm farm but do not fear, throw in a little shredded cardboard.

You can transfer worms to a larger container with new bedding and plenty of kitchen refuse after being in the worm farm for long periods.

Bait containers can be several sizes, from huge buckets to average sized for worm bin starting kits the size Worm Ranch Worm Farm comes in. Considered a large package at 20 x 14 x 7 and weighing 8 lbs, the complete kit comes with a 4.5 lb bag of worm bedding and a 12 oz bag of worm food (worms not included).

Worms will multiply if you give them a chance, and bait containers like Magic Worm Ranch are a perfect way to share those extra pets that an existing worm bin is capable of producing.

Like to fish? Keep your worms thriving and reproducing in between fishing trips!

If you love your worms, give their offspring to others and promote vermicomposting as an ethical way to reduce the impact of an over aggressive industrial revolution and paving the future of sustainable practices, right at home.

Worm bins get easier and easier to maintain as people come out with new ways to improve comfort and environmental friendliness through recycled materials with more efficient shapes and sizes that do the job with a more ecological tone.

But mostly, it is when people start to really understand what makes vermicomposting so desirable in-the-kitchen that gets them to start up their own worm-bin under the sink.

Those who choose to keep their vermicomposting systems indoors must remember that an excess of fatty, acidic or animal based foods like dairy products, eggs and meats may create a foul odor while worms linger over how much they really need to eat that stuff.

Oh sure, they will eat almost anything, not just kitchen scraps, and they will break it down into some of the cleanest and finest worm castings in the world (their insides are so rugged and well adapted to dealing with bacteria, that they can even destroy dangerous pathogens if need be), but they prefer regular kitchen refuse of plant origin.

In nature for example, worms like anything that just kind of plops down under a tree or is trampled under foot on a field, and as horses and other plant-eaters like cows and deer do leave droppings, they are completely different from the kinds of droppings animal-eating predators like cats and dogs leave.

This doesnt mean worms are strictly veggie loving, they will eat decomposing animal remains and can even adapt to do just that kind of job, especially if survival is on the line, but they just dont eat stuff like that as often in nature as they do veggie remains, so they have personal preferences for non-animal kitchen scraps.

Veggie lovers who strictly avoid animal based foods are usually the first to bring vermicomposting indoors, since their piles rarely (if ever) emit foul odors.

For those looking for an easy to use vermicomposting system, Can-O-Worms for example is one of these kinds of products that blends the latest in modern technology with the latest in eco-friendliness.

Made from 100% recycled plastic, this is the kind of product that could withstand hundreds of years out in the open weather if well kept, ultimately paying off its own ecological footprints as well as cutting down on household CO2 emissions.

This style vermicomposting worm-bin that stacks usually measures the same size as a kitchen trash can, with four different stacking drawers or in this case cans.

Once the first compartment is full, the next is just placed on-top with wet bedding (usually shredded newspaper) and a healthy days worth of kitchen scraps, the worms will migrate to the next bin looking for more food, thereby emptying the lower bin.

They are attracted to the smell of organic materials and can eat their weight in food scraps each day, so they travel up in search of the new food source; red-wigglers are the most aggressive and the most common in vermicomposters today.

With vermicomposters of the stacking style, one of the bins will usually take about a whole seven-day week to fill up with a family of five, so after about three or four weeks, three bins can be emptied into the garden and the top bin goes to the bottom of the stack.

It really is that simple, and the worms will just keep on working, day after day, but please remember to feed them! They are members of the family too, like cats and dogs, and they need to eat every day, especially red wigglers.

Vermicomposting with stacking worm-bins like Can-O-Worms is not only an ecologically correct thing to do, it is a fun thing to do, as the whole family (and even those who visit) will be able to learn about these noblest of noble earth dwellers, transforming waste into black-gold of the garden.

What is the role of bacteria in composting? More than that, what is bacteria in the first place, how do we even know what it does and how exactly does it do all this?

Some of those questions can get icky technical to say the least, but for those of you looking to find out more about the scientific aspects of bacteria, there is a plethora of good information at the library and online.

There is so much scientific info on bacteria that it will make your head spin with all kinds of Greek root words, Latin root words and combinations of words that explain behaviors, structures and shapes on a scale that is most of the time far smaller than the human eye can see on its own.

Historically speaking Thonius Philips van Leeuwenhoek, usually considered the father of microbiology, a Dutch tradesman, a scientist and the son of a basket maker; was the first human to observe what at the time he called animalcules in the year 1676 using a single-lense microscope of his own design.

The improved manner in which Dutch eye-glass makers of the 1600s were carrying out their business had been so creative as to invent some more useful items like the telescope and the microscope making it possible for Leeuwenhoek to see bacteria for the first time ever.

Blended with Leeuwenhoeks curiosity, it revolutionized the way science saw the physical world forever.

It would only be much later on, in 1828 that bacteria would be first called as such by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg, after the Greek âáêôÞñéïí-á (bacterion a), meaning “small staff”.

Since then, the study of classifying bacteria has gone on and on, and grows even techier as the science of bacteriology advances throughout these long 330 or more years.

Sometimes, bacteria have taken on the role of criminal, sometimes the role of savior.

But to those of us who think practically, and in terms of how important a role bacteria have in composting and have continually had throughout the aeons, it is only reasonable to learn to respect those natural processes as much as possible for what they are; life.

Composting would not work without bacteria, not even vermicomposting would work without them, because without bacteria, there would not even be life on the planet as we know it.

These are ancient creatures, some of the very first forms of life on the planet eventually evolved into bacteria and they might even perhaps be responsible for the original formation of our atmosphere.

Some spiritual composters have even called them midichloreans (a word George Lucas derived from the endosymbiotic theory, yes a big concept), seeing them as a kind of omnipresent collective consciousness capable of healing the world.

That is a metaphysical issue that goes beyond the limits of this column and the fact that many people see them in this spiritual manner is already valid enough to mention since metaphorically speaking, they do a lot to add to our quality of life on this planet, without us even noticing, people accepting the fact as either spiritual or scientific is enough to respect their presence here at least.

They certainly are essential to the planet, cleaning up trash everywhere and producing a useful product, taking on a range of temperatures, surviving the strongest and most intelligent, while always in constant adaptation to environments and conditions.

Probably one of the most fascinating aspects of bacteria is their ability to survive through a kind of communal cooperation, quorum sensing, as in soil and on the surfaces of plants, where the majority of bacteria are bound in the form of biofilms (when bacteria attach to a surface in dense aggregations) also known as microbial mats.

The bacteria living in biofilms will commonly display a complicated network of cells and extracellular components arranging themselves optimally with secondary structures like microcolonies to better diffuse nutrients.

Quorum sensing is kind of a mystery to scientists, some use math to explain it, Kleiber’s Law, others use vitalist anthropomorphism (giving bacteria almost supernatural or human qualities), either way a person wants to rationalize it, these obviously independent organisms just spontaneously organize themselves through chemical exchanges (pheromones) that bind or induce certain genes into certain actions.

But basically what is happening with quorum sensing is, when a given community of bacteria (of the same species or not) undergo certain conditions (usually those that depend on survival, like energy depletion or temperature alteration), the different bacteria signal one another to do totally different jobs and in many cases, jobs that are not even evolutionarily species specific, always optimizing performance.

Friedrich Hayek called a “self-organizing system of voluntary co-operation” Catallaxy. And it is a phenomenon that seems to repeat itself over and over throughout earths communities, even the stock market.

As mysterious as this strange and complex optimization of bacteria is, it is exactly how composting can do its job so efficiently, it is why certain bacteria sacrifice themselves to create a kind of protective layer when quorum sensing starts to send out signals that conditions are going to become unfavorable soon.

The best metaphorical analogy is to say that they are acting like one collective organism, not a bunch of independent single-celled organisms, so where is the central planning?

Essentially, there is none, its just a mess of single-celled organisms that make themselves work together remarkably more efficiently well than even the most able or knowledgeable integrant of the community.

Who knows why that happens, it just does. Time and time again throughout human history and it presents itself as a very big theoretical challenge to both philosophers and scientists the world over. The fact that this catallaxy is the reason why composting with bacteria works is enough to explain how. Why it works, can be left to the reader to figure out.

Perhaps the way bacteria organize themselves could be studied as a form of biomimicry to help our society become more sustainable, since they certainly do have optimal performances during quorum sensing.

Now as for composting, there is a time when freshly added compost begins to pick up heat. Certain bacteria will survive and thrive between 0 and 40 degrees, but below and above that are considered extreme temperatures, thus these bacteria usually form endospores (little impervious shield walls inside the cell, filled with DNA and ribosomes), causing dormancy.

Thermophiles exist above 40 degrees and are what really break down bad news pathogens, making sure that they are completely destroyed during this stage of the hot pile.

Below zero degrees, there are psychrophiles that thrive at extremely low temperatures. Endospores are the way cells put themselves to sleep whenever conditions become too hostile and can just sit through changes until conditions become favorable.

Oscillating from 0-40 degrees and above, or back down to normal temperature and then maybe even slipping into such cold as thatbelow zero. Bacteria use the collective knowledge and the power of quorum sensing to better organize their actions and survive until conditions become favorable once again.

Many bacteria help plants to process nutrients in soil, many help breakdown organic compost into CO2 to return to the atmosphere, many help destroy harmful pathogens and overwhelmingly, each and every single one of these independent organismshas an incredibly important role to play as members of a collective, members of the great cycle of life.

Bacteria work together in ways that we as of yet, do not even fully understand, while in this dance of life, dance of energy and dance of movement; one bacterium can hold the key to an entire community of composting bacteria and maybe even working as gods of the earth.

Reference:
Compost Microorganisms

Marcus Cato the elder or the censor was kind of old schoolin his day and represents an excellent example of traditional Roman values in Italy before the onslaught of Greek culture, but to sustainable farmers everywhere, he is a kind of father figure that reinforces the importance of soil fertility and economics in agriculture.

What is good cultivation? Good ploughing. What next? Ploughing. What third? Manuring. Cato De Agri Cultura (61)

The book De Agri Cultura is an ancient text written in Latin prose, the very first Latin to be written in prose in fact and teaches through observations and notations how to take care of a traditional Roman farm, economically.

Meant to be read aloud, and discussed with workers, this book is just about as low-tech as your going to get; the biggest problem with it however, is the use and recommendations concerning slaves. If you can get over that bit, this book is a must read for anybody into low-tech sustainability.

Just imagine for a moment an elderly Roman man, head of his household, once a great General who had fought wars beside his men, dressed as they would dress, would ride as they would ride, eat, sleep and drink as they.

Now he sits, dressed as a simple farm hand, in his study at home, on his olive plantation in the Sabine Territory about 160 years or so before Christ was born after a long hard day of digging manure trenches around olive trees and scrounging for dry leaves and bedding for the animals; quill and ink in hand before a precious piece of parchment, thus his woolen tunic is filled with the smell of work and he writes about life on the farm:

See that you carry out all farm operations betimes, for this is the way with farming: if you are late in doing one thing you will be late in doing everything. If bedding runs short, gather oak leaves and use them for bedding down sheep and cattle. See that you have a large dunghill; save the manure carefully, and when you carry it out, clean it of foreign matter and break it up. Autumn is the time to haul it out. During the autumn also dig trenches around the olive trees and manure them. Cut poplar, elm, and oak leaves betimes; store them before they are entirely dry, as fodder for sheep. Cato De Agri Cultura (5(7-8))

It sounds almost as if he is giving himself, or his great grandchildren, directives to follow upon inheriting the family farm that once belonged to his own grandfather, and his incessant fingers continue in the reverie that will one day be immortalized:

Divide your manure as follows: Haul one-half for the forage crops, and whenyou sow these, if this ground is planted with olives, trench and manure them at this time; then sow the forage crops. Add a fourth of the manure around the trenched olives when it is most needed, and cover this manure with soil. Save the last fourth for the meadows, and when most needed, as the west wind is blowing, haul it in the dark of the moon. Cato De Agri Cultura (29)

Suddenly, a change in the wind and his mind goes out to the vineyard, he remembers how the soil out there had been so lean, and he thinks, What to do? ah, yes:

In an old vineyard sow clover if the soil is lean (do not sow anything that will form a head), and around the roots apply manure, straw, grape dregs, or anything of the sort, to make it stronger. Cato De Agri Cultura (33)

The day seems to be going afoul and a new idea comes to him; that maintaining soil fertility is so important, and yet, composting almost seems to take care of itself, how often should it be done? He thinks, and the quill moves once again with subtle detail:

When the weather is bad and no other work can be done, clear out manure for the compost heap; clean thoroughly the ox stalls, sheep pens, barnyard, and farmstead; and mend wine-jars with lead, or hoop them with thoroughly dried oak wood. Cato De Agri Cultura (39)

What of cypress, it is in much need of yearly fertility is it not? His mind wanders back to the parchment:

Turn the ground with a trench spade where you are going to plant cypress seed, and plant at the opening of spring. Make ridges five feet wide, add well-pulverized manure, hoe it in, and break the clods. Cato De Agri Cultura (48)

And on that same thought:

Manure meadows at the opening of spring, in the dark of the moon. When the west wind begins to blow and you close the dry meadows to stock, clean them and dig up all noxious weeds by the roots. Cato De Agri Cultura (50)

His mind is at peace and the quill stops its immortal motions.

Cato was a wise Roman, one who knew how important is was to keep a lock on time frames and make the best use of both the calendar as well as help allow those who work with you to feel like you are one in the same.

He took frugality to heart, he thought of the Roman farmer as the greatest example of a decent Roman citizen of true roman ideals, roman philosophies and the least of threats to civilizations, but rather, the backbone of it.

Cato knew soils like he knew his army, or the Roman people, he knew their strengths and their weaknesses for which crops at what seasons would need what kind of treatment, and many of his ideas about economy of resources, hold true to this very day.

Cato has left us an example of what low-tech sustainable practices were really like in the second century before Christ for the Roman farmer, and his thoughts eco out such a deep religious understanding of cycles, especially those that speak of soil fertility.

Marcus Cato the elder has preserved for us in De Agri Cultura, what it means to truly be a Roman farmer and respect soil fertility with the religious honors due to the gods.

There are two main kinds of biodegradable bags A.K.A biobags, one is more environmentally friendly than the other, those with starch based polymers are greener and those petrochemically produced bags with an additive base hold up like the real deal but release CO2 upon breakdown.

Each kind has strong points, and each their specific weak points, but which solution is more sustainable for a given population really depends on the location of composting facilities in the area, and the specific needs of that given population.

Not everyone enjoys the starch based Polythene film products because certain precautions need to be taken in regard to how they are used.

They do not replace petroleum plastics in the sense that they are not as rugged or enduring, having a lifespan and shelf-span, much like food products do.

Starches like wheat, corn and potatoes are usually used, meaning that this product competes with those kinds of food products, possibly even threatening consumption both of the food and the plastic product as crop yields help determine prices and supply.

Agriculturally speaking, this is an alternative that will eventually stimulate the area to produce more starch-based crops and alternative methods of production will come about the more space is restricted and consumer demands grow, but eventually the conditions for a more self-sufficient economy will become ever clearer.

Starch-based Polythene is also known as biobased (hydrodegradable) and reaches the American Standards for Testing Materials as well as the European norms for compostability degrading in 60% under 180 days.

Polymers that usually use starch are Polycaprolactone (PCL), Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and Polylactic acid (PLA), all used to control the microbial breakdown, only allowing breakdown in the presence of microbes, heat, moisture and proper aeration, such as those conditions found in traditional compost piles.

Additive based plastic bags on the other hand are our traditional plastic bag films with a special chemical adjustment so as to make them breakdown more readily under certain conditions.

Instead of taking hundreds of years to breakdown, these plastic bags will take only six months to two years, accelerating their breakdown process considerably, clearing up landfills and other litter issues, such as those found in nation parks, forests, sewers, storm drains and other water ways.

So are these additive-based compostable bags a more sustainable alternative? Not really, they certainly dont need consumers to be aware of how to use them, and they work just like what consumers have now, but they release CO2 upon degradation and petroleum is a limited resource that depends greatly on foreign affairs of state, which contributes to instability.

In the first stages of decomposer, oxygen, light, heat and/or stress react on a molecular level, fragmenting the film in such a way that water can wet and surround its molecules, thus making it readily biodegradable, leaving only CO2, water and biomass once microorganisms get a hold of it.

These oxodegradable/photodegradable plastic bags may make things easier without causing much change in the consumers lifestyle today and cost a little less right now when compared to those that are starch based, but in the long run, this is not a sustainable alternative, thus they do not meet European standards for compostability.

Between the two main alternatives in compostable bags, starch based trash bags are less resistant than the traditional plastic bags with an additive base, and also require more consumer care while using them, but in the long run, starch based bags take less time to decompose (up to 180 days) while additive based bags may takea couple of years (up to 2 yrs) and have the downside of being made from petrochemicals as well as releasing CO2 into the atmosphere.

In the end, the compostable bags you choose need to be right to fit your needs, only you know how green you can be…

Good list of current “approved” bags at:
BPI World Approved Products

Invented by Dr. Ehrenfired Pfeiffer, disciple of philosopher Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Anthroposphy and Biodynamic Agriculture, BD Compost Starter is one of the founding and essential products of Biodynamic Agriculture, with a unique spiritual and scientific preparation style that makes it quite different from other compost starters.

With the whole farm viewed as a living entity, everything in it is considered to be an integral part of this self-contained organism, complete with its very own individuality, emphasizing integration between livestock and crops, the recycling of nutrients, the well being and health of crops as well as maintaining the soil.

Based on Steiners prescription of eight different soil preparations to be used and the details on how to use them in creating quality humus, Dr. Pfeiffer innovated Biodynamic Agriculture with his BD Compost Starter.

The prepared substances are numbered 500 through 507; numbers 500 and 501 are used for preparing the fields, while 502, 503, 504, 505, 506 and 507 are all used for preparing the compost itself.

While rather complicated, somewhat extensive to explain here, or to be done by a beginner in Biodynamic Agriculture, it is both a fun and spiritually uplifting experience to actually create Biodynamic preparations oneself if taken the time to learn. In the end, when push does come to shove, every biodynamic farmer must choose for themselves what works best.

After Steiner released a series of eight lectures, Spiritual Foundations for the Renewal of Agriculture, he indicated several different preparations to be used in agriculture and these are what are now referred to as Biodynamic Preparations (BD preparations).

Instead of bringing straight chemicals into agriculture through such things as ammonia or urea, these chemicals are introduced through products such as manure or rock phosphate.

Beyond the Cartesian thinking of scientists from a mechanistic view of the world and physical reality that thinks along the lines of traditional soil chemistry; Biodynamic preparations also looks to understand cosmic forces that might also influence the preparation of soils and humus on a non-visible or esoteric level, much like gravity or magnetism, which cannot be observed by the naked eye, yet are observable.

Biodynamic Compost Starter (BD Compost Starter) ultimately failed economically, as it was not something that could be readily spread with the common fertilizer spreader used by farmers at the time of its release and as this technical difficulty could not be overcome it was carried on almost single-mindedly by Josephine Porter in the United States for nearly 30 years until her death in 1984.

See also:
Biodynamic Farming & Compost Preparation
Composting the Bio-Dynamic Way

Our Book Review:
Principles of Biodynamic Spray And Compost Preparations

Bottle Biology was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation administered by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a companion book can be found here.

By using recycled, transparent (clear), two-liter soda bottles, cutting them up, organizing them in a column like fashion and then filling them with composting materials, it is possible to observe the different stages of breakdown more readily.

BottleBiology.Org proposes something incredibly helpful with this device as a parent and child activity, especially for those who enjoy biology, gardening, nature or just composting and want to enlighten themselves and others into this remarkable field of sustainability.

The possibilities with this tool are virtually as limited as the kinds of things that people throw away or compost and the different techniques used in composting itself.

Decomposition columns are even used for investigating such things as acid rain by using vinegar as a simulation tool instead of water.

Investigating first-hand with children what is really going on down their in our soil, either from landfills, leaf compost, kitchen refuse with worms or whatever the imagination might think up to investigate is a great way to see up and close how moisture (adding water) and oxygen (adding holes in the bottles) effects the conditions of a compost pile underground.

So if you find yourself looking for an interesting tool for exposing the conditions we find below the ground, no matter if they be aerobic or anaerobic, making a decomposition column is easy, fun and most of all, educational for everyone, opening a plethora of possibilities to even the most experienced composter.

The Worm Chalet is a verticalized worm bin that allows worms to migrate upward from box to box as the lower boxes have reached their capacity, the worms will automatically find their way towards more organic materials.

As long as the level of soil is close enough to the top where they can reach the next level, the worms will just keep going upward, so when they reach the top box, just place it as the bottom box, empty the castings from the bottom and middle boxes into your garden and start the whole process over again.

The average American household usually has between two to five adults which will use an average of 15 to 20 kilos of food scraps a day; making Worm Chalet the ideal vermicomposting unit in small urban areas like apartments.

30.5 inches tall and 19.75 x 19.75 inches square, it readily fits into any kitchen or pantry as if it were an alternative garbage disposal unit, and it doesn’t smell as long as the compost tea is collected daily from the spigot at the bottom and spread into the garden or used as organic pesticide.

Alternatively, some people like to oxygenate their compost tea with an old aquarium air pump, a bucket and some tubing, supercharging it for better results!

This system is expandable and the plastic was made to look like weathered stone, with a passive climate control mechanism that moderates temperature fluctuations through an insulated air core in the triple wall design.

It is important to keep this out of direct sunlight while in use, to allow a more favorable environment and the tapered lid inhibits rainwater from pooling up.

Made from UV stabilized plastic that is durable and long lasting it comes with metal sieve separators, it can be used indoors or outdoors as is convenient, has a one year warranty and ships at 79 pounds.

The Worm Chalet is one more way to improve ecological friendliness, providing a sustainable outlet for organic wastes in the urban home, avoiding unnecessary ecological footprints and helping those that use your kitchen understand what it means to be a steward of Mother Earth on a daily basis.

Buy a Worm Chalet from Amazon.com

Mothers and grandmothers will love to read this book to their little girls between the ages of 4 to 8 or even as old as 9. Recommended to anyone seriously looking to educate a child in the ways of vermicomposting at home.

This is a fabulous adventure between a loving mother and her daughter to convert a storage box into a pet home for their new red worms.

More than just how to build and maintain a worm bin, this is a unique family experience that all children (boys and girls alike) will appreciate, done together with a loving adult to create a marking relationship with the earth and how we deal with our waste.

The art of vermicomposting through a grand explanation that is exciting for both children and adults to hear and read, with poetic rhyming couplets that accentuate an already beautiful process.

Written and illustrated by Michelle Eva Portman, hardbound, 6 3/8″ x 8 3/4″ in full color, 42 pages and step by step How To instructions and resources, this was first published in December of 2002 by Flower Press, a company that knows what people really need to be seeing and thinking about to make progress for this nation of ours.

Flower Press, was founded in 1976 by the passed on, yet well remembered and loved Worm Woman Mary Appelhof, who self-published for years to show the world what people really should be thinking about, not what the book industry thought people wanted to read about.

Books by Flower Press keep it real, teaching us not what to sell, but what to do to actually make a difference in the now, with whatever is available.

True to the Flower Press philosophy, Compost, By Gosh goes beyond money and looks to just get those ideas out there; these are the valued ones that will really make a difference in the world we live in.

Compost, By Gosh is a humane and loving way to teach our children the true secrets of Mother Nature, by passing them on, from parent (grandparent) to child (4-9) through the kind of storytelling that really makes a difference in a childs life.

Compost, By Gosh is the road to a more sustainable future through family vermicomposting, and it begins with our children; today.

This is not just a full comprehensive guide to transforming the novice composter into an expert within a 208 page paperback, measuring 5.5 x 8.5 and weighing only 295 grams; its a quick and easy way to acquire both basic gardening techniques and an overall understanding of the range of alternative living methods used by those looking for the path to sustainability.

Diary of a Compost Hotline Operator was first published in October of 2003 by New Society Publishers and written by Spring Gillard, who is a powerful storyteller that takes you into the fascinating realm of better, greener living in urban agriculture the world over beginning with her day to day experiences of what makes for good healthy humus and a more sustainable lifestyle.

Diary of a Compost Hotline Operator makes for a great gift idea for the curious in what all the big hype with compost and sustainability is, perhaps even indirectly helping to create a better tomorrow, by just letting us think a little about those alternatives.

Buy Now on Amazon.com

Red worms like those cultivated are not just for worm composting though, they can also serve as fish bait or reptile food just as easily, as these are alternative uses for their cultivation from other distributors.

Red worms take on manure, paper, household kitchen refuse and pretty much any organic materials that you offer them at a rate of their own weight daily.

Jill offers 1,000 (roughly one pound) of handpicked red worms by mail order, with an assortment of mature breeders, young, extra egg-capsules in two pounds worth of bedding, shipped on Mondays by priority mail (expedited) only or overnight in extreme temperatures (shipping in this case required) and a thee page worm care notes included at a total of four pounds for the whole package.

Your worms may arrive somewhat dehydrated from the shipping, but with a little moisture and liquid food, they should come out of dormancy and perk right up again in no time at all.

This is done by leaving some easily digestible organics like fruit and dinner leftovers in the bottom of some soil and allowing microorganisms to break it down during shipping, the messy goop that results is what your red worms will need to restore themselves to full health upon arrival.

Enough red worms could purify your home of all its organic waste in just seven to fourteen days at a time, leaving you with the best form of soil nurturing additive on the planet; worm castings as a byproduct that is some of the most hygienic processes known to science today.

It is possible to say that there is no other known solution more directed towards environmental stewardship than one that reduces ecological footprints to a minimum while replenishing directly and in abundance, the soil nutrients we deprive nature of when we avoid the food chain through the garbage man.

By allowing red worms into our homes and daily lives, we allow our civilization to take part in Mother Nature once again; as purifiers, that is, as true stewards.

This is a sustainable way to deal with our civilizations organic wastes and one of the most low-tech ways to be environmentally correct with as few ecological footprints as possible.

If you have already been doing vermicomposting or intend to start soon, know that by using red worms to take care of your organic waste, you are replenishing what others have not and becoming a true steward of space station earth.

Buy Jill’s Domestic Redworms on Amazon.com

Related:
Earthworm Species - by Kelly Slocum

Book:
Worms Eat My Garbage - by Mary Appelhof

For ages 4-8, this 32-page hardcover published by Dutton Juvenile in May of 1993 measures 11.1 x 7.7 x 0.4 inches and ships at 12.5 ounces.

Bianca Lavies is a professional photographer with an eye for natures most glorious moments, and by constructing her own compost pile at home, she observes in as only an artist can, through images, a year of bacteria, insects, worms and crustaceans all working down loads of household food scraps into fertile soil.

Rich detail and color, Lavies has experienced the most sublime aspects of a process that most people choose to ignore, and brought those experiences to life for all to see and feel.

Compost Critters even has an essay that clarifies and informs with factual information, broadening youngsters concepts in a very special and beautiful way.

Bianca Lavies even goes so far as to plant tomato vines around her compost pile, showing respect for lifes wonders and the joy that we as humans can have in the role as stewards here on earth.

Compost Critters is a truly wonderful display of Nature, through art, respect, love and joy, that our children will understand, accept and hopefully; live for.

This book is an overview of the history of agriculture, the applications of compost preparation, the practicality of organic spray as well as the biodynamic philosophy behind these techniques.

According to biodynamics, keeping our gardens sustainable is one of the first steps to healing the world, and it is something that everyone can do at home by using the most simplest of household wastes, organic compost.

Through creative techniques that have a long history of usage throughout the world, biodynamics challenges the sustainable gardener to prove these (often dubbed esoteric) philosophies scientifically.

Best of all, this stuff works! Biodynamics is an older term for what is now a trend in gardening, self-reliance, the all-American do-it-yourself sempra-fi attitude that just might save us from our own outlandish energy consumption in the past century and a half.

This introduction to biodynamic agriculture was written by Manfred Klett (over twenty years of experience), former director of the Department of Agriculture at the Goetheanum in Switzerland.

Klett is the founder of a biodynamic farming community in Germany and this book deals with the very basics of biodynamic agriculture; based on lectures by the author from the BAA (Biodynamic Agriculture Association).

This 110-page paperback published by Floris Books in its second edition in April of 2006 measuring 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.4 inches and shipping at 3.5 ounces is a great way to begin using sustainable agriculture as not merely a way of caring for the earth, but in living a better life.

Principles of Biodynamic Spray and Compost Preparations helps us understand the core philosophy, background and techniques behind biodynamics, which may just lead to a deeper understanding of our own lives; healing ourselves, through the healing of the Earth itself.

As the editor-in-chief of Organic Gardening Magazine for seven years, Mike McGrath has never stopped studying or looking for the best up-to-date information for his Public Radio Show You Bet Your Gardenon 91FM and his Book of Compost is all the most useful information in one tome of knowledge.

Tips that anybody can use such as how to keep the driveway and yard leaf free, while recycling those leaves at four parts for every one part kitchen scraps into a cold-pile, or how to get a worm bin setup by yourself in small urban spaces without yards.

Mike McGraths Book of Compost is a 128-page paperback published by Sterling in August of 2006 measuring 8.8 x 6 x 0.5 inches and shipping at 6.4 ounces.

Years of experience, research and knowledge about what the average gardener is looking for at home and how to take that knowledge into his/her own life from doing good to the environment can be found in Mike McGrath’s Book of Compost.

Stu Campbell breaks the art of composting down. The novice thinking of composting as a dirty activity will surely begin to change ones mind, turning it into a fun and exciting pastime that touches the spiritual realm of gardening.

This 160 page paperback measures 9 x 6 x 0.5, ships at 8.8 ounces and makes for an inspiring refresher for those that already know how to compost, Stu Campbell makes an effort to keep the information highly detailed and easy to read for the general reader.

Let it Rot not only gets into reasons to compost, but also shows differing approaches, how decomposition works, various methods, ingredients, rate of breakdown, how to use the humus, how decomposition itself works and even how to build bins.

This book contains aesthetically pleasing sketches as well as black and white illustrations and diagrams that please the eye and answer questions at a glance.

A list of sources, supplies and a bibliography (14 titles) make this revolutionary book from 1975 a classic must-not-miss for those building a compost library at home.

All information you needed for your first composting project at home, this thirty year old best seller is a classic among composters; Let it Rot will change your outlook on composting forever.