Mother's Going GREEN - Day 17 - Involving the Children

Going green for our family was partly inspired by my children. What kind of world are we going to leave them? Whatever world it is I want my children to look back and know that I tried to do something for the world and for them. I also want to teach them the value of the earth and how important it is to our lively hood.

Our family's journey of going green most certainly involves them. The small ways that they help out is:

• cutting newspaper for the worms (our worm compost) each time we feed them we give them a little fresh newspaper.
  
• feeding the worms.


• taking care of the vegetable garden.


• ensuring lights are turned off in the rooms and are not turned on during the day. (my son noticed one deary grey evening, that I turned on the light for dinner and he questioned it as it was not quite dark enough for lights. Way to go son!)


• helping out with the recycling (sorting out the glass from the plastic and the corrugated cardboard from the paper)

I am seeing after only 17 days that my behaviour toward reducing, reusing and recycling is rubbing off on them. "Monkey see, monkey do."

Thank goodness for little children, thank goodness we have the opportunity to do right for the world for them.

Mother's going GREEN Day 3 - Composting the Worm Way (Vermiposting)

So today we set up the worm compost. Quite simple really..... In our household we are calling it the "Worm Farm".

You need a container - I chose a two Rubbermaid containers, we drill holes in the bottom of one container for aeration and place it in the container with no holes, this allows the bottom container to collect any liquid that leaks out. All very neat and tidy. The we drilled holes in the lid so the worms can breath (picture shows my husband drilling holes). As you can see we choose a larger container as I believe we have a lot of food waste that our worms will love, but they can be much smaller than that.

Then you add the bedding - shredded damp newspaper ( I read somewhere on the Internet that you should not use colour print - but not all the instructions say that. We have stuck with black and white print only which meant leafing through the paper to exclude the colour.) The dampness of the newspaper is important as if it is too damp it will cause your "worm farm" to smell ( and we don't want that). The wetness of the paper should be that of a wrung out sponge. (again some sites say add a couple of handfuls of dirt to the bedding - it helps the worms eat the food). We decided on adding the dirt.

Lastly you add the worms. Red wigglers are suggested. Allow them to settle into their new home for a couple of days and then let the 'feast' begin.

You can feed your worms the following: Fruit and vegetable peels, finely crushed egg shells (rinse out the eggshells first); coffee grinds and the filter, teabags, wood ash, sawdust, plant trimmings, dryer lint, grass. It is advisable to bury the food under the paper and in a different location within the bin each time. Also, make your waste into 'bite' size pieces for easier composting.
DO NOT feed your worms the following: Butter, bone, meat, fish, poultry, dairy or vegetable oil.

After a few months you will be rewarded with a dark rich earthy substance which makes a great natural fertilizer for your garden and plants. Also, the liquid that runs out the bottom can be used as a liquid fertilizer for you plants.

I have included some websites for you to get more information on Vermiposting.

• http://www.city.vaughan.on.ca/vaughan/departments/public_works/vermicompost.cfm
• http://http//www.bearsmart.com/bearSmartCommunities/Attractants&WasteManagement/TheDirtOnIndoorComposting.pdf
• http://cityfarmer.org/wormcomp61.html#wormcompost

Happy Composting and I will keep you updated on how ours is progressing.