By Sherry Palmer
Recycling your kitchen wastes using a home worm bin is an easy, ecologically sound way to dispose of kitchen wastes. Just think about how much water is used every day when you wash garbage down the garbage disposal in your sink!
Besides saving water, a worm bin produces an organic compost that can be used instead of chemical fertilizers in your garden and on your house plants. This is a fun and educational activity for youngsters. They will learn something about the biology of worms and also the importance of reusing and recycling to preserve resources.
Here are 10 easy steps to setting up your worm bin:
1.Select a container to house your worms. Both wooden boxes and plastic storage bins work well. The process is fairly slow at first. You won’t see much change from day to day. The worms will grow if you provide the basics: You can learn more about your home worm bin or order Red Wiggler Worms at our web site: http://www.wormlady.com
Sherry Palmer studied horticulture at South Puget Sound Community College and established a small organic farm, Creekside Gardens, on the land where her parents and grandparents once farmed. She raises Red Wiggler compost worms and promotes recycling of kitchen wastes using a home worm bin. Her web site www.wormlady.com is a great guide to raising worms and offers online sale of Red Wigglers.
2.Determine what size you need based on the amount of waste you generate per week. An average household of 4 creates 6 lbs of food waste per week. They would need a 6 sq ft bin. (2’ x 3’). Keeping your container fairly shallow 12”-18” helps keep the bedding from compacting and makes it easier to handle.
3.Your bin should also have a lid to keep predators out and protect your worms from exposure to light and sudden temperature changes.
4.Drill some holes about 1/8” diameter and about 4” apart in the sides and bottom to provide air circulation and good drainage.
5.If you keep your bin indoors, set it up on blocks and place a tray or thick layer of newspapers under it to catch any excess moisture that may drain out of the bottom..
6.Add damp bedding to the bin. Strips of old newspaper, shredded paper, leaves, or peat moss all work well. Use what you have. Make the bedding about 6” deep.
7.Add the food waste. You can add the food in piles or spread it out into a shallow layer. But cover it with about another 2” of damp bedding. Worms will eat anything that has once been alive including paper. Vegetable scraps, spoiled leftovers from the fridge, cereal, fruit rinds, coffee grounds (including the paper filters), and stale bread all make great worm food. Don’t feed raw meat, dairy products, or pet feces.
8.Each time you add food, stir the bedding up to loosen it and keep it from becoming packed down. It is important to keep the air circulating to allow the rotting process plenty of oxygen. If your bin gets stinky the food is not getting enough air as it decomposes. Frequent stirring will prevent this. Always cover the food with additional damp bedding.
9.You may need to add moisture from time to time in addition to the food. Never let the bedding dry out. Sprinkle lightly with water. Fruit juice is even better. If the bin is too dry, the food will stop rotting and the worms will not be able to eat it.
10.Place your worms into the worm bin. Be sure to dump in all of the old vermicompost that came with your worms. This compost material contains lots of micro-organisms that your bin needs to help keep the wastes decomposing so the worms can eat it.
Moist dark environment
Rotting Food (kitchen wastes)
Bedding to allow air circulation
Stable temperature between 60-75 degrees inside the bin.
By Kathleen Wilson
Frugal Kitchen Spruce Ups Most of us spend a good deal of time in our kitchens these days, and it’s not just for cooking. More homes are being built with the kitchen as the hub of the home, and even if you’re on a tight budget, that shouldn’t stop you from making it a pleasant and personal place to be!
If your cabinets are in need of a total overhaul, consider painting them. Nothing changes the look of a kitchen faster! Visit the library for info on faux finishing, or go to www.paintedhouse.com or www.fauxlikeapro.com, and turn a simple paint job into a one of a kind kitchen.
If you don’t want the hard work that goes into total repainting, consider removing a cupboard door to make a display cabinet. Paint the entire interior of the cabinet a light or bright accent color, and put your prettiest on display. Or have someone good with power tools cut out the center panels of the doors, then shirr fabric over the inside to hide the contents of the cupboard…secure with a staple gun or Velcro tape.
Pick up inexpensive plate hangers from the hardware store and hang the saucers from your good china around the backsplash, or as a border. Don’t have any china? Visit garage sales and thrift stores this weekend to pick up a bunch of sweet little plates for a song. (No, they don’t have to match, or be fancy!)
Hang tea towels on the diagonal over your curtain rod for a fresh summer valance, and save some extra to stitch up into potholders and placemats.
Make a floor cloth to perk up your tired floors from a piece of remnant vinyl flooring you get at a home improvement center for just a few dollars. Turn the piece over to the backside, and give it a coat or two of good primer, then a coat of any basecoat color. Then use masking tape, stencils, stamps, sponges or freehand painting to impart a design that fits your room. Be sure to seal it with a couple of coats of water based polyurethane, and it will wipe clean for years! This is a great way to customize your kitchen for little money…lets face it, rugs are expensive, impossible to keep clean in a kitchen, and are usually the same old boring thing. This is also a great way to cover an aging or damaged floor, as you can make the floorcloth to whatever size you need.
Save empty bottles and fill with colored water to set on the windowsills, or line up the bottles and fill with one flower each from your garden.
Grow plants from seed on your windowsills! Even grass seed has become very vogue. (Don’t tell anyone, because I usually shy away from “vogue”, but I really like the grass thing!J)
Above all, invoke your family into the place where you spend the most time. I’ve heard some designers say you should keep your refrigerator clear to prevent clutter, NO MAGNETS! But honestly, what would my kitchen be without my kids drawings stuck all over the door? It wouldn’t be the place I want to spend most of my time. I even have a couple of framed photos of my kids, right on the kitchen counter! So make your kitchen YOUR home, and have fun doing it!
Copyright 2002 K. Wilson
Kathleen Wilson is the editor of a free ezine and website called The Budget Decorator. When she’s not decorating or gardening she’s caring for her 5 kids, 3 stepkids, and wonderful husband. You can get more info and free projects at her website http://www.thebudgetdecorator.com
By Kathleen Wilson
By Anonymous
Rebecca Putnam, designer of over 1,500 kitchens in Metrowest, has opened Expressions, her own kitchen design and cabinet sales business with partner Althea Clark in Sudbury, MA. In the Sherwood neighborhood of Natick, Rebecca designed and sold cabinets for nine kitchens.
Rebecca, a four-year Interior Design graduate of the University of California, has worked in the Greater Boston area for eight years.
This article courtesy of http://cobalt-blue-goblets-are-they-antiquessquare.krapoo.info/.
You may freely reprint this article on your website or in
your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author
name and URL remain intact.