ENV - Worm composting

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http://www.boston.com/dailynews/120/region/Worm_enthusiast_preaches_virtu:.shtml

Worm enthusiast preaches virtues of composting By Associated Press, 4/30/2001 02:16 SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (AP) Mary Beth Ontkush, who may be Maine's only worm farmer, believes that worms make earth a better place.

By recycling apple cores, coffee grounds and junk mail into rich, sweet dirt, worms cut back on trash, give back to plants and offer lessons about soil, she says.

This unabashed worm enthusiast is happy to preach the benefits of ''inviting this unique family into your home.''

Her business, Worms@Work, sells home vermicomposting systems or worm bins that turn kitchen scraps and other organic waste into natural fertilizer.

Raised in upstate New York, Ontkush, 31, earned an art degree in college and moved to Maine in 1992 to work at an organic farm in Durham. Last year she went to a compost school run by the University of Maine's cooperative extension, earning a ''certificate of technical ability in composting.''

To Ontkush, worm composting is ''transformative.'' It transforms garbage into dirt, she says, and so much more.

''It's an eco-system,'' she says. ''It's life, a life force, and it's there for us.''

Composting breaks down organic matter by combining four elements: carbon, or dry material; nitrogen, or food; air, and moisture. Bacteria bred by the conditions break down the matter.

Worms turn the matter, which helps activate the breaking down. Then they eat it and excrete worm castings, which become dirt.

Ontkush began worm composting last fall, ordering two pounds of red wigglers from a worm farmer in Rhode Island. During the winter, through trial and error, she refined her composting technique.

Ontkush, who keeps her compost bins on the deck of her apartment, found that the trick in working them is ensuring there is not too much food or moisture. Most problems can be solved by adding dry matter, or draining the smelly water that gathers underneath.

Worms@Work has just started up. It sells large bins for $50 and various smaller bins for less. It also sells worms, three bucks a dozen, to put in a compost heap. Its website is www.wormsatwork.com.

Ontkush does her worm thing for business, but also pleasure.

She has learned about soil science, worms, life: ''It's science - not the textbook variety, but hands-on, in your bin, in your stairwell.''

-- Anonymous, April 30, 2001


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