How to Have a Good Time

It probably seems like fellow blogger and friend, Danny Jensen, and I don't have much free time (not true) or know how to have fun (also false). But, we did find a cool, inexpensive and environmentally sustainable way to use up some of our free time: composting! The Great American Compost contest "grew" out of our encouragement and support for our mutual desires to take our ecological commitments to the next level. So, we're having an informal tracking of our compost bins (Danny now has a compost bin and I recently set up a worm compost bin).

I know, there's a zillion measures that each of us can take to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, but starting your own compost bin isn't the first thing that comes to most people's minds. I know, most people think about light bulbs, cars, food choices or legislation. However, composting is a low-cost, easy, highly effective way to turn your waste into lush, beautiful fertilizer.

[caption id="attachment_22685" align="alignright" width="218" caption="Steve, with my worm bin"][/caption]

Since I didn't have any spare worms at home and my local hardware store didn't have any, I called up Steve Gottlieb of Golden Wiggle Worms to get some. was able to provide me with one pound of beautiful red wiggle worms that nestled themselves into their new home. Their new home (a bit of a McMansion in size for these small guys) is lined with moistened newspaper (which they love to eat), followed by a layer of luscious compost, some tasty Starbucks coffee grinds (even worms have gotten on the Starbucks bandwagon), followed by some dampened cardboard to block out light. Unlike some of my fellow Angelenos, these little guys prefer to be away from the spotlight--shade is their friend!

Now that I've got my little worm McMansion set up, I am saving all of my uncooked kitchen scraps, used tea leaves and newspaper. I will periodically add these ingredients to the compost bin for the worms to heartily enjoy and transform the scraps into garden gold. The end result of their feast will be beautiful fertilized dirt that can be used in a garden.
Stay tuned for updates from Danny and me about this process. If you want to join us, learn more here. If you're in LA, you can order worms from Steve.