Aloha Mai Kakou!  Aloha to everyone!

In what arena of life can you begin with a sum of 8 and end up with a sum of lM in a 365 day span of time?  And do this all while maintaining an earth-friendly posture and protocol?  Hmmm.  Some kind of scam, you may ask?

Well, no...no scam here.  Just a majorly wonderful exploration called "vermiculture" or "vermacomposting".  In recent days i attended a wonderful workshop on composting and vermiculture sponsored by Recycle Hawai'i and Hawai'i County Dept. of Environmental Management and hosted by La'akea Community and taught by Piper Seldon  www.HawaiiRainbowWorms.com.

With talk of landfills, well, filling to capacity...and an urge to live in harmony with nature more than i have in recent years, inspired me to attend the workshop (which also included Tim's totally brilliant segment on building raised plant beds using recycled pallets...i'm telling you, this is exciting stuff...seriously)!  And what a tremendous education was had by all!  For example, did you know that in Hilo alone, 50% of landfill could have been composted while 30% landfill could have been recycled? = 80% WASTE! 

This is where the composting worms ( as compared to soil worms), come in...these ancient critters (i hear some of you going: eeeuuuuwwwwyulk)..these critters are fantastic survivors and earth helpers. Did you know for example that l tsp. of worm compost is the equivalent of 2.5 cups of yard-made compost? Very potent, thorough, critters indeed.  As well, they are hermaphrodites and colonies adapt their procreative pace based on environmental and food determinants.  And, according to Piper, under proper conditions,a pioneer group of 8 composting worms can procreate into lM within a year!  Why is this exciting news?  Well, because here in the middle of the big Pacific Ocean, we import much of our soil and fertilizers in a variety of ways...On-island vermiculturing could make a huge postive change in our off-island dependencies related to land, food, self-sustainance, peacefulness.

These critters can live in self-contained, specially designed, easily kept bins...do not create odor, mess or other despicable products or behaviors...just lovely, potent, beautiful materials for your garden...just give them dampness, darkness, and dinner (your table scraps!)...perfect solution for apartment-dwelling people as well as country folk too...Yes, you can call me a "believer" in this study called "Vermiculture"...

When Piper returns from a research trip abroad, we'll schedule a meeting on-air Fall season on The Peace Place internet radio program...maybe even some other interesting projects will evolve... stay tuned...will keep you posted...

Check this out!  Research is even being done into using composting worms to de-contaminate and revitalize radioactive soil...powerful beings, those little wigglies!  E ho'omaluhia me ka honua!   aloha, a.s.