She's got worms!

So, today I taught my first ever worm workshop. Well, actually co-taught. Brian Rosa is our local "worm wrangler" (from NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources Department of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance). He specializes in organics recycling, specifically in vermiculture (using worms to compost organic waste). I assisted him in bringing together a four hour intensive on vermiculture in the home. At the end of the day, people left with a small worm bin complete with a half pound of worms to process all their kitchen/garden waste produced in their home.

In the greenhouse we built, we have the first permitted vermiculture project in North Carolina. That's a big deal. There are other operations that exist in the state but do not have the proper permits to allow them to market and sell their end product in accordance with state guidelines. It's very exciting and I try to hold the project to a high standard to maintain that sort of prestige that comes with being 'the first' in anything.

So, on this glorious day we held our worm workshop. Thirty eager bodies absorbed as much as they could on composting basics and worm care-taking. An excellent time was had by all. Brian did a fantastic job with the presentation. It is part of his job description to go around and do these talks so he has done the same spiel hundreds of times. I hope to be able to get to that point. Here is a link to photos from the event (it also goes to a flier for our next workshop coming up on April 5th):

http://gallery.mac.com/tschwerin#100176

Can't wait until the next workshop!