Page 24 RAIN May 1981 Take one 5-gallon bucket with top; drill drainage holes in the bottom of the bucket and air holes in the top. Dunkin Donuts buckets are very good, I've found. Place the bucket on a drip pan. I use the top from a metal 5-gallon bucket my co-op gets vegetable oils in. ake one pound of peat moss and ten pounds of potting soil. Sprinkle loose peat moss to cover the bottom of the bucket. Fill bucket one third full with mixed soil and moss. Take 150 or so worms from the bottom of a heap of leaves (take some of this leaf compost with you, too) or buy them from a bait shop as bait called "red wigglers" or "red wrigglers." Add the worms to the bucket and fill it another one-third full with more mixed moss and soil. You should have a light, porous soil that is almost moist, especially if you added the leaves and leaf mold from the leaf pile. Feed the worms all your vegetable wastes, except for citrus peels and meat. Coffee grounds or similar finely diced materials are perfect. Chop vegetable ends and peelings as finely as you care to, the finer the better. Add the worm food to the bucket and turn it under the soil with a trowel, being careful not to harm your worms. You should be able to see many fat, healthy worms, young worms and egg cases. Keep your worms in a shady place (I keep mine beneath my sink), between 50 and 95 F, and in a neutral soil, neither acid nor alkali. They will eat as much of your kitchen garbage as you feed them. Occasionally, you may drain some moisture from the drip pan to fertilize your plants or take some soil for potting seedlings. One 5-gallon container can handle from one to four people. I have used this system for a full year for myself and for six months with 2 other people. You may never take out the garbage again. George Mokray W@LP W@LP[li]J~ · ~ // ~ / -~ / / ~ ,,,-_- I . \ .,.., ' '---.. "-- :~ --- ---- --- 1/v_:. _ ~ / ----- ., , • - --- ' .,, ·~/.'.(IT,_ \J - ·--.,,,_~ -,,~ : :•____-=::.,________ J---,1 ---------· Ani_J Rad RAIN 2270 NW Irving, Portland, OR 97210 (503) 227-5110 Forwarding and return postage guaranteed Address correction requested
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