How to Set up Vermicompost in Your Home: A ‘Hands on’ Demonstration

Please join us for a very special Earth Day service this morning! Planned by our Green Sanctuary Team, Jill Rippe will provide a short Vermicompost workshop during the service! Vermicompost is the nutrient rich organic fertilizer also known as worm castings, created through the process of using red wiggler worms to consume food and other organic matter. The vermicompost creates an excellent soil amendment and compost tea that can be used for potted plants in your house or in your garden. Benefits are great: you create plant fertilizer and improve your soil while recycling organic materials and reusing plastic buckets that would otherwise go into landfills, helping reduce your carbon footprint.  

For this demonstration, Jill will show you a method similar to what she has been using for the past 10 years, this is a flexible and easy system! You can choose to just listen and watch, or you can participate and build your own vermicompost bin. If you want to participate, please sign up online or in person (CLICK HERE) by April 23. You can bring your own materials (see list below) or purchase a kit to make one. To purchase 3 new buckets plus a brick of coconut coir, for 5 gal is $20, for 1 gal is $15. Worms will be provided for all.

Jill Rippe is a Fellowship Member, currently serving on the Green Sanctuary Team. She has organized and led our Procession of the Species since 2023! Our first Procession of Species Celebration was at a service in April 2023. Subsequent processions so far include the Myrick Park Earth Fair, and Artspire downtown. We’ll be at this year’s Earth Fair as well, so please join our Procession at 3:30 pm! We’ll start at the UU La Crosse table in the vendor area and parade around the fair!

Vermicompost Workshop Materials list: 
1) worm bins – bring 3 same size plastic buckets from 1 – 5 gal in volume and 1 lid. Smaller buckets will work best for apartments and in your kitchen. You can recycle pails you have at home (cat litter buckets, 5 gal paint buckets, ice cream pails, etc. – wash out carefully and remove any paint etc. on inside). 
2) breathable mesh – bring 1 old t-shirt for lid & scissors. 
3) brown organics – bring 5 cups coconut coir and/or shredded paper/cardboard and/or diced dried plant material. I will have coir & newspaper available.
4) green organics – bring 1 cup diced/blended food scraps and/or green plant material. Do not include meat, fish, poultry, dairy, spicy, salty, greasy/fatty, pet waste or acidic scraps as they will smell or be rejected by or harm the worms. 
5) grit – bring 1/2 cup of fine soil/sand and/or finely crushed egg shells. I will have soil available.
 
Other items:
1) construction tools – if you have available, please bring an electric drill with 3/4,1/4 and 1/8 inch drill bits for buckets & 1-4″ hole saw bit for lids and safety glasses. We will have 3-4 drills and bits available. 
2) red wiggler worms – I will bring a supply of red wiggler worms. 
3 useful items – to collect at home – tongs, spatula, gloves, thermometer, 1/2 to 1/4″ hardware cloth or similar (wire grid for soil sifting & removing worms) and plastic/metal/wood tray (to sift soil onto). 
 
A one page “how to” sheet will be provided to all that outlines construction, feeding and maintenance of a vermicompost bin. 

CLICK HERE TO CONFIRM PARTICIPATION!

For information about attending in person, links to Zoom login info, Sunday’s Order of Service, Online Giving and more click here –> linktr.ee/uulacrosse

Click Here for Zoom Link

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