The worm store is officially open for the 2011 season

After a long winter the warm weather is finally here! To welcome the start of the gardening season the worm store is officially open. Ready to use vermicompost bins (each kit includes a worm bin, bedding and 1/2 lb of worms) are available for 30$. Worms can also be purchased separately for 15$ per 1/2 lb. Visit the Worm Store to place your orders.

Buy Worm Girl Products at the 2010 Back to School Bike Sale!

Today, August 14, 2010, is the huge Montreal back to school bike sale. The sale take place at 8256 Casgrain – near the corner of Jarry – Close to Jarry Park – Between Metro Jarry and Metro de Castelnau and starts at 12:00 sharp.
Worm Girl will be there with packages of red wigglers and ready to use vermicompost bins from noon until 1 pm. So come out and meet the worms!

Trade you 1 worm bin for 1 laundry washboard

I recently did a load of laundry by hand with my mother-in-law’s washboard – as an experiment – to see if the clothes really would get cleaner, and they did -  it was like night and day, so I  am now fully converted to washing clothes the hard way. To that end, I am looking to acquire a laundry washboard. I know I can buy a new one for about 30$ at the quincaillerie down the street or an old one labelled as ‘antique’ for 40$ online. However, I also know that there are people out there with old washboards that are going unused, or worse going in the trash, who might be willing to trade. Therefore, I am offering one ready to use vermicomposting bin complete with 1/2 lb of worms and a lifetime of technical support in exchange for one laundry washboard in usable condition. I am willing to travel anywhere in the greater Montreal area to make the trade.  If you already compost and don’t need a worm bin but still have a laundry washboard to get rid of I would still like to hear from you. I’m not against buying a used washboard, I just don’t want to pay more for a used one than I would for a new one. Use the Contact Worm Girl button above to reach me. Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you have an old laundry washboard that you don't use?

Why not trade your laundry washboard in for a ready-to-use vermicompost bin?

Compost Worm Week

To celebrate the end of moving season I will be having worm sales every evening from Monday July 5 until Friday July 9. There are many ready to use vermicomposters complete with bedding and 1/2 lb of red wigglers and 1/2 lb packages of red wiggler compost worms available for sale. To place an order and get the address for pick up use the Contact Worm Girl button above. The pick up location is in Villeray near Fabre metro.

2nd Annual Back to School Worm and Bike Sale this Saturday August 29, 2009

Worm Girl and Bike Guy are getting together again this year to offer you  everything you need for a green start to the new school year: recycled bikes for gas-free transportation and worms and vermicomposters for apartment or dorm composting. The sale takes place on August 29th at 8258 Casgrain (near metros Jarry and Castelnau, see here for a map) from 12 noon to 1pm. If you’re interested in the bikes be sure to get there early to get the best selection!

Worm Girl will have ready-to-use vermicompost bins as well as 1/2 pound packages of worms available. So whether you’re ready to start vermicomposting or just want to see what it’s all about, come by and meet the worms, pick up some vermicomposting supplies, ask questions or just to chat about composting. Oh, and take one of the bikes for a test ride if you like. The Bike Guy will have over 20 bikes to choose from, priced between 70 and 120$ (see the bike site for more details).

1/2 lb Compost worms (aka Red Wigglers) 15$

Ready-to-use vermicomposter (worms included) 30$

July Compost Worm Extravaganza

The summer may be off to a wet start but the worms are loving the warm wet weather. And since the worms are so productive there will be worm sales every week in July. If you’ve been thinking about starting vermicomposting now’s the time! Contact Worm Girl to find out when and where the next sale is taking place.

Huge Post-Moving Day Worm Sale

Now that moving day is over Worm Girl Montreal is back up and running. And since I have less space at the new place I’m having a huge sale to empty out some of my worm bins. The sale will take place this Sunday July 5th between noon and 2 pm in the Villeray area (near metro Fabre). There will be 20 worm bins and several 1/2 lb packages of worms. To reserve a bin or package of worms and to get the address use the Contact Worm Girl button above.

Can the Montreal Gazette hurt my worms?

Most vermicomposting resources (Worm Girl included) recommend using shredded newspaper as worm bedding. It’s free, readily available, holds moisture and provides a carbon-rich food source for the worms. And it is generally thought to be non-toxic. At least a lot of websites and blogs say it is but I wanted to hear it from a reliable source. Or at least a source that refers to scientific data. I checked the Montreal Gazette website and I didn’t find any claims that their print version is non-toxic. Surely if that were so they would want the world to know it. Right? So I asked around. Given all the newspaper that goes into my bins, the compost I harvest probably contains a lot of ink so I wanted to know for sure.

All the Gazette would tell me is “Our ink is vegetable oil based, and contains no toxic properties” (so why don’t they say so on their website?!).

Jean Deneault at Transcontinental, the company that prints the Globe and Mail and La Presse, was a little more helpful:

“Our ink suppliers for newspaper printing and flyer printing have confirmed that they don’t use toxic products to manufacture their inks. For the cold-set printing, the inks are 40% soya base, while the heat-set printing inks are 8% soya base. We distribute flyers that are sometime not printed by our company and we cannot comment on the inks that these printers would use. Any printed products with a large amount of metallic ink coverage could have traces of copper or zinc. Black or other colored pigments should not affect the quality of the compost.”

I was satisfied that the newspapers I feed my worms are safe. It’s also good to know that flyers and advertising supplements are not so safe. I continued my reasearch just to learn more about vegetable oil-based inks. All inks are made by suspending pigments and small amounts of other additives in oil. Old school inks are petroleum-based. Vegetable oil-based inks are usually made with soybean oil.

The soy-based inks are less-toxic but not non-toxic. That’s because the soy-based inks contain the same pigments and other additives as the old inks. However, soy-based ink is brighter and spreads better so less is needed to print each paper. Therefore, there is less ink in newspapers printed with soy-based ink.

The pigment in black ink, which is the most abundant ink in newsprint, is Carbon Black – basically powdered elemental carbon. Although it can be an irritant to the lungs if inhaled the EPA has compiled sufficient evidence to convince me that it is not toxic to me or my worms.

There is less information out there on the toxicity of the pigments used in colored inks. However, according to the Ohio State University the pigments in ink are many of the same pigments used in tattoos and cosmetics:

Phthalocyanine blue CAS 147-14-8

Lithol Rubine magenta CAS 5281-04-9

Diarylide yellow (I couldn’t find any safety data on this one)

Worms in the news

It looks like Montrealers aren’t the only ones who are in to vermicomposting. It seems to be the preferred composting method of city folk:

New Yorkers Try Composting With Worms – NYTimes.com.

Extreme Composters Get Creative in NYC

Worms Eat My (San Diego) Reader

My wriggly roommates

Worm Girl Montreal wishes everyone all the best in 2009

Happy New Year!

I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling that this time of year is a letdown. After the whirlwind of shopping, feasting and getting together with family and friends of the holiday season, Jan. 1 typically has me feeling drained, bloated and lonely. This year is not so bad. I shopped a lot less this year because I made earth-friendly reusable table napkins for most of the people on my list.

And I tried to spread the holiday activities over the whole week so I could spend more quality time with all the people I hardly see all year because we’re all too busy with work and school.

And, of course, the fun’s not really over because there’s another event coming up in February that has me excited and busy. That event is Seedy Sunday/Fetes des Semences and in Montreal it falls on February 8^th in 2009. Last year was my first time at Seedy Sunday and I have been looking forward to the next one ever since. Last year the reception hall of the Botanical gardens was crammed full with seed vendor kiosks selling all kinds of unusual and heirloom seeds, as well as gardening products and books. And in a well hidden room at the back I found heaven – the seed exchange where I picked up some neat treasures including Black Italian Tomatoes, Chocolate Peppers, Swiss Chard, Scarlet Runner Beans, Coriander, Basil and more. So now that the holiday season is over I’m busy sorting and packaging the seeds I collected this fall. I have Green Zebra, Debarao and Black Italian tomato, dill, and probably others. Here are the simple seed packs I made last year: