Hi, I’m The Worm Girl! I live in Montreal, I keep worms as pets and I think they’re awesome so I’m spreading the word. I started vermicomposting a few years ago for a variety of reasons. First of all, I thought if it’s as easy as it looks it’s a simple way to reduce waste and help the environment. I was eager to do something to help the environment because I was spending up to 2 hours a day commuting to work and all those greenhouse gases my car was emitting were weighing heavy on my conscience. The other reason was my balcony garden. I like to grow things on my balcony but hauling big bags of soil up to my third floor apartment was not fun. So I thought vermicomposting would be a good way to nourish my plants while at the same time reducing the number of bags of soil I needed.
It turns out that vermicomposting is very easy and the vermicompost it produces makes the best plant food. Last summer I grew tomato plants that were taller than me in buckets of vermicompost on my balcony. I also discovered another benefit of vermicomposting: worms make great pets, especially for single apartment-dwellers. Worms have very minimal needs, can tolerate a lot of neglect and they’re always there when you need them. Digging in my worm bins is a soothing activity that helps me unwind after a long day.
Since I discovered the joys of vermicomposting, I’ve been helping other Montrealers start up vermicomposters too. When I started my first bin, I had to take half a day off work to go and adopt my worms from the only reasonably priced local supplier I could find. I knew other people would just love vermicomposting once they tried it but I was pretty sure they weren’t all so eager to get started that they would be willing to take time off work so I started my own worm and worm bin supply operation. Over the last year and a half I have been selling worms and vermicomposters out of my car and apartment in the evenings and on weekends. And the response has been very positive. Since I started the service I have helped 112 households start vermicomposting.
If you live in the Montreal area and would like help starting a vermicomposter feel free to contact me. I provide worms for 15$ per half pound and ready to use vermicompost bins for 30$. Advice and technical support is free – I love talking about worms!
Also, I was recently mentioned in a local Montreal newspaper
May 27, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Great idea! I love vermicompost. I’d like to get a box from you. How do we proceed from here?
Thanks in advance,
Maxime
May 30, 2008 at 5:16 pm
On any other website I would feel compelled to make some sort of excuse for the fact that I’ve just spent several hours of my friday afternoon trying to find a place to take my kitchen compost, but since this is a blog about keeping worms for pets I feel as though I might not need to make further explanations. Where can I take my organic waste? I feel as though I’m just being stupid not being able to find information about this, but short of paying some courier service to come come and collect it(!) I haven’t found where it is that I can take my soggy bag of peelings, and I hate to just put it in the trash. I live right beside parc la fontaine. Any suggestions?