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
Great idea! I love vermicompost. I’d like to get a box from you. How do we proceed from here?
Thanks in advance,
Maxime
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?
We might be able to hook you up with some business. We often can’t supply the demand for worms at Concordia U. Send me some info, if you have good quality worms, and no flies
We might be able to help eachother
Cheers
Jeff – R4 Concordia
Good job worm girl! Vermicomposting is no douth a very good way of recycling our kitchen waste, especially for people that doesn’t have yard.