Where the Wild Things Are

There's no doubt that Mary Appelhof is the Worm Queen. When I first read her book, Worms Eat My Garbage, I learned more than I ever thought I needed to about worms. And so this summer, after reading her book, I started my first worm bin. Scary, right? It's certainly not "normal" to receive a 6"x8" a box full of live worms in the mail. I wasn't sure I was ready to vericompost when I noticed that some unfortunate worms had stuck themselves to the packaging tape on the box and I was tempted to just toss the whole box away rather than peel worms away. But a few weeks later, when I noticed my worms had consumed my dinner leftovers and magically transformed them into lovely, velvety, brown compost, I was well on my way to becoming the next Worm Princess.

Although my worm bin was purchased from the Worm Queen herself, it's easy enough to make your own.