- worm feces-- this sounds so cold and clinical it makes my skin crawl. We'll leave it for the zoologists and pathologists.
- worm manure-- much better in my opinion, but still not great. To me, "manure" evokes cows, horses and the like, and is associated with the smelly, fly ridden piles found in barns and pastures.
- worm poop-- simple, direct and accurate, but sounds like you're talking to a five-year old.
The best you can do is try to judge your audience and pick the least offensive.
Now how can I call something so patently gross "wonderful"? It's simple. Castings are the most potent, beneficial natural fertilizer one can obtain. They neither look nor smell bad, but rather look like black, crumbly earth and smell like garden soil that's been freshly turned. (In fact, it is a major component of rich, verdant soil.) When I say, "potent/beneficial," I specifically mean:
- It has much more highly elevated levels of macro- and micronutrients compared to ordinary compost, and the nutrients in it are in a form more readily available to plants.
- It has a wide array of microorganisms with it. The gut of a worm is an ideal place for microbes, and most of them leave the worm with the castings. These organisms have a profound positive effect on the soil ecosystem, which is as complex as anything the Amazon ever produced.
- It is a plant growth stimulator. Plants grown with castings outgrow plants without castings but the same level of plant nutrients. It is appears the humic acid in castings affects plant growth regulators, and causes higher germination and growth rates.
- Castings have the ability to suppress plant disease. This may be due to the microorganisms present in the castings outcompeting pathogens in the soil. Plants grown in castings were resistant to a wide range of molds and fungal diseases.
- Castings may repel some insects. Although the research is incomplete, some scientists say certain insects are vulnerable to chitinase, a compound found in castings. Chitinase dissolves chitin, the substance from which insects' hard outer case (their exoskeleton) is made.
For more information see http://oacc.info/DOCs/Vermiculture_FarmersManual_gm.pdf, which explains it in more detail along with the results of their own clinical trials.
In short, plants crave this stuff. It has everything a plant needs to thrive. Combine it with your plants and be prepared to see dramatic improvement. What a gold mine castings are!
- We are running out of space and sites, increasing the cost and fuel needed to truck waste further and further to more and more expensive sites.
- Landfills are laced with toxic substances, which, no matter how well insulated, will eventually leak into their surroundings. For example, some plastics, such as grocery bags, have substances in them (phthalates) that make them soft and flexible. These substances have been linked to allergies and insulin resistance, among other things. I have no way to know if there's any connection, but my daughter has a severe dairy allergy, and I suffer from insulin resistance, also known as Type II diabetes. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phthalate#Other_effects.) The list of toxic substances found in landfills is long. (See http://www.sixwise.com/newsletters/06/09/29/how-dangerous-is-it-really-to-live-near-a-landfill-and-how-near-is-too-near.htm.)
- Virtually nothing deposited in landfills gets re-used or converted into anything of use. This is the opposite of the natural world, where every output is something else's input. Nothing is wasted and everything stays in dynamic balance (the way God planned it).
- Organic matter is often trapped in airless conditions. This means anaerobic (without oxygen) decay begins, leading to methane and other, usually foul smelling, gases being produced. Under the right conditions, it could be utilized (biogas can be burned for heating, cooking or eletrical generation), but no, for the most part it is vented into the air. First of all, the smell can be overwhelming. From time to time I drive through the Chicago suburb of Hillside, where for the last several years a landfill has gone amok. The smell is nauseating, even from the expressway. How would you like to be trying to sell your home or attracting new business to Hillside? Secondly, methane is some twenty-one times more potent than carbon dioxide at retaining atmospheric heat (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane).
The Ugly
Admittedly you are not likely to want to pet one, teach it to peform tricks, or let it sleep in your bed, but Eisenia fetida, a.k.a. the Red Wiggler worm, is a fascinating little animal, one of the examples of how God has delicately and artfully arranged this earth to endure in an incredibly complex symphony. Aristotle, who was wrong on a lot of things but got this one completely right, called soil dwelling worms "the intestines of the earth," and that sums it up. Every time you eat something, remember it either directly or indirectly comes from the earth, and thus sprang from something that passed through the gut of a worm. Without worms, the earth would have long ago withered into permanent poverty.
Red Wigglers are not the large earthworms or nightcrawlers you might encounter in your average garden, but are more likely to be found in pastures, consuming manure or rotting vegetation. Because their food sources are intermittent, they aren't fussy on the conditions they encounter, they don't mind crowding, they eat voraciously, and then reproduce like crazy, and they lay eggs that endure through temperature and pH swings.
In short, they are perfect for cultivation in enclosed spaces.
Conclusion
Take the bad (organic waste otherwise destined for landfills), combine it with the ugly (worms), and produce the beautiful (castings). What a beautiful equation. Everyone wins: cities win, the environment wins, the soil wins, we food consumers win. The great feedback loops that guide our natural world are incorporated rather than thwarted. And now, the question remains of whether it can make economic sense. Can you make a living out of this equation? I sense you can, but the road is not clear, and I have a lot of questions to ask. But that will be the subject of another post.
