WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderGoing Green: Oregon man uses earthworms to make eco-friendly soil

Going Green: Oregon man uses earthworms to make eco-friendly soil

By Samantha Ptashkin

OREGON (WREX)- If you're eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner as you read this, you might want to put that fork down.

In this week's Going Green 13 News learns all about worms and if you think that topic in itself is enough to kill an appetite, just wait.

We're specifically talking about worm waste. It sounds disgusting, but an Oregon man uses a process called vermicomposting to take the excretions to an eco-friendly level.

Listening to BBC Radio, in a small shed behind his home, you'll find Peter Bell, originally from Newcastle, England, with his worms. "If they had a face they'd be smiling."

The creepy, crawly, critters are smiling because Bell treats his earthworms, all 20,000 of them, like kings. He asks for only one thing in return. "It seems that if you keep them at the temperature and humidity I keep them at, it keeps them happy and they have no problem going to the bathroom," Bell said.

Bell has buckets full of worms and topsoil. The worms eat the soil and within a couple of weeks Bell says "they pass it through themselves, which is the best way I can say it."

What comes out at the other end gets separated from the un-eaten soil and the worms themselves and after a little bit of mixing, you've got a rich compost that's even better for the earth. "It builds up water pockets, air pockets and the microorganisms that are in the product are good and healthy," Bell said. "Whatever it is you're planting, the roots are going to benefit. If the roots benefit then everything benefits."

Even the process itself is eco-friendly, well almost. "Everything is done by hand here. Okay, we do use electricity, we're not Amish."

But Bell's got faith, maybe a little too much, in his little guys and their ability to make a difference. He even decided to try one out for his appetite. "It tastes like linguini."

People can also throw their food in to a container of worms and it will make a rich compost, plus save landfills.

To learn more about vermicomposting you can head to the Ogle County Solid Waste Management Department website at www.oglecountysolidwaste.org.

To learn more about Bell's soil business you can visit www.pommie84.com.