Business crawls ahead as organic trend grows

By Lynn Dewing

KELOWNA, B.C. — Lynda Schmidt is not one to shy away from getting her hands dirty.

Schmidt, of Kelowna, B.C., works long hours shovelling and otherwise toiling in the dirt to care for the 85 bins of African nightcrawlers she keeps in her barn.

As she goes about her day, she is also thinking of new products and dreaming up new ways to share her crawling passion with children and others who might not be so intimate with worms.

“It’s the joy of the place that led to the teaching,” she said.

I want to say, "You've gotta see this"

Schmidt has owned the World of Worms worm farm in this central Okanagan city for four years. Despite the long hours and labour, her enthusiasm for the wiggly critters has ensured that her ownership style remains hands-on.

Earlier this year, she held a Gardener's Festival, which included composting workshops and entertainment.

Her farm is open to visitor tours during summer and she teaches visiting classes about the anatomy, life cycle, reproduction and value of worms.

She has also set up a haunted house for Halloween, complete with worms, of course.

Schmidt wants people to know that when worms eat rot and bacteria, they leave behind pH-neutral castings that are full of beneficial microbes and enzymes. Schmidt's worms are fed a blend of screened black humic peat and volcanic ash, blended with a mix of four grains. She mixes the meal to a doughy consistency.

"They (the worms) are spoiled", she said. "I make them a porridge".

She heats the barn through the floor to a temperature of 25 to 30 C, a temperature where the tropical wigglers perform best.

Her 85 bins of nightcrawlers create three tonnes of castings each week. The conversion from food to fertilizer takes two weeks.

Schmidt's customers are mostly organic farmers

According to Schmidt, the castings are an organic source of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium.

The enzyme produced, chitnase, has the ability to make plants stronger so they are more resistant to insects and disease. Because the castings absorb 10 times their weight in water, they can also enhance soil moisture levels.

"People are sick and tired of having poison on their lawns", said Schmidt.

"They want to fertilize organically. Ten litres per 100 sq. feet of lawn and you end up mowing less, with a bright green lawn."

Schmidt warns that not all vermi-compost has the same qualities. It depends on what the worms have been fed.

Some are fed sewer waste, but are incapable of processing the heavy metals or antibiotics in it.

"It's the other stuff put into the system that makes it scary", she said. "Keep it off what you're going to eat".

Although her process goes beyond the use of worms for recycling, Schmidt points to places like Australia and Thailand, where Red Wigglers are the Cadillac of worms.

Canada still has a lot to learn, she added.

Schmidt would like to see consistent organic standards in this country and vermi-composting operations like hers in every city.

 

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The OACC gratefully acknowledges the author for her permission to post this article on our website. December, 2006.