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November 2009

Vol. 2, Issue 5

Next meeting:
Dec. 1, 2009

For the 2nd year running, Cathy's Crawly Composters is the
proud winner

of the East Gwillimbury Chamber of Commerce
TD Canada Trust
Environmental Leadership Award

2009 EGCOC Nominees

Thank you to the East Gwillimbury Chamber of Commerce for hosting a wonderful Gala Event.

A quick shout out to The Hillsburgh Horticultural Society for participating in our Adopt a worm bin program.

The Hillsburgh Horticultural Society sponsored workshops at 2 schools and 4 worm bins. Thank you and great work spreading the worm-word.

Worm Eggs!

Photo by Kevin Sato

Do Not try to make an omelete!

Featured Video of the month:

Cathy's Crawly Composters on A Greener York

Click here to see video

Cathy talks with host Diana Ciccone about her worm business and about how worms are going to play an ever increasing role in waste management.

Re: Worm Chalet Contest

Please find enclosed a couple of submissions for the Worm Chalet contest. The students in my class have embraced vermicomposting and are quite anxious to win this prize for our classroom!

I thank you for your newsletters & find them full of great tidbits of information. Thank you for your ongoing efforts to help our environment & inspire children to do the same!

Kindly Submitted,
Pam L.
Montessori School of Kleinburg

Green Street's Youth Leadership Challenge!

Funding Still Available!

Follow this link for
Application form

Do you have a great environmental or social justice project idea for your school or community, but don't have the cash to make it happen? Well, that's all about to change with Green Street's Youth Leadership Challenge! With the help of the Vancouver Foundation, Green Street is offering grants of $750 for youth-led projects across the country. Don't let money hold you back - apply today! Deadline for applications is November 20.

www.green-street.ca

Congratulations to Mrs. Schrade and the entire Grade 2 class at Jack Miner Public School. We are sure you will enjoy your new Worm Chalet and all your new classmates.

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year's Back to School contest. The response was incredible! It is encouraging to see how many schools are concerned about the environment.

Did you Know?

• Now is a good time to start a Vermicomposter in order to have fresh castings ready for spring planting.

• Fruit flies and other flying pests may be attracted to your worm bin. But don't panic, there are some simple measures you can take that will help you avoid an infestation.
  1. Be sure to bury all food scraps. Fruit flies are attracted to exposed fruit and veggies so keeping things covered will go a long way toward keeping your worm bin invisible to the flying pests.
  2. Add a thick layer of fresh bedding. Some times food gets pushed up and starts to poke out from the bedding. Adding a new layer of bedding will keep foods covered and will provide the worms with easy access to some carbon. Even adding a couple of inches of dry shredded paper on top will help.
  3. Wash the fruit and veggies when you get home from the grocery store. Quite often fruit flies eggs are already on the fruits and vegetables when we bring them home. A quick rinse will help keep the flies at bay. Remember to wash the bananas and oranges, fruits we usually peel and do not wash. Unwashed fruit provides a great home for fly eggs to incubate.
  4. Make a fly trap. If some fruit flies decide to visit you, make their stay less than pleasant by providing some accommodation in the form of a fly trap. Place small pieces of banana in a jar (you can also use some sweet liquid). Make a ‘paper cone’ with a tiny hole at the tip (or use a plastic baggy and cut out a corner). Tape the cone – tip down into the jar so the tip is approx. ¼” from the bottom. Seal the rim with tape.
  
  
• If a worm bin becomes too wet and water has collected at the bottom, you can use a turkey baster to suck up the excess moisture.

Waste Reduction Week
Oct. 19 - 25, 2009

In the News
For all the wormy news please visit our website.

Television

• October 19 - 23 was Green Connections Week on Rogers Daytime (York Region). Cathy and members of The Green Connections Networking Group talked with Jacqueline and Jeff about their green Businesses and the Networking Group.
  See the interviews on Youtube: follow this link.

Print

• Learning to love the magic of worms
  What's not to love? They've got five hearts and tie themselves in knots when it gets too cold or dry.
  Trouble is, they're red wiggler worms. Cathy Nesbitt, 47, used to fear the critters. That was before she began researching vermicomposting, had a dream about handling worms without gloves and awoke feeling at peace. Soon after, she discovered a squirming ball of them in her outdoor composter and was able to pick them up.
  Read more ...

   

Worm composting guru Cathy Nesbitt converts
the two-litre milk and juice cartons into bird feeders.

• Modest proposals for Waste Reduction Week
  Two-litre milk and juice cartons are durable because of the plastic film coating on both sides of the heavy paper stock. (Most jurisdictions in the Toronto region now accept them in their blue boxes but they're a challenge to process.) Worm composting guru and Bradford resident Cathy Nesbitt uses them, rinsed and dried, for shipping worms and castings; she also turns them into mini worm composters and even bird feeders.
  Read more ...

For all the wormy news please visit our website.

Upcoming Events
For a full listing of all events please visit our website.

For a full listing of all events please visit our website.

In October TD Friends of the Environment sponsored an "Extreme makeover - Worm Edition" at John English Jr. Middle School in Etobicoke. The school installed 15 worm composting bins into both classrooms and the teachers' lounge. This program has the potential to divert over 1,000 pounds of food waste from landfill by Earth Day.

Cathy shows students at John English Jr. Middle School the finer points of worm composting.
* Photo: Snap Etobicoke