By Judy Hall
This is an amazing story I’d like to tell you and one that is a good sign for Shalom. In December Jonathan Jerome asked me, Judy, if we had any use for composting worms. I said Yes first and thought about what we would do with them later. Well they sat in the Undercroft in a laundry tub for a few weeks over the holidays gradually freezing into a semi-solid block of newspaper, carrots, castings (which is their waste) and garbage. Yum
When I knew Roberta Maher was coming to volunteer on the RSVP (Residential Stewardship Volunteer Program), I thought Aha! Maybe this is a project Roberta can help with. Roberta good soul, said she was willing to try. Well the first thing she learned is that they are not from around here and need temps above 50 degrees to do any work. So out from the Undercroft they came to sit in the pantry way for a while, not a good solution. I was imagining them moving into the Portlik house when Terry suggested the basement. (Some of you who have lived here will know where we are going with this.) Long story short Roberta researched everything you need to know about composting with these little guys as well as the best way to store them so you can harvest their “soil.”
The day Roberta left she gave me detailed instructions on the best “worm hotel” to buy ($60) and/or make and helped me lug the frozen mass of earthy dormancy down to the basement. Well I had been down in the basement at least 7 times but it took Roberta who had been diligently pouring over possible houses to “see” in the chaotic mass of stuff that lives down there, yes you guessed it, a large Can O’ Worms empty, clean and waiting for somebody to move in! I have to confess I gave a yelp of delight and did a little dance right there among the paint cans and the clutter.
Can O'Worms
When I told both Vyana and Alistair about Roberta’s find they both said, “oh yeah we knew that was down there.” :-} Apparently Joy bought it several years ago with this very idea in mind. I tell you all this because it felt like a gift from our past finally connecting up with us in our new future. Thinking as a Jungian now, what could be better than taking our waste from the place of transformation (the kitchen) bringing it down below ground to the basement and with help from the lowliest creatures to let it sit in a black container while over time it turns into Gold!
