Environment

Several people have asked me how we manage a very productive vegetable garden; so I’ve written this post as a brief description of one aspect our our approach - vermiculture.

One of our overarching family goals is sustainable living. It’s basically about leaving a small footprint. A practical component of this philosophical stance is dealing with food waste. We deal with kitchen waste with a combination of bokashi composting and vermicomposting (also known as vermiculture) It’s not for the faint-of-heart and some are horrified to learn that I keep thousands - possibly hundreds of thousands - of worms in our basement. But some have asked me to describe our process; so this article is meant just to document it. There is a lot of art and science to vermiculture and this is not meant to be a definitive guide to vermiculture.

Spring has finally arrived in Minnesota. So have dandelions.

On one of our walks, my daughter ViolinGirl exclaimed how much she loved the yellow “daisies” that dot some lawns. She wished our lawn could be covered with these beautiful flowers.

What a strange circumstance! We begin life appreciating the random beauty of these “weeds.” But once we reach adulthood, neighborhood peer pressure and cultural expectations have us spraying toxic chemicals - to our own detriment, no less - to eradicate these cherished flowers.