bring in the worm food

Today I dropped off compostables for the first time at the Lower East Side Ecology Center (LESEC)'s Union Square drop-off point. The organics from our kitchen just got to be too much for my modest composting project, so I decided I can handle doing this since I go to Union Square on a regular basis anyway. It makes me feel very good to save kitchen bits and coffee grounds and know they're going to be made into nutritious food for plants instead of stewing forever in a garbage bag in some landfill. I love that there are New Yorkers taking care of this, waiting around all day at the green market, ready with factsheets to answer your questions and showing off a very nice sample vermicompost container.

Even if you're not into having a worm bin or Bokashi-ing in your own kitchen, I encourage anyone in New York to do this; it's quite easy. Just save vegetable and fruit peels, tea bags, coffee grounds and filters and the like in a Tupperware (in your fridge if you want to avoid ripening; outside the fridge if you want to keep a lid on it), and when it's full, put it in a bag and bring it to the nearest drop. And if you're outside of New York, do some research -- there're lots of community gardens out there, especially in big cities.