Earth Day (Apr. 22) was extra special for Mrs. Deb Van Thienen’s class at Ashcroft Elementary School, as Ashcroft Communities in Bloom, together with the TNRD, brought a worm composting station and presentation to the children.
Adriana Mailloux of the TNRD spoke to the students about garbage. How much does every person make a year? Where does it go? What happens to it in a landfill? How can we reduce the amount of garbage that we put into landfills? It was very enlightening to listen to the children’s responses to these questions and also their insights on this topic.
The students were shown the red wriggler worms that would be doing all the work in the worm composter that will be set up in the classroom. These worms eat organic food scraps together with shredded paper and dryer lint, and the worms can eat their own body weight in one day! We learned that household food scraps make up 30 per cent of the household garbage that is put into landfills; so, it’s a good idea to compost these items as it not only saves the environment but also improves the garden.
Students were told how the worms make worm castings, and were shown how the worm composter will work. They were very excited to see the worms put into the first bin and even more excited to start saving their food scraps to feed them.
Andrea Walker