Recently, I’ve noticed that I’m jealous of the students I coach. I haven’t done any formal learning in a long time, and frankly I miss it. As an entrepreneur I learn new skills constantly, but I usually have to teach them to myself. How refreshing to go to a class and let a teacher guide me through the learning process!

When I discovered a class on how to do worm composting, I jumped at the chance. If you are local to the Bay Area, I highly recommend Bay Worms to answer all your composting questions!

Mickey (see the picture) is eccentric, knowledgeable, kind, and incredibly helpful. I love that he announced right up front: “If it seems like I’m all over the place, that’s because I am. I have ADD. Now follow me!” We proceeded to walk all over his outdoor compost site, admiring the dark richness of the worm castings, feeling the hot soil, and listening to his bazillion stories.

I took three pages of notes in my planner (the same planner I have designed for my students, which works beautifully, I can honestly say. A blog post isforthcoming).

Here are my Favorite Four Facts:

1. Worms do not eat our food. They eat the bacteria that grows on it. My job as a composted is to make lots of bacteria!
2. One worm births 40 eggs, which in turn contain up to 14 eggs each. Wowzers!
3. When worms are at the top of my worm bin, that means they are hungry and ready for more!
4. Nitrogen is good for compost. Pee is a great source of nitrogen. So if I want to I can…well, you get the idea.

Not only did I walk away from the workshop inspired, I also had a pail full of 1000ish worms squirming in the rich brown dirt they’ve made themselves. They are now living under my kitchen table in a lovely looking Wriggly Wranch provided at a discounted rate by Alameda county.

I’ve never owned pets before. I’m quite excited about the worms. I will feed them my leftover food and shredded paper; they will provide me with dirt and some juices that I can use to water my plants.

I think that’s what’s called a symbiotic relationship. (Am I right, all you science buffs out there?).