Worm Bins

On Saturday we built worm composting bins to help with disposal of organic materials. I haven’t really seen it too bad here but in some areas people just throw all their shit in a kind of make shift dump or burn the stuff out back. Worm composting is not some hippie bullshit but a practical way to dispose of organic materials and convert them into a usable product like liquid fertilizer and nutrient rich soils. According to some statistics, over 50 percent of landfill space is organic materials.

The way the worm bin works is you throw in a little soil or manure and then just add organic waste, like egg shells, peels, leaves, things like that. Throw in a couple of worms and they eat through all that shit crapping out nice fertile soil which you shake out and use in your garden. Another benefit is worm piss (the other black gold) which is rich in nutrients like nitrogen, potassium and phosphorous. Not only that but you’re saving valuable landfill space and keeping the backyard free of debris that attracts pests. OK maybe it is a little hippie bullshit sounding.

We learned how to mix concrete (2 parts sand, 1 part rocks and 1 part Portland cement) and started mixing the cement in the wheelbarrow when Fidel, the guard for the training center showed the dopey gringos how to do it more efficiently. He made our life a lot easier. He also showed me how to lay brick and by the end of the day I was OK at it and he seemed pretty proud of me. That’s probably how the two years in the field is going to go; The supposed trained technical representative from the US being educated by the locals who’ve done this for a while.