Hey, it's Callee, and you're listening to the Hippie Haven Podcast! Every wednesday, I interview experts + everyday people on how they live an ethical + eco-friendly lifestyle, and how you can too. Previously, we've covered topics like how to go zero waste, environmental activism, vegan parenting, preventing food waste, secondhand shopping, urban beekeeping, starting an eco business, and so much more. My goal is to inspire you to take action, both in your day-to-day routine, and on a larger scale of combined advocacy because I believe that together, we can make a difference in saving the planet.
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Today's episode is all about composting with worms, featuring Anna de la Vega, a composting expert who founded The Urban Worm, and provides vermicompost workshops + consulting to individuals, businesses + schools in the UK. You can follow her on Instagram @wormologist, or visit her website at www.theurbanworm.co.uk. Shownotes for this episode, including a full transcript, are available at www.ahippieinavan.com/026.
This episode is sponsored by Uncle Jim's Worm Farm, the #1 supplier of composting worms + supplies in the US. I've got a compost bin in my shop that's thriving with worm from Uncle Jim's, and I'll be ordering from them again in a few months when I start a second worm bin in my campervan once I'm back on the road. Uncle Jim's ships worms to the continental United States, plus Alaska, Puerto Rico + the Virgin Islands year-round, with guaranteed live delivery. To order worms or other compost supplies, visit ahippieinavan.com/worms, and as always, thank you so much for supporting our podcast partners!
If you're not quite ready for a full-blown compost pile or bin at home, but you definitely don't want your food scraps stuck in a landfill, creating toxic methane gas, then I've got a couple tips for you too! First, check out the ShareWaste app. It shows you neighbors with a compost pile and/or chickens who are happy to accept your foods scraps, or if you have chickens or a compost pile yourself, you can sign up to accept your neighbors food scraps. It's still a growing app, so if there's no one nearby you yet, then tip #2 is to google compost + your city name to see if you have a local pickup service, or if there's a dropoff near you - they're often at farms, food coops, community gardens, or even your municipal garbage facility. You can also call your garbage company and see if they offer food waste bins to pickup on the curb when they collect your trash. Some garbage companies will allow food waste in your yard waste bin, others will not, so be sure to verify what's available, and of course verify that they're actually turning your food and or yard waste into compost!
I want to give a quick shout-out to several small compost companies that I personally follow on Instagram, this is not sponsored at all, I just love the work they're doing. There's CompostNow in parts of Georgia + the Carolinas, Scraps Mile High in Denver, Colorado, The Compost Crew in DC + Baltimore, and Compost Cab, also in DC.
If you are interested in starting your own vermicompost, make sure you check out our sponsor, Uncle Jim's Worm Farm. This small company in Pennsylvania has been getting their hands dirty with vermicompost for over forty years, and today they're the #1 supplier of composting worms + composting supplies in the US. Of course, I'd never recommend a company that I don't personally love, and I can tell you that my vermicompost bin is thriving with the worms I got from Uncle Jim's.They ship to the lower 48 states, plus Alaska, Puerto Rico + the Virgin Islands, and they guarantee live delivery year round. You can order worms for your new vermicompost bin by visiting www.ahippieinavan.com/worms
The Hippie Haven Podcast is hosted by Callee - a zero waste activist & business owner. Formerly a translator for the US Navy,