WORM PERSON:
- Jesse Sinclair
- Greenfield, Massachusetts, United States
- WormPeople.com Profile (must be signed in)
- www.besttomatoplants.com
- YouTube
How I Started
I started composting with worms in 2017 as a way to divert food waste from being thrown away. In 2016 I started gardening, so being able to use my own worm castings in my garden was also very important.
Personal Goals
I'd like to harvest enough worm castings to sell them at my local farmers market. I currently sell vegetable plant starts, and 2022 was my first year selling plant starts at the farmers market. Being able to offer an additional product, worm castings and worm tea, will allow me to extend my time at the market before its warm enough to sell starts.
Biggest Lesson Learned
No question - it's time and money. Money to scale up to production in order to harvest enough castings to sell. Time is always a challenge as my "real" job is a Special Education teacher. Additionally I run my children around to their extracurricular events after my work day is done. Time is also a factor with harvesting - I have yet to find an efficient and affordable way to sort my castings, which means I'm currently doing it all by hand. It's a slow and tedious process.
I Wish I Knew Earlier
I wish I understood the balance needed for a thriving worm bin earlier. Managing the ratio of browns to greens is important, but it took me a while to understand how to manage that balance. As a result, my bin didn't really thrive at first but was just managing to survive.
My Worm People Wish
Worm castings are arguably nature's most perfect fertilizer. Educating people about the gardening benefits of worm castings is a main goal of mine, along with growing bigger, stronger seedlings by using worm tea and castings. Of course, I'd love to be able to supply locally-harvested worm castings regionally at retail outlets, but that's more of a longer term goal. For now, I'm all about educating people on worm castings and worm composting on my social media channels.