Appelhof, Mary

Worms Eat My Garbage

This is the ultimate worm composting book. A must read if you are serious about composting with worms. 1997; Flowerfield Enterprises.

Appelhof, Mary, Frances Fenton, and Barbara Loss Harris.

Worms Eat Our Garbage: Classroom Activities for a Better Environment

This curriculum uses over 150 worm-related classroom or home activities to develop problem solving and critical-thinking skills in children grades 4-8. Activities integrate science, mathematics, language arts, biology, solid waste issues, ecology, and the environment. Flowerfield Enterprises.

Grossman, Shelley C., Toby Weitzel and Melissa Weitze.

Recycle With Earthworms: The Red Wiggler Connection

1997; Shields Publishing.

Kalman, Bobbie and Janine Schaub. Squirmy Wormy Composters

Some topics covered are: worm bins, how worms eat, setting up a vermicomposter, a school composting project and more. Crabtree Publishing.

Payne, Binet and Paul Bourgcosis.

The Worm Café: Mid-scale Vermicomposting of Lunchroom Wastes

Includes activities from conducting a school-wide waste audit to setting up worm bins in classrooms and using worms as teaching tools for science lessons. 1999; Flower Press.

Story books

Brendler, Carol

Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer

A light-hearted story about a young girl who raises award winning worms.

2009; Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Appropriate for ages 4-8.

Siddals, Mary McKenna

Compost Stew

A rhyming recipe for compost. 2010: Tricycle Press.  Appropriate for ages 3-7.

Sources of Worms and

Worm Bins

Joan's Famous Composting Worms www.joansworms.com

Joan sells worms by the pound along with instructions and background information.

Ken Perry, 380 Rollins Road, Rollinsford, NH 03869.

603-742-2043  Email: redwormsforagreenearth@comcast.net

They sell worms, bins, books and equipment.

RR1 Box 100, Pawlet, VT 05761 800-325-2109

Specializing in prefabricated kits to easily convert plastic totes into worm bins.

Greetings and Happy New Year, 

As we start the new year I am excited to think about all the possibilities that lie ahead for NHAITC. We have some ambitious goals as we continue to enhance our program to meet the needs of more educators and students. I plan to reinstitute regular teacher workshops starting with one on school composting on February 9 (see notice for details). Expanding the reach of our Ag Literacy program is on the horizon. Developing and upgrading educational resources will also take place. We now have resource packets on apples, pumpkins, turkeys and Christmas trees that include a number of on-line links. Let me know if you are interested in utilizing any of those.

To accomplish some of our goals, we are looking for volunteer help. Some tasks require taking time during the work week to go into schools. Other tasks can be done at home on your own time. We need volunteers to help staff our information table at venues such as the Farm and Forest Expo. If you are interested in sharing a few hours with us, please contact me to complete a volunteer interest form so we can match your skills with the most appropriate opportunity for service.

We are also looking for more ways to reach teachers. If your school or SAU has a staff development day we'd love to present a workshop. Is your PTO/PTA looking for new ways to engage children with the community? We can provide some ideas. Would your school be interested in planning an Agricultural Awareness Day? These are all ways that NHAITC can be a resource to enhance agricultural literacy where you live or work. If you have other ideas, give me a call or send me an email and we can explore possibilities.

I look forward to connecting with more of you in the coming year as we work together to create a more agriculturally literate population.

Best wishes,

        Ruth

Ruth Smith, Coordinator

To provide educators with some ideas for starting a worm bin in the classroom, I spoke with NH's own "Worm Lady", Joan O'Connor from Joan's Famous Composting Worms. She makes a business out of raising and selling worms to help get people hooked on composting.  Joan said, "I knew I was on to something when Oprah and Martha Stewart started doing shows about worms."

The equipment needed for a worm bin is fairly simple.  Some of the resources listed elsewhere in this issue provide material lists and sources of bins.  However, Joan's advice is to not get hung up on a fancy worm palace.  She uses old plastic containers, old coolers, anything larger than 10 gallons.  Up to your knee caps is a good depth.  Drill two 1" holes in one corner of the bottom and put screening over it for a drain. Put a pan under this to catch any of the "compost tea" which drains out.  This can be used on plants as well as the compost.

Place shredded newspaper (not colored or glossy) in the bottom of the bin.  Check to make sure the newspaper ink is either soy or water based. Then add 2-3" of moist peat moss.  Add the worms. You will get about 1000 worms per pound.  They eat their own weight in food every couple of days under ideal conditions (this provides a great opportunity for math problems with kids).  Put more newspaper and peat moss on top of the worms.  The lid of the container can be used if a hole is cut out and a screen placed over it or use black landscaping fabric or even an old t-shirt held on with a giant rubber band to cover the bin.  Just make sure there are no gaps.  "Worms are escape artists", says Joan.

The worms that are commonly used for composting are called red wigglers.  These are different from earth worms and night crawlers that you might dig up in your garden.  They are known for their efficiency of converting waste to "black gold".  See the resource list for sources of worms, including Joan.

Place the worm bin in a spot where the temperature ranges from 60-80 degrees.  They will survive in colder areas but will not be as productive.  Feed them by burying the waste in one corner.  The next meal can be buried in an adjoining spot.  Rotate the contributions to the bin so you are adding to new places each time.  They will eat egg shells, scraps and cores from fruits and veggies (avoid citrus peels), and coffee grounds.  They benefit from a good mixture - "a balanced diet".  Do not feed them meat, fish or anything oily. Joan encourages creativity with food which also sets up opportunities for experimentation and inquiry based learning.  She puts some of her scraps in the freezer, then when they thaw they are mushy and easier to consume.  Another option is to make a veggie smoothie in the blender for a "worm treat".

For more details on maintaining your bin, check out some of the resources listed.  Joan reminded me that the worm bin is home to more than red wigglers.  There's a whole community in there with everyone doing their job.  Students can look for other organisms as well and explore topics such as food webs, life cycles, animal behavior, habitat and so much more.

The best part about these classroom critters is that they earn their keep by reducing up to 20% of your trash and converting it to useful, nutrient rich soil.  This is a win-win project from every perspective and great for all ages.

What do worms, alpacas, fish, trees, garlic, bison, deer and flowers all have in common?  They are just a very small sampling of the diversity of agriculture here in New Hampshire.

All over our great state you can find the "typical" types of farms: dairy, beef, sheep, vegetable, maple and even goats.  What you may not be aware of is the great variety of what is called "niche agriculture" that has grown up in the last several years. 

All one has to do is visit the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture web site at www.agriculture.nh.gov to learn about the different agricultural enterprises that can be found.  You can find lesson plans for almost any kind of agricultural interest at our website www.nhagintheclass.org or our national program at www.agclassroom.org which has links to web sites for every state program in the country.  We also would love to bring a program to you or help you set up a field trip to a farm.  Grant dollars exist for schools to use specifically for field trips.  A school in SAU 23 was just given a nice sum of money to take their students out into Grafton County to visit farms.  What a fantastic opportunity for the students to learn!! 

There are fruit farms all over New Hampshire. Check out www.nhfruitgrowers.org to find orchards in your area.  How about an egg farm at www.peteandgerry's.com?  Or a red deer farm at www.bonniebraefarms.com.   This is just a very small sampling of what our great state has to offer.  All of these producers are willing and able to talk to your students and help them understand the agricultural world around them. 

Maybe you don't have funding for a field trip but you could send your students on a virtual field trip or a web based scavenger hunt.  Geography or social studies lessons could be done by checking out an Ag in the Classroom web site from a different state.  Math and science lessons could be as simple as asking some basic questions.  For instance, what is the gestation period for a sow, horse, fish or alpaca; or how much feed must a chicken eat to be able to lay one dozen eggs?  How many gallons of water does a cow drink in a day? How does that convert to the amount of milk she produces?  Compare that to how many pints are consumed at school.

As you can see the quest for knowledge goes on and on.  The resources for finding that information are just a click away and most of it is free.  
 

Gearing up  for the 2012 Ag Literacy Program

Charlie Needs A Cloak 

Agricultural Literacy has become an annual program where we visit schools with an agriculturally related book and use that book as a launching pad for teaching about food, fiber and natural resources.  In 2012 we will be using Charlie Needs a Cloak, written and illustrated by NH author, Tomie dePaola.  In this book a shepherd named Charlie harvests and processes wool from his sheep so that he can make himself a new cloak.  Through the story, readers learn about all of the steps of raising and using wool.

If you are an educator and would like us to come to your class to read this book and demonstrate about wool production, please contact us.  If you are a community member interested in reading at your local school, let us know.  We will be launching this program on National Agriculture Day, March 8.  However we are happy to schedule programs at your convenience throughout the spring.