An introduction to worms at a permaculture workshop has led to a life of self-sufficiency for Chris Sanders and Haydyn Gunningham. Ethical Living contributor Mike Bailey finds out more about the allure of the humble earthworm for the Western Australian couple .

People choose the strangest times to buy worms; Christmas morning is popular with callers who clearly didn’t get what they wanted from Santa. Chris Sanders smiles wryly as she recalls living without worms – a time when the vegie patch lovingly tended by her partner Haydn Gunningham was still a scrubby lawn in her backyard near Perth, WA.

Chris reveals that her fascination with worms has its roots in the monotony of corporate life – some years ago, she signed up for a course in permaculture at Perth Zoo.

“It was purely for entertainment,” she explains, “a complete contrast to my life at work.”

[pullquote]These days Haydn and Chris are pretty much self-sufficient with vegies, although they have to eat whatever is ready to harvest.
“It’s December, and we have potatoes, pumpkins, beans, cabbage, corn, tomatoes, zucchinis, cucumbers, asparagus, garlic, leeks, capsicum and egg plants. Add our own fish and we often sit down to a supermarket-free meal.”[/pullquote]One project had far-reaching consequences: “We planted leafy greens using worm castings instead of soil. The results were amazing …”

In 2005, Chris and Haydn moved to Ocean Reef, a coastal suburb of Perth. They inherited a garden laid mostly to lawn, and saw the potential for vegetable production on a modest scale, but the sandy local soil was unsuitable for serious cultivation.

“I remembered the magic effect of worm castings, and decided that farming worms was the answer,”  says Chris.

This was a timely decision, as sustainability and self-sufficiency were now firmly on the state agenda. The WA Waste Management Board (now the WA Waste Authority) was working overtime to raise awareness of composting, recycling and permaculture generally.

Permaculture is not a new concept; Permaculture West, founded in 1978, has been at the forefront of many environmental initiatives in WA. In ‘Earth User’s Guide to Permaculture’, Rosemary Morrow embraces one simple principle:  “Provide back to the earth what we take from it to create a sustainable environment.”

Chris and Haydn took the first steps in 2006 and now enjoy an abundance of year-round home-grown produce.

Worms convert organic matter into worm castings – a nutrient-rich, natural fertiliser. As Chris points out, worms have an admirable work ethic: “Worms eat almost anything organic and then poo a lot.” A worm farm requires little more than a suitable container and about a kilo of compost worms; suitable species are red worms, tiger worms or red tiger worms.

“You can’t farm ordinary garden worms,” warns Chris.

While Haydn concentrated his efforts on planning, digging out and landscaping the new vegie patch, Chris spent her time constructing and populating the first of five worm farms. Buying several loads of worm castings from The Worm Shed, a commercial worm farm based in Chittering Valley, WA, helped speed the completion of Haydn’s first plot, although Chris now produces enough compost for the entire patch.

These days Haydn and Chris are pretty much self-sufficient with vegies, although they have to eat whatever is ready to harvest.

“It’s December, and we have potatoes, pumpkins, beans, cabbage, corn, tomatoes, zucchinis, cucumbers, asparagus, garlic, leeks, capsicum and egg plants. Add our own fish and we often sit down to a supermarket-free meal.”

In 2007, Kevin Smith, owner of The Worm Shed and a regular visitor to Ocean Reef, mentioned to Chris that he needed someone to help with his school incursion work. State authorities across Australia fund “Reduce, Recycle, Reuse” workshops that introduce primary school kids to the benefits of keeping compost worms, and Kevin’s workload was growing.

Chris didn’t hesitate. “I had previously worked as a trainer and I was by now a great admirer of compost worms. I was keen to spread the word.” She soon got her hands dirty in more ways than one – the job involved taking 10,000 worms to a local school, talking about worms and helping each child make a mini worm farm in a cut-down plastic drink bottle.

The benefits were mainly in kind: “I’ve never heard kids squeal so much as when they had the opportunity to pick up handfuls of wriggly worms! Sadly, lifting all the heavy kit in and out of the car soon got the better of me, so it was a relatively short career.”

By now, Chris had the bug, well and truly, and her worm farms flourished. The population in a well-maintained wormery will double every two to three months, as worms munch their way through food scraps, shredded paper, tea bags, egg shells, garden waste and hair cuttings. Overpopulation soon became an issue.

“From time to time, friends would buy a few worms,” Chris remembers, “and that prompted me to become a backyard seller. I advertise online and in the local trading post. Sales are erratic but fairly constant.”

“I meet extremely interesting people through selling worms; I recently “baby sat” a worm farm for a customer who was off to Paris to celebrate his birthday. Another regular customer, an 84-year-old lady, buys worms to recycle her dog poo.”

Beware – you can’t take worms for granted, according to Chris. They simply leave if conditions don’t suit them. “They wait until it’s raining and then make a ‘run’ for it. A friend of ours watched his entire stock escape after his neighbour spread a load of manure on her garden and it rained the following morning. Worms by the thousand decided the manure was a better bet; he never saw them again.”

Australians throw away 3.3 million tonnes of food waste every year. If you want to join Chris and be part of a country-wide recycling effort, check out LivingGreener.gov.au or visit your state Zero Waste website.

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