About Me and My Worm Compost Journey

In writing about myself and my worm compost journey, I hope to convey to the reader my keen interest in worm composting, from its bumpy past to its successful present.

Hi, my name is Carolyn O'Connor and I live in California's gold country. However, I have discovered an even better “gem”: “black gold” for the garden. And gardeners who know call it priceless!

I have been a gardener all of my adult life. I love getting my hands in the dirt and seeing veggies and flowers grow from tiny seeds to healthy food and beauty for the senses.

Buying 10 acres of mostly decomposed granite in the early 70's pushed me into subscribing to Rodale's “Organic Gardening and Farming” magazine. That taught me the fundamentals of gardening as well as hot and cold composting to increase fertility in the soil. Unfortunately, worm composting was still in its infancy back then and was not given much press.

In the interim years, I would grow tomatoes and squash, all the while dealing with tomato worms and aphids.

Now, 37 years later, my husband and I feel very blessed to have rural property again. My journey to worm composting gained steam in 2001 as I began reading online about the amazing qualities of worm compost and was impressed with the research and studies being done in the field.

So, I bought some red wiggler worms and attempted to set up a worm farm in a plastic tub. What I ended up with were dead worms and a smelly pile of kitchen waste.

Fortunately, there was a REAL worm composter not too far away. His analysis: too much feed, not enough of the right worms, too small a container! I decided that if this was going to work and give me the amount of compost I needed, I would have to build a much bigger bin.

We built a 3'x20' wooden bin. Armed with a new and bigger batch of composting worms and a much better understanding about how the system works, I have successfully produced this “black gold” ever since. My garden has never produced better without a single tomato worm or aphid!

I look forward to sharing this gardening “gem” with you by providing the information you need to give you the growing successes that I have achieved.