VENTURA : Wiggly Critters Give a Lesson Kids Dig Into

Third-grader Crystal Sanchez learned last week how to make her own back-yard garbage disposal, using squirming red wigglers.

“I didn’t know they could eat banana peels,” said Crystal, as she picked up a red worm from a pile of dirt and garbage.

As part of an ongoing countywide program, Crystal and about 20 other children from Saticoy Elementary School learned how to do home composting from Toni Moran, recycling representative from the Ventura County Solid Waste Department.

Moran said county waste officials hope to convert children to recycling their kitchen scraps because it saves water and generates topsoil.

Using a 12-gallon box filled with old newspapers, horse manure, kitchen scraps and red wigglers, Moran showed students how to use the worms for composting.

First she laid down a bed of dirt and dampened newspapers, mixed with straw and leaves. Then Crystal volunteered to grab a fistful of horse manure to add to the mixture.

“It’s kinda gross, are you sure you want to do it?” Moran asked.

Undaunted, Crystal scooped up the handful of manure and threw it into the box.

Moran, who has done about a dozen demonstrations since the program started in April, said children are rarely squeamish when it comes to handling manure and worms.

Sure enough, when she asked for volunteers to put in worms, a bunch of hands shot into the air. Five children grabbed fistfuls of crawling red wigglers and put them into the box.

Then it was time to feed the worms.

Moran got out her stash of leftovers--apple cores, watermelon rinds, coffee grinds and eggshells. Then she pulled out a decomposing banana peel. Some of the children screwed up their faces and said, “Yeech!”

Moran waved around the limp banana peel and said reasonably: “Well, we’re not going to eat it, right? We might as well give it to the worms. Remember, worms can eat anything humans eat.”

Moran explained to the group that if they continued to feed the worms periodically, the critters would produce waste that would make for good topsoil.

“How many of your parents have gardens or grow vegetables?” she asked. “This will make them grow really big.”

At the end of the 40-minute demonstration, children were given the opportunity again to handle the red wigglers.

Alfred Hernandez, 7, of Saticoy, picked up a few red worms and lovingly caressed them.

“They feel weird,” he said.

The little boy said he really wants to go home and try some composting, but added: “I don’t know if my mom will let me. I don’t think she likes worms that much.”