Many gardeners as well as people interested in living a sustainable lifestyle use vermicomposting systems for their kitchen wastes, using neat, indoor worm boxes to compost their kitchen scraps and reduce their garbage by up to a third. The young leaders in the Jones-Bowman Leadership Award Program want to teach 20 local residents how to vermicompost and will provide them with the materials to build their vermicomposting bins so they can turn their apple cores and coffee grounds into nutrient-rich soil.
Vermicomposting bins reduce household garbage disposal costs, produce less odor than putting food waste into a garbage container, save the water and electricity that kitchen garbage disposals consume, produce a high-quality soil amendment that’s free, require little space or maintenance, and spawn free worms for fishing.
During a demonstration between 12:30-1:30pm at the Cherokee Fairgrounds, just after completion of the Children’s Day event there on Saturday, May 5, 20 people will have the opportunity to learn about how vermicomposting bins work, what can and cannot be added to them, how to assemble the bins, and how to take care of the bins and the worms that will inhabit them. Bins and worms will be provided to the first 20 people who call Savannah Hicks at (828) 400-3821 and indicate they are committed to the project, will come to the demonstration to learn and receive their bin, and are willing to be contacted for a follow-up about the effectiveness of their bins.
“We hope to help those in the community who are committed to living a sustainable life,” said Kelsey Standingdeer, a Jones-Bowman Fellow. “Taking care of living creatures is not a casual thing and maintaining them requires more work than just throwing food in the bins, so people who are interested have to have a real commitment to composting.”
Community service is a cornerstone of the Jones-Bowman Leadership Award Program, which provides opportunities to undergraduate college students committed to developing their leadership skills. The program was established by Cherokee Preservation Foundation in 2008 to honor Principal Chief Leon Jones and Mr. James Bowman, founding members of the Foundation’s Board of Directors. The bins for the vermicomposting project have been funded by Cherokee Preservation Foundation.
The Jones-Bowman Fellows will also staff a booth at the Children’s Day event at the Cherokee Fairgrounds on May 5. Children can learn about worms, vermicomposting and the Jones-Bowman program.
– Cherokee Preservation Foundation
