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Supplement to The Journal of the San Juans, Islands' Sounder & The Islands' Weekly

2 • Home & Garden 2020-21

Vermi-what? Vermicomposting.

By Laura Kussman Worms. Aristotle called them the intestines of the w ­ orld. The ancient Chinese called them angels of the soil. Angels or intestines, worms are a tiny but formidable force, eating their way through organic matter and leaving a trail of rich humus in their wake. Did you know worms can recycle your garbage? It’s called vermicomposting -- the practice of using earthworms such as red wigglers and other non-burrowing species to turn your organic waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer. Vermicast—the biologically active mix of earthworm castings and decomposed organic matter—sells for $400 or more per cubic yard. Compare that to regular compost, sold at about $25 a cubic yard, and you’ll see why vermicomposting has taken root in most countries and on every continent except Antarctica.

Take Cuba, for example. A little hardship grew to big changes in Cuba in 1991. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the people of Cuba lost 80 percent of their imports and were forced to become self-reliant in producing food. Worm farms, to produce organic fertilizer, came to the rescue. There are now over 172 worm farms in Cuba as their popularity and proliferation grows world wide.

One prime example is Organoponico Vivero Alamar in Havana. Their six concrete block construction worm bins -- measuring approximately 50 feet by 10 feet -- produce 300 tons of vermicast every year.

While no source seems to have an exact measure of how many vermicomposting farms there might be here in the US – it is a highly non-organized business at this point – it is becoming increasingly adopted by businesses, institutions, farms and municipalities for the management of organic waste. Organic materials are mostly being vermicomposted onsite – some in commercially manufactured worm bins – but also in locally designed and built models. Vermicomposting is now recognized to be helpful in savings in the cost of fees for solid waste collection and disposal, water usage costs, and wastewater disposal expenses.

“To efficiently, correctly do a simple compost bin, you have to have a correct bulk to make it head up enough to rid it of the bad pathogens. Most people in their backyard never have the kind of bulk. It needs to be, at the very minimum, a 4 foot square, to get enough bulk to heat up. It requires turning to let air in. It needs to be layered with greens and browns and tilled regularly. Vermicomposting, on the other hand, doesn’t need to get hot, so the worms can live in a much smaller area. I like to use old coolers. It regulates the temperature if you’re leaving the bin outside,” Nancy Schafer said, a resident on Orcas Island who utilized space at “Garbagio’s,” Orcas Island’s dump facility in the 1970s for mid-scale commercial vermicomposting.

Orcas Recycling Services is sponsoring a group task force meeting on community vermicomposting and the end-goals are multifold. Several local women have become thoroughly versed in vermicomposting in their own right, including Schafer, who has been vermicomposting for 43 years. Schafer alongside ORS/The Exchange Board Member Marta Nielson will work to engage and educate islanders on resource stewardship, sustainability and food systems.

Exploring the possibilities of scale for vermicomposting for restaurants, grocery stores, hotels, schools, and resorts was one of several topics discussed by the task force. The group will set the future schedule for

meetings, field trips to existing sites both on and off island and for setting up some hands-on workshops and two-three projects around the island.

“What I would love to do is create some jobs on the islands and have someone make small to mid-scale commercial bins here.

Studies show that vermicast is so potent, you don’t need to use lots of it to grow food.

Just ten to twenty percent of volume mixed into your garden soil or potting soil is all you need,” Schafer said. “Anything more than that doesn’t do that much more good. You truly can use it like the black gold that it is.”

Nielson says vermicomposting manure and crop wastes on farms improve crop yields while reducing demand for off-farm inputs. Vermicast has higher nutrient levels and lower soluble salt content than regular compost, and it improves soil aeration, porosity, and water retention. Plus, vermicast suppresses plant diseases and insect attacks. Municipalities, businesses, community gardens, schools, and universities can set up vermicomposting operations to process food residuals and other waste materials.

Additionally, food waste in landfills is the number one category of waste in fills. Landfills generate methane. Only a few are capturing the methane to generate electricity, while much escapes into the atmosphere. Methane is one of the biggest drivers of climate change, and landfills are the number three produc-

ers of methane in the world.

“Pete Moe, the Executive Director at ORS recently brought up the fact that between 27 and 45 percent of any truck load of trash leaving Orcas Island is food waste. That figure alone shocked me,” Nielson said. “We truck our food waste off the island and we truck potting soil back on. The benefits of vermicomposting are huge.”

But how do you do it? How does vermicomposting differ from simply composting?

To efficiently and correctly do a compost bin, Schafer says, you have to have enough bulk to generate enough heat to rid it of bad pathogens. At the very minimum, you’d need a 4 foot square in your backyard for kitchen scraps and yard scraps to generate enough heat.

“Most people in their backyard never have the kind of bulk. It needs to be layered with greens and browns and tilled regularly,” Schafer said.

Vermicomposting doesn’t need to get hot, so the worms can live in a much smaller area.

“I like to use old coolers. It regulates the temperature if you’re leaving the bin outside.”

Commercial products used commonly in kitchens are tiered towers with trays and homemade, converted plastic storage containers. The worms migrate up towards fresh trays with fresh food and leave their castings behind in the bottom. The trick? You have to have about a pound, or 1,000 red wigglers per surface foot. That’s quite a few worms.

Fortunately since the worms are hermaphrodites, they do reproduce quickly.

Larger scale vermicomposting requires, first and foremost, mastering earthworm husbandry.

“You do have to pay attention to them, it’s like having livestock. You can’t walk away for six months and expect them to live, you have to tend to them to some extent. That’s why some people who aren’t around enough or don’t have the space or interest won’t be able to do it. This is one of several ways the community bins would serve well here,” Schafer said.

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T DIR on soil The

By Caleb Summers Imagine your favorite plant. Get a good picture of it in your head. Got it? Now, did you remember the roots? Probably not.

For the most part, we only consider and encounter plants from the ground up, assuming that this is where all the action is. The truth is that in some cases, 80 percent or more of a plant’s energy is going below the surface of the earth. That energy goes to building roots, both for structural and nutritional purposes, and to producing substances that don’t have anything directly to do with the plant, called exudates. These exudates are specifically formulated blends of proteins, sugars and carbohydrates designed by the plant to elicit specific results. These recipes are special treats for microorganisms in the soil. The plant makes “cakes and cookies” to encourage the growth and activity of specific microbes in the soil upon which the plant depends for many of its essential life-functions. Where a plant cannot extract nitrogen from a bit of decaying organic matter, a bacterium can. Where a plant cannot transform a piece of sand into usable silica, there’s a fungus for that. Where a plant cannot create a physical barrier to prevent infection from pests or diseases, a healthy community of microbes does exactly that.

Plants are pretty new to the earth, relatively speaking. On a planet that is 4.5 billion years old, terrestrial plants have only been on the scene for the last 470 million years.

Microbiotic life, however, has been on the scene for at least 3.7 billion years. This means that plants evolved in an environment that had already been fully populated by bacteria, fungi and other microbiology. The plants had to find a way to work with the locals, so to speak, and evolved in a dependent relationship with them. All terrestrial plants rely on outside sources for their essential survival. There was a time when all those needs were met by the communities of microorganisms living in the soil and around the plants. The origin of the word “organic” is from the Greek organikos referring to human organs — a living part of a living system. Plants, then, are a living part of the living system of soil where they are rooted.

Then humans came along. Less than 100 years ago (only 1% of the time humans have depended on agriculture for survival), the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides became widespread. Those chemicals damaged, and in some cases wiped out the ecology of the soil that has supported plant growth for as long as plants have been around. This devastation left plants vulnerable, hungry and apparently needing more and more of the same synthetic materials in a vicious cycle of chemical dependencies.

Fortunately for us, we can work with the plants to bring the biology back. We identify what is missing from the soils and with some low-tech methods, such as composting, mulching, no-till practices, and more, we can break free from the cycle of chemical dependency and replace the biological support systems our plants need to truly thrive.

Caleb Summers has been a soil scientist for the past 10 years and is the owner of Caleb West Consulting. For more information or for personal consultations, contact Caleb Summers at 360-298-5359 or CalebWest@gmail.com.

Home & Garden 2020-21 • 3

Gardening questions?

WSU Master Gardeners are available to help Submitted by Caitlin Blethen, Master Gardener Program Coordinator San Juan County has over 70 WSU Master Gardener volunteers who are trained as horticulture educators. Due to COVID19 and related Stay Home, Stay Healthy order, we will not be in the community this spring as usual, but are available to answer questions about food gardening, fruit tree care, landscape plants, pollinators and more. To submit a question, please send your message to mg.sanjuancounty@ wsu.edu or call (360) 378-4414 to leave a message. Your question will be forwarded to a local WSU Master Gardener who specializes in your topic of interest. At this time, we will not be taking physical samples for diagnostics, but will do our best to provide clients with resources. We welcome photos, as they are helpful with diagnostics.

Additionally, the WSU Master Gardener program will provide a newsletter with tips and information pertaining to local horticulture issues and topics, including food gardening in the San Juan Islands.

To sign up for the newsletter, please email mg.sanjuancounty@wsu.edu or visit our website at https://extension.wsu.edu/sanjuan/master-gardeners/ If you participate in Facebook, check out our page at https:// www.facebook.com/MGSJCounty/ where tips, resources and updates will also be posted.

The annual WSU Master Gardener Spring Plant Sale scheduled for early May has

been cancelled, at least in the way we've done the sale in the past. We hope to be able to provide vegetable starts to our community at a later date. We will provide an update in late April.

The WSU Master Gardener Demonstration garden, located on the Mullis Senior Community Center’s property next to the Joyce Sobel Family Resource center in Friday Harbor, grows over 1700 pounds of fruits and vegetables annually for the Friday Harbor Food Bank. Last month, a 16 X 20 hoophouse was installed to help WSU Master Gardeners produce more food for the community over a longer time period. This hoophouse was funded by the Master Gardener Foundation of San Juan County (www.mgfsjc.org).

We sincerely wish the best for all our neighbors during this time.

About us: The WSU Master Gardener Program is a nationally recognized program that trains volunteers to serve their communities through horticultural education and outreach. Once volunteers receive training, they provide research-based, educational information to the public on vegetable and fruit gardening, native plants, ornamentals and landscape maintenance, composting, plant problem diagnosis, pest control, and many other concerns. For more information about San Juan County Master Gardeners visit the web site or email mg.sanjuancounty@wsu.edu.

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4 • Home & Garden 2020-21

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Orchards: Orchard Installation, restoration pruning, and organic pest and disease management for fruit trees. Young apple trees with Anthracnose? Peach Leaf Curl? Powdery Mildew? Aphids? Scab? - we have organic solutions.

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Want to change an existing tree to a different variety? It’s all possible through grafting. Poor pollination can also be solved with a “pollinator branch” grafted into the canopy.

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Landscape Consultation and troubleshooting: Plants won’t grow? Mystery disease? Can’t decide where to plant? Need a landscape reboot? We are available for consultation and “walk and talk” brainstorming sessions.

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Home & Garden 2020-21 • 5

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6 • Home & Garden 2020-21

It’s Spring! Grow Vegetables!

By James Most It’s Spring! With global uncertainty on the rise, and lots more free time, it’s a great time to get started on a vegetable garden. From a little patch of kale to a big plot of staple crops, vegetable gardening is possible for anyone with access to: Sun, Soil, Water, and Deer Protection. This article is a quick primer for anyone who wants to jump into a vegetable patch of any size. I encourage you to just go for it!

The Basic Requirements: 1. Soil: Almost any soil will work, and each soil type has its pros and cons. In short, free draining soils like rocky, gravely, sandy, or container soil need more frequent watering (likely daily), and more added fertility (fertilizer). The advantage of free draining soils is that they can be worked earlier in the spring. Heavy clay based soils need less frequent watering, and less added fertility, however they need to be worked much later in the spring. Tilling, shoveling, or flipping soil can only be done when the soil is relatively dry, otherwise you create a sticky mess and can damage the soil structure.

Not sure what kind of soil you have? If it is thick lush grass that stays green for a while into the summer, it is likely heavy clay. If it is patchy grass that browns out in the early summer, it is likely free draining.

2. Sun: Most vegetables need ample sun. Ideally 5 or more hours per day during the summer. The more sun and heat you have, the more variety of crops you can grow. With less sun, you will be more successful with leafy vegetables such as salad, kale, mustard greens, etc. You will need plenty of sun to grow vegetables that you eat their fruits: tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, etc.

3. Water: Vegetable gardens need water. Consistent moisture in the soil is one of the keys to successful vegetable harvests. Remember, free draining soils need higher frequency watering than clay based soils. Mulching around your plants can help retain lots of moisture and reduce the need for watering. You can use grass clippings, leaves, even cardboard.

4. Deer protection: The deer eat it all on Orcas. They even eat things that are supposed to be “deer proof.” They will also walk up onto your deck and eat out of your flower pots. Deer protection is essential. A properly built deer fence can be an investment, and there are DIY ways to make a quick and simple 6’ tall fence. Deer are most likely to push under a loose fence (or go through an open gate). So it is essential to have the bottom of your fence tensioned, or weighed down so deer don’t push under.

How to start: 1. Order your seeds ASAP. Seed companies are experienc-

ing delays due to COVID-19 and increased demand. Local farmers will have plant starts for sale.

2. Loosen your soil and remove the weeds and grass.

This can be done a variety of ways, from using a rototiller to doing it by hand with a shovel. Your end goal should be loose, grass free soil. If it is wet, wait till it is dry-ish! You can put in a successful vegetable garden at the end of May, so don’t rush into wet soil. The easiest way to remove grass is to mulch it out a year in advance. Start planning for next year’s garden, and mulch out a patch of grass with cardboard or tarps.

3. Add fertilizer. For newly developed soil, and especially free draining or container soils, you will likely need to add fertilizer. I recommend organic fertilizer as it is hard to over-fertilize when using organic (non-organic fertilizers can burn and kill plants if improperly applied).

4. Bring water to the site. A hose will do it. If you are motivated, it is easy and cheap to set up a simple drip irrigation system. Drip irrigation saves water, reduces weed pressure, and grows bigger crops when hooked up to a timer (because consistent soil moisture is key to big crops).

5. Plant vegetable starts if you have them, or plant seeds directly into the soil. When directly planting seeds, make sure you wait till the soil is warm-ish. It depends on the year, but waiting until later in April or into May is a safe bet.

Greens can be planted earlier, and veggies that you harvest their fruits (tomates, squash, cucumbers, etc) are better to wait until we are into May. 6. Weed when the weeds are tiny! Newly developed soil will likely be weedy, so weed weekly! If you are new to identifying weeds, make sure you mark clearly where you plant your vegetable seeds so you don’t accidentally weed out your vegetables.

7. Keep the soil moist, not too wet, not too dry. Especially

when getting seeds to germinate! Like a moist sponge. Better to err on the side of over watering than under watering.

When young plants dry out, they often get stunted.

8. Enjoy your harvest!

Easy first crops for beginners: 1. Kale. From seed or from transplant, in poor soils or rich, you will be successful with kale. And you will be eating it for a whole year, as it will overwinter and provide leaves through winter and spring. I recommend “Red Russian”.

Make sure you thin the plants to 1’ apart to get big plants.

2. Green Beans. If you wait till the soil and weather is warm, you can’t go wrong with green beans. Keep planting every couple weeks to ensure a continued harvest. I recommend watering deeply after planting, and refraining from any additional water until the bean sprout emerges (this prevents the bean seed from rotting in soil before germinating).

3. Potatoes. If you have space, potatoes are so easy.

Read about “hilling potatoes” online. You can buy organic potatoes from the store and leave them in a warm spot to start forming “eyes” before planting. Non-organic potatoes don’t work as well as they are often treated with a growth inhibitor.

4. Radishes. Plant, thin to recommended spacing, enjoy.

The fastest vegetable!

5. Salad Greens. Arugula, lettuce, mustard greens, etc.

Any way you sow them, from dense to spaced out, you are bound to be successful. Keep moist while germinating!

Good for shadier gardens.

There are so many different ways to approach vegetable gardening, so don’t get hung up on “the right way.” If you give it a go, you are bound to have some success this year, and more and more success as the years go on!

Additional Resources: • Good regional gardening guide: Maritime Northwest Garden Guide, by Seattle Tilth • Orcas Rototilling Services: Tony Dashevsky 360.622.5824 • Garden Consultations, Installations, Drip Irrigation, Deer Fences: James Most of Orchards, Gardens, Irrigation, LLC 360.726.2919 (Video and phone consultations available) • Bulk organic fertilizer: Peaceful Valley Farm Supply Online James Most in Eastsound, 360.726.2919 • Drip Irrigation Supplies: Dripworks.com • Soil and Mulch and Compost: San Juan Sanitation 360.376.4717

Home & Garden 2020-21 • 7

GOING TINY: Maybe Thoreau was right

“A man is rich in proportion to the number of things which he can afford to let alone.”

Walden’s Pond

By Diane Craig In 1854 when Henry David Thoreau wrote those words describing a philosophy that embraced minimal living, it’s unlikely he had any idea of how his philosophy would work its way into the American psyche and, more than 100 years later, give rise to a movement that is changing how we live, and how we think of our homes.

The year was 1998 and, for the first time since 1973, the average size of an American home measured more than 2,150 square feet. That same year, Sarah Susanka, an English architect, wrote a book called “The Not So Big House: A Blueprint for the Way We Live” suggesting homeowners reconsider the size of a home and focus instead on quality over quantity and maximizing small spaces instead of buying bigger homes. Her book started an industry-wide conversation about using design elements to enhance the use of space and make smaller spaces feel larger.

Two years after Susanka published her paradigm-shifting book, the 96-square foot home on wheels of a University of Iowa professor, Jay Shafer, was featured on the front page of the Des Moines Register. The article, “My Tiny Hut” ultimately put a face to the tiny house movement – a movement that embraced a lifestyle highlighting sustainability and living with less. When the housing bubble burst in 2008 the move toward living smaller met a wider audience that saw the concept of living tiny, a viable alternative to the nations’ rising housing costs.

The exact size of a tiny house has been vigorously debated from the days of Shafer’s tiny house on wheels. Realtor.com defines a tiny home as a structure of 100–500 square feet.

The size of many tiny homes range from 275 to 450 square feet sq feet and oten replicate the look of larger homes — bungalows with full kitchens and baths, dormers, skylights and porches. Increasingly, storage containers are being repurposed as tiny homes, as are old school busses, known as “schoolies.” For the more adventurous, tiny homes on wheels (THOW) are redefining the concept of a mobile home, offering many an opportunity to travel with a permanent (and custom-built) roof over their heads. Some take an even less traditional approach to minimal housing - straw bale houses and yurts.

For many, owning one’s home has been the American Dream. Increasingly, however, that dream is becoming less and less attainable for large swaths of the population, and there are multiple reasons for the shift according to James Young, director of Washington Center for Real Estate Research. In a forum last July in Bellevue, Washington, Young offered that a “perfect storm” was brewing in the state typified by the state of home buying in the greater Seattle area, an area that expects to see an increasing number of renters (anticipated upwards of 70 percent), and of retirees outbidding first-time home buyers. And, though residential construction permits are at record levels, Young said that single/family and/or townhouse building permits are still below 2005.

“Builders in the Seattle area aren’t building anything for people to own, which is a problem,” he said.

If the housing trajectory continues as it has, “the ... result is that few Washingtonians

won’t be able to afford their own homes,” he said, adding that the stock of available housing represents less than 10 percent of existing homes.

“The reality is the houses are simply not there.”

Facing a statewide depletion in the housing stock then, Washington tiny house enthusiasts suggest that living small can be beneficial for several reasons: - Construction can be environmentally friendly (think solar panels, rainwater systems and other eco friendly amenities); - Smaller structures consume less energy; - Less space requires less maintenance; and - Smaller homes are easier to clean (generally accomplished in less than an hour).

Increasingly, cities and towns around the country are creating communities of tiny homes as a way to solve a growing homeless population; aging adults are turning to living small as a way of reducing their carbon footprint while increasing their standard of living; and young adults are finding innovative ways to live independently and pursue a lifestyle that enables them to live and work anywhere without the burden of a massive mortgage.

While many states and counties struggle with maintaining restrictions on where and what kind of tiny house is permitted, San Juan County has addressed the issue with a series of code definitions that offer a blueprint for making living small possible. Since permitting is everything, San Juan County defines three categories of tiny homes: 1) a conventional building permitted under the International Residential Code (IRC), permitted and inspected by San Juan County; 2) a manufactured home or factory assembled structure, permitted and inspected by Washington state Department of Labor and Industries. (In this scenario, San Juan County permits and inspects the location and the foundation); or 3) a recreational vehicle, permitted and inspected by Washington state Department of Labor and Industries.

Further, a tiny house in San Juan County must follow regulations for land use, including setbacks and density, water and sewage disposal. More information on what is legally required in the county is obtainable from the San Juan County Department of Community Development.

The attraction of a tiny home for many is the economical cost to build the structure. Not surprising, many choose to build it themselves. (Yes, there are DIY videos on YouTube!) A variety of design packages are available online and come complete with a full materials list and instructions on any necessary pre-construction work. If you’re not inclined to build it yourself, design and construction companies are available to build a small home to your specifications. There are a few such companies in the San Juans and several in the state.

Before embracing the dream of living a less cluttered, less frenzied life, there are several things to consider: 1. Living small will require major purging because less space means less stuff. It’s not easy but it can be done; and 2. Research your ultimate location and whether the area’s building restrictions allow the type of structure you’re looking to build. Consider, too, booking a stay in a tiny house. Vacation rentals around the state and the country offer a variety of opportunities. Check them out before you consider cutting back on your floor plans.

Learn more about tiny house living at the Washington Tiny House Association (www. legaltinyhouses.org), watch episodes of “Tiny House Nation” or “Living Big in A Tiny House” online. There’s a ton of information that will help you decide if going tiny is in your future.

Perhaps Thoreau was right. Perhaps it’s not what we have, but what we can live without that is the key to personal wealth. Living tiny may offer a path to discovering that key.

8 • Home & Garden 2020-21

What’s New at Browne’s Garden Center?

NOW OFFERING SPECIAL ORDERS!

If you don’t see what you’re looking for on our tables. Just ask!

NEW GREEN VENDORS!

Little Prince of Oregon (check them out on IG!) & Blooming Nursery to increase our selection of unique annuals, perennials & indoor tropicals. We’re very excited to be working with Eshraghi Nursery which offers specially selected Japanese Maples, unique conifers & more. Also, we are proud to offer locally grown clumping (non-invasive only) Bamboo through Wild Bird Bamboo.

NEW ORGANIC FERTILIZERS!

Hendrikus Organics out of Issaquah, WA — locally owned & operated, they offer high performance granulated fertilizers for even distribution of nutrients, easy application and no dust! They have a great lawn/turf program as well.

NEW POTTERY!

Our 2020 line of outdoor ceramics & fiberglass pottery just arrived and is looking fantastic! We also now offer Scheurich pottery, a German company who makes a simple but beautiful line of ceramics for indoor/outdoor gardening.

Visit our Garden Center Monday through Friday 8AM-6PM Saturday & Sunday 8AM-5PM

NEW PRODUCTS!

We now carry: Fountains, wind spinners, chimeneas, wrought-iron garden accents including benches & trellises, plant stands, and a great selection of Terra Cotta. Come see what’s new!

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Home Center: 360.378.2168 | Garden Center: 360.378.1041 860 Mullis Street, Friday Harbor, Washington 98250 www.browneshomecenter.com |