CARLSBAD - Worms, worm castings, and worm juice for sale?
Fifth-graders at Poinsettia Elementary School are learning about organic gardening and entrepreneurship through a new self-sustaining garden, and sales from the byproducts will be part of a fundraising effort.
The class recent1y received a $150 donation from the Carlsbad Garden Club that will be used to purchase rakes, shovels, stake and hoses. "We wanted to encourage young gardeners," club President Ellen McGrath-Thorpe said. "it is a soothing and refreshing activity, and you get so much out of it." Hope, Jefferson and Calavara Hills elementary schools were also beneficiaries of a $150 donation from the club.
The Poinsettia project was started at the beginning of the school year by Principal Steve Ahle and fifth-grade teacher Robert Brown, both of whom are gardening enthusiasts. "We were excited about the donation from the garden club and the support from the community," Brown said.
Students are excited about the project for different reasons. "We can donate the vegetables to the school for salads," Matthew Spiering said. "We can recycle things we don't need anymore," Jerry Cullins said.
Parents are contributing to the project by writing grants and securing donations. Many moms and dads rolled up their sleeves to build wooden planter boxes and prepare the soil. Plans are also under way to install an irrigation system and a native plant garden in barrels donated by local wineries.
When Ahle established the garden, he employed vermi composting techniques, which involve feeding junk paper products to earthworms. This, in turn, produces castings, an ideal fertilizer. "It is better than steer manure and doesn't smell," Ahle said.
When water is added, the castings become a liquid fertilizer that Ahle said could be compared to the commercial product Oxygen Plus. Worm juice, also known as worm tea, is produced, offering disease protection when sprayed on indoor and outdoor plants.
Brown said farmers refer to worm castings as "black gold". "This is a pretty hot way to cut waste in the landfills", Brown said, "it will show students that their garden can be self-sustained with very little fertilizer that needs to be purchased."
A compost pile has been created using brown plants, which are nitrogen rich, and green plants, which are carbon rich. "You can take the compost and put it in mesh bag and soak it in water" Brown said. "Water that is produced acts as a liquid fertilizer as well."
Coir, a byproduct of coconut husks from Mexico, will be used as an amendment to the liquid fertilizer to boost plant growth.
Initially, cold weather vegetables such as broccoli, brussel sprouts and cauliflower will be planted. In the spring those plants will be replaced by watermelon, tomatoes and lettuce. Later in the school year, vegetables, worms, castings, liquid fertilizer and worm juice will be sold as a fundraising project.
"That money will be used to buy additional tools," Brown said. "I'm hoping that we can create sitting areas for students and possibly add fountains."
Ahle said that while test scores and grades are important, they aren't everything. "This garden is a hands-on science lab that is teaching students about life," he said.
Lillian Cox is a freelance writer and photographer who lives in Encinitas.
