"I did it my way...": worm composting in the ground

Well, as you can imagine, we've been dodging the paparazzi all day long, what with today's front page Oregonian coverage of my children and me doing our composting thing (ha, ha). But, we've gotten quite few emails as well, asking for me to elaborate on how we compost fruit and vegetable scraps. So, I'm glad to oblige.

We collect our fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, etc. in a little crock in the kitchen.  About once a week, we dig a hole in the yard about 12-18" deep. We toss in all the scraps, then break it up into smaller pieces with the tip of the shovel (the smaller the bits, the quicker it will break down). Then we pile all the dirt we dug up back in the hole, stomp it down, and lay some paver bricks over the top to keep the raccoons from digging it back up.

I've read about worm bins, but that sounds like too much trouble if you ask me. This is easy, the worms, bacteria and bugs come and do the work for you. There's never been a problem with flies, bad smells or anything other than the raccoons, which we solved by laying bricks over the most recent dig. The raccoons seem to love the egg shells.

I can't really say how long it takes for it to break down entirely. We do not dig it back up and turn it, or revisit in any way. We gradually move our dig spots around the yard, which fertilizes and breaks up the clayey soil.

I give credit to my husband and his family for teaching us this composting method. They were born in the Philippines, and I've really come to admire the myriad ways they reduce, reuse and recycle in their daily lives. My friend Jen recently told me her family in rural Indiana composts in this way too. So it's nothing new, just us rediscovering a more traditional way of worm composting.