Find your handful of worms

Introducing the African night crawler

Some complex problems have simple solutions, and a handful of worms may be the answer to the biodegradeable wastes of Baguio city.

On June 13 and 14, thirty people gathered at St. Scholastica Convent to learn the theory and practice of vermicomposting. We were lucky to have Michael Cagas as our teacher, who has built his expertise through seven years of focused practice, experimentation, and teaching of vermiculture and vermicomposting. Though some of us went to the training with doubts about caring for worms, we all left with our bayongs-full of worms, determined to start our own backyard and household vermicomposting, and do our share in solving the garbage problem in the city.

The African night crawler looks like our own native earth worm, in size and color. Unlike the native earthworm, it is flatbellied, which enables it to crawl on a flat wall. Also it does not burrow or bore holes in the earth, and prefers to stay on the surface. Thus, this worm is no threat to the rice paddies, like the giant earthworms now destroying the Banaue rice terraces. Michael allayed the fears of some participants that this worm would become a pest or invasive species, by explaining that it actually needs care and and protection from pests and predators like chickens, frogs, insects. Thus, they would not be able to survive and thrive, if they are not given the ideal environment and home.

One kilo of worms can eat one kilo of organic wastes in a day, and turn this into vermicast, which is a superior type of organic fertilizer. Furthermore, the organic waste is reduced to a fraction of its original volume. Thus, a handful of worms inside a sako, with appropriate bedding materials, can serve as a perpetual bin for household biodegradeable wastes. In other words, your trash bin does not get full because the worms are consuming them and processing them into smaller amounts of vermicompost. Isn't this a wonderful way to manage our organic wastes?

So, what can we put into the sako? All kitchen wastes, like fruit and vegetable peelings, garden trimming, banana stalks, sayote, even pig, chicken, and horse manure. This does not produce bad odors, because the good bacteria are able to fight the bad bacteria.

We learned about the needs, behavior, mating patterns of the African night crawler. Hopefully, this knowledge will help us culture the worms so that they reproduce, and allow us to share a handful of worms to our neighbors and friends. Participants to the training included indigenous migrants, urban poor, gardeners of several convents, NGO workers, and organic farmers.

Thus, if you want to join this worm initiative, ask around, try to find your neighbors who do not produce any biodegradeable wastes, and request a handful of worms for your own household.#

Community Video is empowering

Many of us feel that video is beyond our powers: that it is too high tech, too difficult to learn, to tedious and time consuming, or we are too old for this kind of thing.

These have been debunked through a community participatory video workshop conducted by InsightShare in Itogon.

Participants were taught to use video cameras during an intensive 9-day participatory video workshop in Ucab, Itogon.The output is a 24 minute documentary which communicates the devastating impacts of large-scale mining wrought on their communities by various companies over the years, and now the increasingly alarming impacts of climate change.

Credit goes to InsightShare for their commitment to popularize the medium and the skills necessary among disadvantaged communities and to their local partners, Ucab community, Asia Pacific Indigenous Youth Network, and Dap-ayan ti Kultura iti Kordilyera.#

The Green Wave for Biodiversity in Baguio

Camp One, Tuba, Benguet

A ripple that's turning into a wave around the world has reached this mountain city. The Green Wave for Biodiversity aims to build a consciousness among young people on the loss of biodiversity that is taking place across the planet, and the need to take action to preserve Life on Earth.

soil painting

To observe and celebrate the International Day on Biodiversity last May 22, 2009, 20 youth and children of the Traditional Knowledge Network of Baguio city trooped to Camp 1, Tuba, Benguet with their tents, backpacks, and anticipation for the 2-day biodiversity camp.

Bamboo music

The campsite was a wilderness where the city-bred campers learned to identify plant varieties and their uses, insects and birds and their sounds. The young people learned respect for the earth and all forms of life through fun activities in arts, music, story-telling, exploration, cooking, and tree-planting. Lessons were many in biodiversity conservation, waste management, in traditional knowledge, and cooperation.

Amian Tauli facilitated the exploration and tree-planting activities. Marichu Ferguson led the soil painting workshop. Julius Daguitan, Maty Camfili and Ani Bungaoen led the bamboo music workshop. Rey Fangloy taught how to cook pinikpikan. Maty Camfili led the story-telling by the campfire. 

Here is the written evaluation of one of the campers: "Overall, I thought the workshop was fun and interesting. My expectations were all met and I learned a lot. I enjoyed playing bamboo instruments and painting with soil. I was happy that I was able to plant trees. I also learned a lot about caring for the environment and also about the different cultures in the Cordillera. I think the venue was just right. It was a place with many plants and insects which demonstrated the concept of biodiversity well. It was also good that it was away from the city because it made us experience being away from our parents and taking care of ourselves. Through this workshop, we also learned and applied the concept of cooperation. We got to know new people and even made friends. The workshop was fun. And I hope there will be another one like it: with more songs, stories, friends, fun, learning and of course, pinikpikan".#