I know it sounds a bit gross, but it is possible to worm compost in an apartment. I, like my co-contributor, wasn’t a big fan of doing it under the kitchen sink, but with the right equipment I was able to do it all year. Outdoors on my balcony over half the year, and indoors downstairs in my storage locker for the winter. And no one was the wiser.

Here’s how it’s done:

The only issue I had at one point was an abundance of fruit flies, but I made quick work of them with a fruit juice and dish soap mix, and by keeping the top layer of shredded paper dry. The liquid trap works wonders and regularly replacing soggy shredded paper with new, keeps the flies from laying fresh eggs.

Now that I have access to an outdoor compost bin, I passed my condo-size bin along to a friend who is using it to teach her kindergarten students all about composting. In fact, they used their compost in a recent Mothers’ Day sprouted beans project. Aside from most kids being scared to touch the worms (I thought that’s what being a kid was all about?!) the project has been a big hit.