Meet Your Maker: Lane Hettich

 Most of your maker interests fall under the umbrella of urban homesteading. How did you get started as a maker?

I went into Heine Brothers’ a few years ago when I first moved to Louisville and they were selling little half-pound bags of organic worm compost made from coffee grounds for $20 a bag. Out of curiosity, I bought one. And it gave me amazing results on my tomato plants. There was no way I could justify paying that much for organic compost to cover my entire garden, so I researched ways for me to do it myself.

I have a 10-year-old Labrador dog who is very curious. So if I did compost in a pile in my yard, she would get in it and root around. On the one hand, I didn’t want her making a mess. And on the other hand, I didn’t want her to eat anything that might harm her. So worm composting was the best solution for me.

First, I bought big plastic bins that are about 2 feet wide, 3 feet long, and 2 feet tall. I had trouble finding the worms locally, especially since I was looking for a particular species. So I ordered them online. It doesn’t take too many worms to start worm composting. I started by ordering 1,500 worms for $30. It was a super minimal cost.

Of course, I realized after I had ordered them that they were scheduled to arrive while I was on vacation and away from home. I had to call my brother-in-law and say, “By the way, do you mind picking up some worms off of my porch? And can you continue to feed and water them while I’m away? In other words, can you take care of them? And yes, I actually paid money for this.” It was awesome.

How did he react?

“This girl is crazy, but I like her.” And he did it! Hopefully that’s not the weirdest favor anyone has asked of him.

How long did it take for the worms to begin producing visible amounts of compost?

With the bins, I harvested them a month in and I had 2 pounds of actual compost. I gifted some to my mother-in-law and put the rest on my plants in my garden.

In my bins, I feed the worms on one side and let them bed on the other side. So it’s easy to lift up one end of the shredded newspaper and keep track of how much food they have consumed. It turns out that they eat a pound of food a day! I don’t have enough waste in my household, so I put grass clippings, coffee grounds, vegetable scraps, corn husks, really anything I can get my hands on to make up a pound of food. I also put a lot of shredded newspaper in because my workplace gets The Courier-Journal and The New York Times every day. They used to just get thrown away, but instead are turned into rich, organic compost.

Now it has been 3 months and they’ve probably doubled. So I actually set up another bin. They are hungry and, similar to goldfish, they will grow to fill up however much space you give them.

I presume that you have to use particular worms for worm composting. You can’t just throw a bunch of earthworms that you dig up into the tub?

(Laughs) No, that wouldn’t work too well! Earthworms are good for aeration, so you do want them in your soil. However, to make good soil, you need worms that compost by breaking down plant matter. And those are called red worms. So you can’t just dig those up in your yard. You find them in barns, in existing compost piles, and in forests where trees go down. They’re in places of decay.

How do you care for them during the winter?

They need to be kept at 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the winter. So I plan on moving the bins to the inside of my unattached garage. However, if you don’t have one, you can try wrapping burlap around them and see if they survive the winter. If they don’t survive, it’s easy enough and cheap enough to order some more.

What’s next for your urban homestead?

I also raise chickens. I just picked them up yesterday. We have two one-year-old hens who we adopted because they were getting beat up and picked on down at the farm where they were raised. So they’re all mangy looking, but they’re my babies. Their names were – and they could still be their names – but they were Cilantro and La Quita. I really like Cilantro, but I also like Gladys, so I don’t know.

I also really want bees, but I’m not sure if I’m ready for that route yet. I might need a year to get my husband ready first.

For me, if you’re interested in it, there’s no excuse not to urban homestead. Why not be able to eat your own food if you have the land? Plus, you keep all this waste away from the landfill. It’s an easy decision.

I grew up in London, Kentucky, came to Louisville, Kentucky for school, and never left. I think it’s the people here who make me stay. When I go visit other places, it just makes me want to come back here. Sure, there are things that I wished Louisville had, but you can’t replace the progressive mindset, the diversity of people and food. I choose to stay here. Sure, there are people who are turned off by my worm farming, but there are also enough people here who are genuinely interested when I tell them about it. I’m going to get all my friends into it.

-Grace Simrall

Bio:

Dancer. Ballet teacher. Writer for The Paper. Urban Homesteader. Gardener. Worm Farmer.
Tender to Two Chickens.

Title:

Amateur DIY-er/homesteader with a normal 9-5

Age:

27

Location:

George Rogers Clark Park Neighborhood

Contact:

lane.hibbard@gmail.com