My friend Laura, the Wonder Worm Woman, gave me two buckets of frass. Frass is insect poop. The smaller the critter the more potent the poop. If you want to learn more about the subject, just click here.

She grows mealworms for people, pets and the planet; but, currently, it’s mostly pets and critters who consume them. The frass is what’s left when the insects finish eating up all the food in their environment. For people she prepares mealworms for tasting by blanching and then roasting them. They come out real crunchy and taste kind of nutty. She said her house smells like baking bread when she’s roasting them. To learn more about the Wonder Worm Woman visit her Facebook page. Here’s a link.

Mealworms are a great source of protein and also contain many of the nutrients our bodies need. They have a low carbon footprint compared to other animals we regularly eat. Anyone can raise mealworms in their house but not everyone can raise a cow, pig, or chicken. Nine to ten gallons of water go into every pound of ground beef we consume. You can grow one hundred pounds of insects with ten gallons of water. Adding insect protein to our diets would be good for people and our planet. I bought roasted worms from her and used them as an additive in some of my favorite recipes.

i know, you’re not going to eat at my house. Right?

But I go to potlucks, too. LOL!

Back to frass. Laura suggested that I add it to my compost to help heat it up. This should help speed up the process. Well, I did it last Saturday. The photos aren’t very pretty but compost making is kind of down and dirty, if you know what i mean.

My compost bins topped off with corn shucks and frass.

I went shopping at Publix last Saturday and really scored. The produce department had fresh corn on the cob and were encouraging their customers to shuck the ears and leave the shucks in the store. I asked if I could have the shucks and the produce man said, “Yes.” I gave him my “God is Green” speech. It probably just rolled right off his back but I never miss a chance to make a convert. It’s fun to walk out of a store with something for free even though most folks think of it as garbage.

Here’s what it looked like when I had added my corn shucks and my frass. I’ll know in a couple of weeks how well this worked. It’s kind of like a science project.

Here’s what I had when I finished. Not pretty but effective.

I’ll have to wait a couple of weeks before I know how well the addition of frass helps the compost cooking process. Will let you know.

Frass Is Hot!

God Is Green!