The Ihnats are about to add their fourth roomful of worm-raising beds to complement the 42 beds they have now. Kay Ihnat said she is thinking about getting a chair instead of a couch for their den so she can have more room to store outgoing worms and worm kits. The biggest challenge in running a worm farm is marketing, John Ihnat said. The growth area for the worm business is recycling boxes. They come in designer colors and can sit beneath someone's sink.
Ecology is the big selling point.
Not surprisingly, worm boxes are more popular in California. Harper, the Penn State farming professor, said some small towns have even tried worm recycling for leaves and grass clippings. And if you run the garbage disposal, that takes an average of eight gallons of water a day. So are oranges, but not grapefruit, strangely enough. The Ihnats took up worm farming after getting married six years ago.