August 15, 2007 -- Article Provided by The Beachcomber

By Amelia Heagerty
Staff Writer

In the worm business for just three years, Islander Mark Yelken admits many people know him better as the Worm Guy than by the name his parents gave him.
Although the nickname is ubiquitous on Vashon, Yelken, 49, only recently walked away from management work in the gasoline industry and began a sustainable worm business on the Island, composting the food waste of both individuals and restaurants for free in a shining example of conservation.

"I started out after 25 years working for an oil company, we've always wanted to raise worms," he said.

Now, this Island celebrity's a house hold name among the Island's restaurant owners, organic gardeners and conservationists & is also gaining some national attention.
At ABC's Good Morning America's request, Yelken recently submitted a video extolling the virtues of worm-based composting and asking presidential hopefuls how they would encourage local sustainable businesses like his own.

His video was one of the most-viewed on ABC's Web site two weeks ago, before the Republicans appeared on the show. And this week, Democratic presidential hopefuls may answer the Worm Guy's question on national television - quite a spotlight for a man who spends all day up to his elbows in worm poop.

"The people on Vashon think I'm a convert," Yelken, father of two, said of his transformation from petroleum employee to grassroots worm farmer. He lived in the Midwest for decades before coming to the Pacific Northwest. "I've always composted for personal use, and we recycled, but that was the extent of it."

Yelken's interest in the invertebrates began when he realized how useful and industrious earthworms are, and how talented they are at turning the food scraps many households throw away into rich, nutrient-laden soil perfect for gardens. The worms are low-maintenance, requiring only soil, moisture and oxygen to happily wriggle their days away.

Called castings, worm excrement is odor-free and will not burn at any temperature. Yelken, his hands dark with dirt and wearing a baseball cap emblazoned with the words "Untamed Vashon Island," called castings "the best organic fertilizer there is."

He sells worm castings in 15- and 30-pound bags and emphasizes that "a little goes a long way."

"Anything (worms) can suck in, they can process," he said. "Even a rock. ... If it's small enough they could pull it in."

Worm castings are also disease-free, because the worm both physically and chemically processes anything it digests, Yelken said.
Yelken started with 12,000 worms and estimates he has more than a million at the farm today.

In addition to his commercial operation, he also runs no-cost food-scrap compost programs for both individuals and Island businesses.

At his farm on the northwest side of the Island, two large food waste bins "each about the size of two Volkswagen Rabbits" produce 200 pounds of castings a day, which Yelken returns to the community at no cost.

The food waste portion of Yelken's earthworm operation is a newly minted nonprofit organization, as of September 2005.

Eat it here, use it here, keep it here - Yelken swears by this mantra, an approach beloved by many in the local food and sustainability movement that is gaining momentum nationwide.
Anyone interested in becoming part of Yelken's food-scrap program for households can pick up a 5-gallon food scrap bucket from the worm farm, and when it is full, swap it for a "relatively clean" empty bucket.

Yelken also works with Island restaurants and grocery stores, collecting their food-scrap containers daily for free.
"There's so much waste created in the food industry," said Jessica De Wire, chef and co-owner of Gusto Girls. "If we didn't recycle and use the Worm Guy, we'd have at least two or three dumpsters of trash a week; now we only have one."

Gusto Girls has been a part of Yelken's program since the restaurant opened its doors nearly a year ago.

De Wire said her restaurant's participation in the worm program was "responsible."

Yelken has big hopes for his worm farm, a sprawling 10-acre parcel with a P-patch in front, just down the street from the Island's Catholic church. Yelken has grown vegetables for years, but this is the first year pumpkins will brighten the fields around harvest time.

While Yelken rents the property's barn and workshop, a 60-year-old woman lives in the home. Yelken just began negotiations with the owner to purchase the plot in his nonprofit's name.
"We're trying to figure out ... if I can afford it," he said. "Then the whole place would be an entity of its own, and when I'm gone, the dream can carry on."

He said he wanted the worm farm to one day be fully functional and house an educational center, especially for inner-city students who may not have much exposure to farming or composting at home.

"The reason I spend so much time with kids is because I think if we can change the kids, we can change the world," Yelken said.

He added that city kids love his worm program.

"They get so much out of getting their hands dirty," he said. "I give them a little bag of worm castings to take home to their parents, so hopefully they can grow something at home."

Still, Yelken's nonprofit may need help to stay afloat. He makes no money off his food-scrap compost program, only eking out a living on the sale of worm castings. And he never charges for appearances or events.

Since his organization is a nonprofit, Yelken said Islanders have "an opportunity to help this stay alive." He added he might have to go back to work if community response doesn't swell in the coming months. Indeed, his wife Jolene will start work in September to help support the family and their two college-age kids.

"We do a lot of good," he mused.

Yelken said earthworms even help the health of our planet, reducing the carbon emissions that most scientists believe are a main factor in global warming.

"Because of (the worms') role in composting and giving back to soil, and our scraps not being put in landfills, there's some carbon emission reduction going on," he said. "I'm certain of it."

He chose Vashon as his worm stomping ground because he felt sure his business could flourish here, and because as an isolated community, he felt his work would make a recognizable impact.

"One of the reasons I decided to go into business here is that people here do get it," he said with a smile.

Yelken said a goal he has for Vashon is to place food-scrap bins in neighborhoods across the Island.

"You'd be working with your neighbors to recycle kitchen scraps instead of bringing them to me," he said.

The Episcopal and Lutheran churches on Vashon have embraced his food compost program. Congregants can drop off their food waste at their respective churches' bins rather than making the trek to Yelken's worm farm.

"How much can one person do?" he asked. If the Worm Guy is any example, a whole lot.

"Just do something. It doesn't have to be composting. Could be the light bulbs you buy, could be biodiesel."

As The Beachcomber reporter bid adieu to The Worm Guy, he said with a smile, "I always have to say this: Grow in peace."

March 28, 2007 -- Article Provided by The Vashon Loop

Eat It Here, Keep It Here, Use It Here!

Mark Yelken, Vashon Island’s own Worm Guy, is still determined that we have the demographics and resources to be an example to the rest of King County, to Washington State, the country and even the world, in how we deal with
economic, ecological and environmental problems that confront us all.

His “Eat It Here, Keep It Here, Use It Here” philosophy is the underlying principal of everything he does and everything he is trying to do at the WormFarm, 15824 115th Avenue SW., but he has the feeling that not enough Island people “get it.”

The Island is a finite and clearly-defined system, with only a certain amount of resources, energy, money, people, land and water.

He feels that we are in a perfect position to demonstrate how to do it right, how to use what we have, not just efficiently but abundantly. His vision is to prove that we can not only survive, we can thrive if we do it all well and, once we do, he knows we can show everyone else how.

In pursuit of that vision, Yelken has been steadily expanding his vermicomposting system and now has two flow-through bins that are processing four to five hundred pounds of food scraps daily into high-grade
fertilizer in the form of his rich vermicompost. That equates to over two tons of what-would-have-been waste per month that now is not going to the transfer station and on into landfills but rather into Island gardens.

The program has enlisted the participation of most Island restaurants, the coffee shops and stands, the Tea Shop, the Food Bank, the Wednesday Night Dinner, and The Vashon Market.

The resultant compost tests as VERY HIGH in all nutrients (including NPK) with at least ten times the nitrogen of another leading commercial compost available elsewhere on the Island and has the added benefits of being made here, being alive, and containing worms and cocoons.

His residential project has been expanding as well in the form of increased participation in his bucket subscription program. For a nominal fee, the 30 or so participants have a place to bring their food scraps and, in return, go home with buckets of vermicompost for their gardens and houseplants. It is a painless way for average householders, who do not want to be burdened with a home worm box, to insure their food scraps do not contribute to waste-stream problems, and to get valuable fertilizer to boot. He notes there is always room for more subscribers.

He also envisions expanding the program to include all green waste on the Island—not just food scraps but clean yard waste as well. In addition, he has one (and soon two) smaller flow-through bins available for satellite locations to expand the bucket-subscription program and make it easier for residents of the far corners of the Island to take part.

He is currently looking for suitable locations and participants. These bins could process 20 to 30 pounds of food scraps a day and Yelken envisions half a dozen or more in various locations with the aim of recycling
all the green food scraps we produce on the Island.

He also builds and stocks two or three worm bins—wood or plastic—every month for those adventurous souls who want to take care of their own food scraps at home, produce high quality fertilizer for themselves and feel up to caring for thousands of pet worms. Hint, hint—it’s not that hard.

The Worm Farm Garden Patch program, created with an eye to building a community garden devoted to the use of organic and renewable methods, is also expanding. Despite a late start last season, 17 of the 18 plots are now in use and 10 more plots will be available very soon. The Farm Stand is also taking shape and will soon be selling vegetable starts and worm castings and, as the season progresses, trees, vegetables, eggs and fruit.

Yelken’s Not-For-Profit status has finally been obtained for the educational and community recycling (vermicomposting) side of his endeavor, which enables him to search for grants and tax-deductible contributions—which he would welcome because, despite the ever-expanding nature of the worm business, it has yet to prove profitable.

The success he has had enables him continue his important educational outreach programs. This includes about one presentation per week in schools, facilities and businesses around King County—and which included a presentation at a Wallingford school the week I spoke with him.

On the business side of the endeavor, Yelken is putting into motion plans to increase the worm and casting production facility with a new structure. Worm casting are always for sale—and test with 10 times the nitrogen content of the vermicompost—and a newly- formulated potting soil will soon be available. He also markets worm-bins and the vermicompost. The Tree People Farm, Brent Millent and Joy Beardsley, are now beginning an organic gardening and orchard project on site, near the vermicompost barn, and the Mathias family has begun a no-till project with a moveable chicken pen in the lower field, with plans to market more of their produce at the Saturday Market again this year.

Possible down-the-road projects include investigating the feasibility of ethanol production, a water retention and management system, and a series of remediation tests to look into the use of earthworms to reclaim damaged and contaminated soils around the Island. If you feel motivated to participate in any of the above, contact Mark Yelken, the Vashon Worm Guy, at 817-0388 or via the contact form here.