LARGE WORM FARMS IN OTTAWA

Over the years, we have set up large worm farms across Ottawa. Here's a list of where to find them -  

Rideau Rockcliffe Community Resource Center - Social Harvest Ottawa has many worm farms to help them recycle food waste from the adjacent food bank, and kitchen. The resulting compost is used to fertilize the many garden beds on site. They have both indoor and outdoor worm bins. 

Just Food Ottawa - We repurposed a large, old metal planter bed into worm farm and fitted it with a lid. You can find it right at the entrance by the gate. 

Impact Hub Ottawa - Impact Hub is a purpose built co-working space for social impact organizations in downtown and we've set up a worm farm that composts 20 L of their coffee grounds and other scraps. The resulting castings are used to fertilize the many plants in the office. We also run workshops with the sustainability community here. 

Arlington 5 - It's a community focussed coffee shop in downtown that feeds some of their spent coffee grinds to a worm farm. 

MooShu Ice Cream - Ottawa's favourite ice cream store has a large fleet of worm farms in their kitchen that is helping them compost all the fruit and veggie peels from the prep kitchen, along with spent coffee grinds from their cafe on Wellington St. 


We started a community composting project in 2022 with a few community gardens in downtown Ottawa. Here's where to find them - 

1. Goldenrod Community Garden - Intersection of Parkdale Ave and the Kichi Zibi parkway. This massive community garden has a large outdoor worm farm as well as a well-managed 3 bin hot composting system.

2. Dalhousie Community Garden - Intersection of Preston and Somerset St. This small community garden has a large outdoor worm bin. We could use volunteers to help here.

3. Sweet Willow Community Garden - Intersection of Bronson and Rochester St. We have set up two worm benches for neighbours to compost and you you can see both our old and new designs in this garden. 

4. Mechanicsville Community Garden - At Bayview Yards/Invest Ottawa. The community gardeners use a big worm farm to compost all their garden leftovers, and also collect coffee grinds from within Bayview Yards to bulk up the compost. 

Commonly Asked Questions

Does it smell?

A worm farm surprisingly does not smell!

Be sure to follow our instructions included with your parenting guide and join our support channels for troubleshooting!

Where should I put my Box Of Life?

We recommend keeping it indoors in a temperature controlled environment, somewhere easy to access and visible like your kitchen or living.

If you must keep it outdoors, keep in mind that red wiggler worms prefer temperatures between 15-25 C (60-80 F). During freezing cold winters, the worms may die, so it is a good idea to bring them inside. If it is too hot in summer, keep them away from direct sun in a cool, shady space.

How much effort is involved?

Honestly, not much. About 5 minutes a week at most to feed the worms and prepare the bedding.

By diverting food from your trash, you'll notice your garbage doesn't stink anymore which means you can empty it way less often than before.

How can I convince my partner?

The best way to convince your partner to let you keep worms in the house is by promising them that you will take care of them properly, and by following our instructions of course!

Your partner only needs to be mindful of separating food scraps and bedding for the wormies while they are in the kitchen, while you take care of the weekly feeding and maintenance. Treat your wormies like a houseplant!

What can I feed the worm farm?

Ok here's our rule of thumb - if it came from the ground, it can go back into it. This means that you can feed your worms fruits, veggies, paper napkins, cardboard, eggshells, whatever.

A healthy worm farm will recycle your food as well as paper. You are typically going to be feeding an equal amount of food and bedding to your worms.

Just keep in mind that meat and dairy can make your worm bin stinky and attract maggots, so don't add that if you are a new worm parent.

What to do when away on vacation?

If you're going away for two weeks or less, you don't need to do anything. The worms will be fine left alone.

If away for longer, you just need to ensure your worms don't dry out when you're gone. You could ask a friend to water your worm farm and feed them some food every 2 weeks while you are away.

Will my pet damage the worm farm?

So far we have not heard of any complaints from people who have pets and a worm farm. In fact many cat owners report that their furry felines like to sit on top of their boxes.

How do I join the online support community?

We have a robust online community support ecosystem to help you find answers to specific questions.

For convenience, we have a group on Facebook. For those not on social media, we also have a group on Discord, which is a chat platform.

By being a part of our support channels, get instant answers to many of your questions.