The wranglers at the Happy D Ranch Worm Farm think they have at least part of the answer.

Worms. Lots and lots of worms.

If everybody had worms, the "ranch hands" contend, the amount of waste heading into landfills would decrease. Not just their worms, any worms. Vermicomposting - converting garbage into fertilizer through the work of a few thousand hungry worms - is a fast growing trend.

Easy to see why. Happy D's redworms, 4 to 6 inches long, eat almost anything that was once alive. Fibers of cotton T-shirts, coffee filters and grounds, apple cores, and vacuum cleaner dust are just a few of the delicacies they dine on.

"We put shredded paper, egg shells, avocado pits and watermelon rinds into a blender - we call it a 'worm smoothie,'" ranch co-owner Glenn Dembroff said as he opened a composting bin, exposing a blend of worms, half-eaten newspaper shreds, watermelon rinds and the brown odorless worm manure called castings.

The ranch started in 1995 when Dembroff won a composting bin, a product called Can-O-Worms, in a raffle. Intrigued with the possibilities, Dembroff, who has degrees in both Environmental Science and Geology, launched the Happy D Ranch Worm Farm as an Internet-based business.

"It's an untapped resource," he said.

The ranch began as a part-time endeavor for Dembroff, who also manages Retail Environmental Services for Ultramar Inc.

Located in Dembroff's yard, the ranch requires no fences or corrals. The mounds where an estimated 155,000 wrigglers live show no evidence of activity until one of the ranchers scoops dirt away from the top.

As the business grew, Dembroff's Web site (www.happydranch.com) began receiving more than 100 visitors per day. Co-owners Al and Dorothy Benoy were brought in to help handle day-to-day operations.

The ranch today ships all over the world, taking about 200 orders a month for bins, worms, books, and other products. "We sell about 97% domestically and 3% internationally," Dembroff said.

The need for recycling is becoming more and more evident. California generated 52.5 million tons of waste in 1997, according to the state's Integrated Waste Management Board, charged with overseeing recycling efforts. The state passed a bill requiring that each county recycle 50% of its solid waste by the year 2000.

As of 1997, unincorporated areas of Tulare County had recycled 43% of its waste, according to the waste board. Visalia had diverted 36%.

Dembroff believes his own numbers prove that vermicomposting can help. If just 10% of Visalia residents composted kitchen waste, he said, 500 tons of waste could be diverted from landfills each year.

To reach this figure, he assumed each family produced one pound of trash each day, slightly less than the 2.4 pounds of waste residents generated in 1997, according to the waste board. Dembroff approximated Visalia's population to be 90,000.

"I've Got Worms!"

The Can-O-Worms is Dembroff's most popular item. With a specially-priced package price tag of $139, it's also the most expensive. On the Happy D Ranch Web site, worm enthusiasts can also buy anything from coffee cups with the saying "I've Got Worms!" to bumper stickers reading "Promote Global Worming." And, of course, they can buy worms starting at $30 a pound.

Customers who order the Can-O-Worms package receive the can, which looks like a small garbage can, and a how-to book. Then, they get two pounds of worms, about 2,000 wigglers.

"We send the bin a week before so the customer has time to get ready," Dorothy Benoy said.

The can works through a series of three stacking trays. The owner starts by putting worms and compost material on the bottom tray. As the worms eat away, they leave behind their manure, the castings. Once the tray is full of castings, the worms crawl up through small holes into the next tray, and the process continues. It typically takes about nine months for the worms to go through a can full of garbage.

The only task left to humans is to toss garbage into the bin; the worms do everything else, Dorothy Benoy said.

"They take their work very seriously," she said.

At the very bottom of the can is a collection tray for "castings tea," the liquid runoff that filters down through the various trays, picking up the nutrients in the castings above. A spigot at the bottom of the can allows the collection of the tea in a bucket.

Both the castings and this liquid are used as fertilizer. Unlike store-bought fertilizers, which can actually burn a plant if too much is used, there's almost no limit to how much worm castings may be used, Dembroff said. That's because the granules are covered by mucus, which decays over time and releases the nutrients slowly.

Educational tool

Divisadero Middle School science teacher Julie Domena has a Can-O-Worms in her classroom and at home.

"They eat any food products I give them," Domena said. "I plan to use the fertilizer for plants in and around my house."

Worms, she said, are a great educational tool in her classroom.

"Students have put food from the cafeteria in the bin and brought food (scraps) from home," she said.

Domena believes vermicomposting is a major step toward decreasing landfill waste.