Business - Made in Whatcom

POSTED: Tuesday, Dec. 02, 2008

Whatcom County company offers worm composters

Getting a casual mention from Oprah Winfrey is a big deal for many businesses. As it turns out, it even works for a local worm factory.

Cascade Sales on Smith Road is the seller of a home composting system, called the Worm Factory. A similar worm composter got a mention on Oprah's show, and Cascade's sales took off.

"Oprah showed a worm bin (on her show) for about 15 seconds, and we sold more worm bins in the next two months then we've ever sold in our lives," said owner Ralph Rhoads.

Here are some details about the company:

What it makes: Cascade Sales sells everything from garden hose attachments to giant bubble wands, but one of the company's popular items is its home composting system, the Worm Factory. The term worm factory, which consists of stackable worm bins, may be a bit of a misnomer. Worms and microorganisms working inside the trays actually produce what gardeners sometimes refer to as "black gold," a nutrient-rich soil ideal for planting.

Recent business news: The company may become a more literal worm factory in the future. Cascade Sales is in the process of breeding worms to sell to those who need them for composting. In the interim, owner Ralph Rhoads suggests people go to the online worm resource, findworms.com, to locate worm distributors across the country.

Cascade Sales also was the recent recipient of a Dun & Bradstreet award for its status as a small business for 25 years.

Volume: The company has sold about 14,000 worm factories so far this year. Rhoads said that orders have doubled since last year, a trend he attributes to a growing environmental consciousness throughout the world and Oprah's notoriety.

Marketplace: Major retailers like Amazon.com and eBay sell Cascade Sales products, but items like the Worm Factory and garden hose attachments are also sold at garden shows throughout the country. Locals can find the Cascade Sales items at The Garden Spot nursery on Alabama Street. Orders also be made through the company's Web site.

Production process: A basic Worm Factory consists of three stacked plastic bins, though extra bins can be added to the tower to create more compost. Paper products and kitchen scraps, like egg shells, vegetable peels and apple cores, are placed into bins. Those just starting up their Worm Factories have to wait about three months for their first black gold, Rhoads said.

Worms inside the bins work work from the bottom up, turning the material in the lowest tier into compost before migrating up to the next bin through tiny holes in the bottoms of the bins.

Moisture, which leaches down to the bottom of the factory, can be collected using a spigot in the bottom bin and used as garden fertilizer.

Workforce: Two part-time and three full-time employees.

CASCADE SALES

3324 E. Smith Rd.

Bellingham, WA 98226

(360) 592-5970

www.cascadesales.com