Zero waste is the goal, and our hosts weigh food scraps after every meal. What we do not eat goes downstairs to the “worm room.” Here, through a process called vermiculture, table scraps and other waste become rich garden fertilizer with the help of a few thousand red wiggler worms. “Last year alone I fed them more than 1,000 pounds of food waste,” says Sandy Straw, educational manager. It’s a great opportunity to teach visitors about recycling nutrients through composting, which doesn’t stop at dinner scraps. She’s also fed the worms paper, blue jeans, and khaki pants.