By Luisa Loi
La Conner Community News
A business that harnesses the power of creepy crawlers to produce superfood for plants has moved its headquarters to La Conner.
John and Leah York own Nature’s Footprint, the largest supplier of home-based worm composting systems in the nation. Following the passing of their employer, Ralph Rhoads, in 2025, the Yorks decided to take over the business and continue his legacy, relocating it and their family to La Conner — where John grew up and graduated from high school — earlier this year.
Their mission: help minimize the amount of food waste that rots in landfills.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, roughly one-third of all the food available is tossed away (worldwide and in the U.S.), with much of it ending up in landfills and producing methane. Methane is a greenhouse gas that is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere and accounts for about 30% of rising temperatures.
The vermicompost bins are sold on Nature’s Footprint website and at various retailers, and have been distributed domestically and as far as Europe, South America and Israel. Here, you can find them at Christianson’s Nursery.
The bins can be a tool to minimize the amount of food decaying in landfills and to produce healthy compost to grow a healthy garden, the Yorks said. According to Nature’s Footprint website, worm compost contains ten times the nutrients found in traditional backyard composting systems.
This is achieved through an army — or clew — of thousands of red wiggler worms that live in the bins and are tasked with breaking down the food scraps. Think of them as extremely low-maintenance pets.
Despite their generally negative reputation, worms keep the world’s soil healthy and support food production.
“They’re really a keystone species,” John said. “If it wasn’t for worms, you wouldn’t have the same level of fertility across the world.”
The worms are shipped from worm farms in California and Georgia via mail directly to the customer, John said. A bin can start off with 500 to 1,000 critters that will then multiply depending on the amount of food and space available.
The bins feature multiple grid layers stacked on top of each other, through which the worms migrate as they feast. The freshest scraps are placed on the top layer, falling through the grid as they’re minced to tiny bits. In about 90 days, the material makes it to the bottom layer and is ready to be spread around the garden, all while more recent scraps go through the same process.
The bins are made in Vancouver, WA, from high-quality recycled plastic that can last up to 20 or 30 years without contaminating the compost with microplastics, Leah said. A team in Skagit then assembles the soil and nutrients for the future worm tenants.
John has been educating plant lovers on the benefits of worm composting at local nurseries and clubs (including the Braves Hub in La Conner) and was featured on the Skagit Talks radio show. He is currently planning to offer a seasonal rotation of classes in the area.
Leah guides nature’s strategic direction and product innovation. She has years of professional experience with gardens and managing the ecological needs of local properties, and is also graduating Magna Cum Laude in Native Environmental Science from Northwest Indian College.
The Yorks have been collecting native plants in hopes to launch their native plant nursery in 2027.
Native plants, which protect soil from erosion, provide food for humans and wildlife and create habitat, have been facing pressures from development, climate change and invasive species.
If they make the nursery happen, the Yorks hope to be a part of the solution and help foster diversity and vitality in native habitats.
In the meantime, they try to keep the world a little cooler, one worm bin at a time.
For more information about Nature’s Footprint or to place an order, visit naturesfootprint.com or call 360-592-4285.
Luisa Loi is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
