About Us

About Steve and the Urban Worm Company

who we are

Steve Churchill is the founder and owner of the Urban Worm Company. A dad, a husband, a combat-decorated veteran, a Buckeye, and a proud American, Steve is a joyful promoter of vermicomposting via the Urban Worm Company.

He grew up near the small town of Sunbury, Ohio about 25 minutes north of Columbus and attended college at Ohio University. Upon graduation, Steve enrolled in graduate school and Air Force ROTC at The Ohio State University, receiving a Master's Degree in Journalism and a commission as an Air Force officer in June 1999.

After Air Force flight school in Del Rio, Texas, Steve flew the mighty C-17 Globemaster III and the MQ-9 Reaper for the next 22 years before his retirement in May 2022.

Steve has been a pilot for Southwest Airlines since 2007 and lives with his wife and their 2 children in the Philadelphia suburb of Plymouth Meeting, PA.

Mark Luba

Fulfillment Manager

Mark's #1 job is to deliver your product accurately and on-time. Mark lives with his wife in Plymouth Meeting, PA right next door to Urban Worm HQ!

Jake Moriarty

Chief Happiness Officer

Jake's #1 job is to keep you happy (and make Steve jealous with that beautiful head of hair). When you need help, it's Jake to the rescue! Jake lives in San Diego, CA, that lucky dog.

How the Urban Worm Company Started

Our History

How the Urban Worm Company website looked in 2015

The Urban Worm Company Blog, circa 2015

Steve burns fossil fuel for a living. So why would he do this?

After starting a hot compost pile in 2011, Steve was fascinated by the worms that moved into the pile after it cooled. The worms transformed the compost into a rich, dark material that looked like coffee grounds. Steve was hooked and began reading more about the amazing work these creatures do.

After achieving some success with very small-scale vermicomposting, Steve started the Urban Worm Company in 2014 and it was simply a blog aimed at teaching beginning vermicomposters about the basics of how earthworms can recycle organic waste into a valuable fertilizer.

After slowly building an enthusiastic online readership, Steve became interested in the entrepreneurial side of vermicomposting and vermiculture and the Urban Worm Company blog began featuring profiles of other business owners in the community.

He also began assisting other entrepreneurs in website design, copywriting, and marketing, and was asked to present at the 2017 Vermiculture Conference at North Carolina State University.

Motivated by both entrepreneurship and a passion for the good worms can do, Steve has grown "UWC" from a blog into a growing business with 7 figures of annual revenue as of 2022.

Steve Speaking at the 2017 NCSU Vermiculture Conference

Speaking at the 2017 Vermiculture Conference

Creating, Educating, and Equipping Vermicomposters

Our Mission & How We Serve You

Content & Customer Service

Our mission is to create, educate, and equip vermicomposters. We can't do that without a commitment to delivering crazy good information and a blazing fast customer service with a smile.

Steve took the ethos of Southwest Airlines and considers the Urban Worm Company a helpful customer service company first and a merchant second. How we treat you is the only thing that's 100% in our control.

We give you free, helpful vermicomposting content and fast, friendly customer service whenever you have issues with a purchase from Urban Worm.

Email: [email protected]

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Vermicomposting Supplies

In late 2017, we introduced the Urban Worm Bag, a fabric continuous flow worm composting bin that that leverages the tendency of worms to remain in the top 6 to 8 inches of their environment. The Urban Worm Bag’s flow-through design allows finished, relatively worm-free worm castings to be harvested from the bottom of the bag, saving hours of tedious separation of worms from the worm compost.

We've expanded into other countries and began offering vermicomposting supplies, coco coir, and bulk worm castings for commercial clients.

Visit our exclusive European Reseller

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Bulk Worm Castings

In 2021, we began offering bulk worm castings at low cost for organic gardeners, landscapers, cannabis growing operations, and other commercial applications.

We can provide anywhere from a 1000lb pallet to multiple truckloads of 2250lb totes to your door or worksite.

Our prices for bulk worm castings include shipping to anywhere in lower 48 states and stand behind our quality with recent compost and biological test results available available on our Bulk Worm Castings product page.

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The Future of the Urban Worm Company

Where We're Going

We have far bigger plans than simply to market our products

The United States is the world’s largest market, yet lags Europe and Australia in terms of the adoption of both large-scale and small-scale vermicomposting. So the growth stage of vermicomposting is clearly ahead of us, thanks to the organic growing movement coupled with heightened awareness of the costs and environmental impact of organic waste unnecessarily entering the waste stream.

Long-term plans for the Urban Worm Company include:

offering school-wide programs offering grade-appropriate standards-aligned syllabi, using worm composting as a vehicle to satisfy math, English language arts, science, and other subjects.
consulting for medium-scale and larger projects within the United States to include the planning, design, and implementation of conventional composting and vermicomposting solutions tailored to a client’s individual needs
onshoring the manufacturing of the Urban Worm Bag and its accessories.
offering marketing services and strategy planning for small- and medium-scale businesses.