I have worms!

Yep, worms. Not the parasitic kind, but the red wiggler kind. I started composting in my kitchen about a year ago with worms. Its fairly easy. I keep them in a cabinet in the kitchen and throw them my scraps every few days. What do worms eat? Well, I feed my guys mostly veggie and fruit scraps, but you can feed them dryer lint, hair and paper too. They also love tea bags and coffee grounds which they get a lot of in our household. Things that haven't been so successful in our bin are things that are hard to break down like peach pits, avocado skins, egg shells, cinnamon sticks and soapnut shells. They still linger after months in the bin.

Basically, worms need Bedding, I use shredded newsprint for bedding. Air, We have plenty of very small holes for air ventilation. Moisture, At first, I had to moisten the newspaper but now they make it moist on their own. Lastly, Food!




The worm bin's hiding place. Its a good place for us because its dark, out of the way, but still convinent to get to.



I use a Rubbermaid Tote 10 gallon. 24" x 16" x 8.75"



I haven't done any serious harvesting, but with our upcoming move, I have to get it cleaned out. I've put all the food and bedding on one side and the castings are on the other side. The worms should move over to the food side. Though they are probably feeling a bit squished. I usually let them have run of the whole box.



What's under the newsprint? Food and worms. The food is in various stages of decay. They like certain foods over others. Things like bananas and strawberries go quickly. Onion peelings stay around for awhile.



Red Wigglers



Mites! These little round reddish brown mites are fairly harmless. However, if you get too many, your worms are apt to jump ship! This has happened to me once. I woke up one morning to find little twigs all over the kitchen floor. Wait, those aren't twigs! They were dried up worms! When this happens your bin too wet. You add more shredded paper to dry things up. You can also add watermelon rinds (I find apples and cantalope work well too). The mites love it. When it gets covered in mites, you take it out and rinse off the mites. Then you can add it back to the bin. Repeat process until all the mites are gone.

A worm bin is its own little eco system. It should never smell. It should smell like dirt. If everything is in balance the worms should never leave the box. They would not want to leave their moist environment for the dry air in your house. You want to bury the food in the bedding to keep out pests like fruit flies.

I enjoy keeping my worms and showing them off to interested people. Its a fun little hobby.