Worm Composting

A little while ago my grand girls came for a few days.  What fun memories we created.  They were quite interested in watching their aunt and uncle get on the bus.

They feed carrot scraps to the worms.  It was a fine chore as long as they didn't have to touch the dirt which had the potential of touching a (gasp) worm.  Many of you know the fish cleaning stories from my childhood so I'm sympathetic.

The children and I had the opportunity to attend a worm composting work shop a month ago.  As recently as a few months ago I would not have guessed worm composting was going to be on my bucket list.  But sometimes these things just develop.  At my husband's work they needed some people to commit to the workshop.  Even though we were busy getting a vacation rental ready we decided to "help out."

As it turned out it was so well attended we waited a week to go back and build our own worm bins as they didn't have enough for everyone.  That's why the photos show me standing around with my arms folded watching everyone else stick their hands in it.  Eventually I did too.

Here is the process:

Drill several holes in your bin.   Fill it about 1/3 full of 7 month old decayed leaves.  Here is a photo of what it looks like:

Next you add a few large handfuls of soggy, shredded newsprint.  No glossy paper as it gives the worms indigestion.

Dried eggshells only please:

Grind the dried egg shells.  Aaachoo!  It is a dusty process.

Now add a cup of sand because the worms need it for roughage.

  And most of a cup of ground eggshells:

 Turn it and toss it like a big salad:

Add veggie scraps.  Go light on fruit.  No meat or dairy!

Under each of these piles of dirt is a good supply of red wiggler worms.  Whatcha do is pick the worms out of the dirt one by one until you have a cup and then add them to your bin.  This picking the worms took the longest of the whole process.

This is the result you are going for.  The worms digest the ingedients of the bin and turn it into nutrient rich soil.

These squash and cosmos plants were started as examples and we got to take some home.  They were planted just two weeks prior to this photo being taken.  Hard to believe, I know.  They were in a  greenhouse so that also helps hasten the process, but mainly it is due to the rich soil.

Now add a half to one gallon of raw veggie scraps per week.  In about 5 months you will have a bin of great soil to use for your garden starts next year.  Or you can make a tea/fertilizer from your results.