Worm Bin / Vermicomposting

Since it is winter time and I can't garden outside because of the weather, I figured I would get a head start on my soil by creating a compost bin where I can make my own organic compost.  With the weather being bad, I decided that it would be better if I composted inside.  Composting inside?  Is there a way to do that, will it work, will it stink? 

Two years ago we were driving through Kansas and met up with some old friends, while we were there we ate dinner with them.  Afterwards I was helping cleanup, and she handed me a pile of food scraps and told me to put it in the bin in the living room.  Huh?  I was so confused, but I was trying to be a good guest, so as odd as it sounded I headed to the living room.  I found a rubbermaid tub with a lid on it, I lifted the lid to find dirt with worms in it.  I threw the scraps into the bin and then observed.  Nothing happened since the worms were scared of the light, but then I became curious and started asking lots of questions about worm composting.  She said that they had made the tub, bought the worms and have been composting their food scraps for over a year.  She was getting into gardening and said that the worm compost was the best stuff for flowers and vegetables.  Cool.

I didn't think about how that had an effect on me until now, two years later as I thought back to that day and said to myself, if they can compost inside their house then we can too!  I started researching a lot on the web.  I settled on a two bin system for now.  One bin is the bottom bin for catching the liquid compost and the other bin is where the worms actually live.  I headed out to Target because I knew they would have gigantic holiday bins for a good price this time of year.  I got two 18 gallon rubbermaid totes. 

1) First step in composting is ordering your worms.  For our family of two (and a baby) I ordered 1 pound of red worms (1 pound = 1000 worms).  I ordered them from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm online.  I was pleased that my worms shipped in three days and that they were still alive and looked good.
 *  Keep in mind that if you order through him, he uses the USPS to ship and USPS only picks up live packages on Mondays so that it gets to you during the week.  This ensures that the worms don't accidentally get left on a loading dock over the weekend.  So if you order on a Tuesday, it wont be until the following Monday that they ship. *    Given our food waste, we should have ordered 2 pounds, but I figured we would start slow, and given time the worms will quickly multiply anyways.

2)  Go get your tubs.

3)  Drill holes in one tub.  Drill holes in the bottom for drainage so your worms don't die, and on the side so that the bin will be well ventilated to prevent rotten odors.  In the second (non-drilled) bin, place a tall rock to create space when the drilled bin in placed inside the non-drilled bin.

 4)  Fill the tub with bedding.  I used torn newspaper, some dirt from our garden, and vegetable food scraps ( I had potatoes at the time).











5)  Wet the bedding and keep it moist for a
few days before adding the worms.

















6)  When the worms come, immediately dump them into the prepared home.  They will want to crawl everywhere as they are checking out their new place.  To prevent them from crawling out, keep a light shining on the bin for the first 48 hours.  The worms hate light, and will stay in the bin;  after 48 hours they will be comfy and won't try to escape.  Keep a tight lid on top of the bin.

7)  Then it's just up keep.  Feed them every day or every few days and make sure the bedding stays moist.  You can feed the worms just about everything EXCEPT for oily foods, dairy, meat, and glossy paper.  The oil, dairy and meat are harder for them to digest and will rot making the bin stinky.  Otherwise there is no odor to the bin, except a smell of dirt when you take off the lid.

The red and green holiday bins aren't the most beautiful thing in our dining room, but soon I will get creative and decorate the outside so that it will look cute and match the rest of the home decor.