Worm Bin Diary

Yesterday I decided we need a worm bin. Having done some research on the differences between compost piles, worm bins and worm tubes, I'd narrowed my first food scrap receptacle to be a worm bin, either built from reclaimed wood (such as pallets, or planks), or a layered bin used from reclaimed buckets with holes in the bottom. I opted for the layered bins, as it just seemed easier. Reclaimed buckets are easy enough to find. I suggest your local freecycle community or your local nursery. These buckets will already have holes in them. No need to buy something when there is yet another fabu use for the 5 gallon nursery bucket.


This morning I mentioned my idea to our landlord and he gave me about 8 buckets, all saved in the gardening shed from previous plant homes and all of various sizes. There was a larger set of 4 seemingly random buckets and a few uniformly-sized buckets.


I am using the larger buckets, since I already have a lot of food scraps accumulated and saved from the compost pile for my new worm bin. I wonder if their unevenness will cause a problem down the road...? Out came the bowls of food scraps and into the 4 tiered bucket tower.


The way that the layer bin works is that the newest food scraps go in the top layer, and in our case, the first layer. Red worms are dumped in, and they go to town. Eat eat eat! As they eat the rotting food, they poop. The poop, or worm castings, is a luscious black dirt that your plants will love! As these guys are doing their thing, they will always go UP for more food, and it is our job to feed them with delicious plant kitchen scraps (they LOVE fruits and veg, breads, grains, cereal, coffee grounds and filter, tea bags, egg shells, and brown matter, such as cardboard, paper and dried leaves. They HATE meat, dairy, oils and fats, and feces) On to the next bucket, where more food scraps are added. The worms will crawl up through the holes in the bottom of the bucket and start eating the newer food, as they've turned the previous bucket into castings. And again, and again, until you have a 4 bucket rotation. Ideally, the entire process will be timed as such that when the top bucket is full and ready to cycle through, the bottom bucket will be all full of amazing castings. Additionally, if all goes according to plan (fingers crossed) the bottom bucket will also be vacated of all of its biological organisms, which are munching on the food above. Take the your bottom bucket full of worm castings and sprinkle it on some very lucky plants, or grow your saved seeds in it. Now place the newly emptied bucket on top and start filling with food scraps. And thus goes the worm bin cycle!

As previously stated, I chose the 4 larger buckets of varying size. My thought is that MAYBE I'll be able to dump them if necessary as I go. The smaller buckets just look so...small. We'll see!


After I got my bins and dumped in my food scraps, I left for Sustainable Fairfax. They have a very healthy worm bin and I wanted some of their worms, as they very generously offer them. I brought a hummus container from my recycling and started my journey.


When I got to Sustainable Fairfax I took my bracelets and rings off and dove into the earthy wooden chest in their backyard. Opening the box was exciting. Inside was a city, with everyone hard at work. On the top were soft roly polies, some the biggest I've ever seen, crawling on the cardboard egg crates and paper, tea bags and carrots, biodegradable bags and worm castings. Most of it was soil. Digging past the top layer and the roly polies are small banana slugs. Banana slugs? Who knew! Below the slugs were the red worms, quickly descending away from my grasp. They could sense my hesitation. It gave them a head start in our game of hide and go seek. Castings and as many little worms as I could wrangle went into my little plastic tub.


When I got home, I inspected my bounty and was very surprised to see how many colorless white baby worms were tangled in with my larger worms. And 2 medium sized roly polies, plus one itty-bitty baby roly poly were all visible also. The castings and critters got dumped into the bottom (currently only) bin so they could do their thing, eating my food scraps and pooping amazing soil as we speak. More food scraps, and soon more rotating tiers. News to follow!


Great links from "Edible Marin and Wine" and WSU on composting and worm bins!

http://www.ediblecommunities.com/marinandwinecountry/summer-2011/composting-101.htm
http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/Redwormsedit.htm
http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/compost/easywormbin.htm
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Own-Worm-Compost-System