worm bin

(worm bin in process)

(worm bin in place)

Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street, fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening. Fashion fades, only style remains the same.

~ Coco Chanel ~

Here it is. Finally.

My Friday task was to finish building the worm bin and put it in place. Saturday, we filled it with bedding, a couple thousand worms, and all the food they could want to eat. Our goal is to create some good organic compost for our garden and to reuse the scraps by recycling them into the bin.

I "harvested"the lumber from a fence we tore down a few weeks ago, pieces stored in the garage, and a couple pieces left over from my mom's drywall project. I had to buy hinges and deck screws. The bricks came from a neighbor's demolition project and the foam (between the bricks and the box) is packing material I have saved over the years.

Since worms do best in temperatures between 55 and 80, I will add more insulation when winter comes around. If we ever get sun again, I might need to add some more to keep them cool enough this summer.

The bedding we used was peat moss that has been sitting in a bag for decades--literally. Since we now know that harvesting peat is not good for the environment, we won't be using that again. However, it doesn't make sense to throw it away, so we used it up for the bedding. Next round, we'll have to find something else to use--leaves, coir, straw...something like that.

We got our first batch of worms from a friend's compost pile. I was concerned that we wouldn't have enough to handle the amount of compost we are planning so we visited the "bug guy" at the farmers' market and got another batch. Everyone seems very happy in the new home.

Style...not fashion.