Sunday, June 20, 2010

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.

6 comments:

Deb Shucka said...

I'm in awe of the fact that you built this thing, and mostly out of rescued materials. Amazing!

Carrie Wilson Link said...

So cool!

Mary'sCorner said...

I love your worm bin. It looks like a very sturdy and happy place for wormies. Sounds like you're on your way to becoming a compost expert -- good on ya! When I saw the pictures and read your post, I started singing "Inch worm, Inch worm, measuring the marigolds...." Go wormies, Go wormies.

Liz said...

Hi there,
Nice wood worm bin. A suggestion on the peat moss if it is not already in the bin: it needs to soak in water for at least 24 hours before adding to the bin and putting the worms in. Peat tends to be very drying and if you do not rehydrate it prior to adding the worms, it can make keeping the bin moist a lot of work. If you already put it in, I would suggest soaking some shredded paper or cardboard and mixing it into the peat.
If you have any worm composting questions along your vermicomposting journey, I offer free email support on my website: www.wormbincomposting.com
Happy Worming!
BigTex Worms

Wanda said...

Liz,

Thanks for the suggestions. I did soak the peat moss for 24 - 48 hours...and all is well in worm land.

graceonline said...

How did I miss this? I'm so glad you mentioned it in a recent post so I could return and find it. I'm linking to it in my next post. Would love to hear an update on how the composting is going. How do you collect the worm tea?