I've Got Worms...

I decided to try another go around at worm composting. My last experience didn't end well for the worms but this time seems to be different (thank goodness).

I have had barely had any escapees and the worms are doing a great job at turning old, half rotten produce that I would have just thrown away into super high quality compost. I am hoping to have a lot by the spring when I finally get to have my own garden *so excited*.

I think the major reason these worms are doing better is that I leave them alone. I'm not fiddling with them everyday and trying to see if they are still alive. I finally realized that these are worms- they live in dirt and eat rotting stuff. I think they can handle themselves as long as I provide a bin that is not too wet or dry and give them "food" every so often.

I have actually not even been feeding them on a consistent basis because I forget, which seems like it has really been working in my favor. So whenever I remember I just throw some scraps of the kids' fruit or leftover veggies from dinner (plain because you should not really feed them anything with butter, seasoning, etc.) and they seem to be good to go.

Today I made pumpkin puree so I decided to let the worms have some of the gooey pumpkin insides. I am imagining them having a party celebrating Autumn while they are scarfing their treat down.

I know some may think it is weird that I have worms as pets but they are doing my future garden a great service and my kids think they are really cool. Jilly, my almost two year old, waves at the bin whenever we are in the garage and says "hi worms". Plus, what other pet can you forget about for days without killing them?

RIP Worms

My beloved worms have all died.

I have been on an emotional roller coaster over the past couple of months and have felt like I was just barely keeping it together. I was just doing enough to get by and anything above and beyond that just didn't happen. Unfortunately for my worms they were just not a priority in my life and after not "feeding them" for a long period of time they all just decided to up and die on me.

I failed at raising worms and I feel like a bit of a loser. I mean, worms are very easy to care for- they're worms. I do not want to discourage anyone who is interested in worm composting- it is very easy to do and it's pretty neat to have worms eat your leftover fruits/veggies. The upkeep is pretty minimal- I just failed to even do the minimal amount of work to keep them alive.

So, rest in peace worms. It was fun while it lasted.

Bad Worm Mom

The past month has been a difficult one for me and today I had an epiphany and realized that I haven't been feeding my worms.

I frantically started to rummage through my bin and I found five worms. FIVE! I'm sure I could have missed some but considering I started out with about 1000 of them I'm pretty sure most of them have died.

I added some banana peels and moistened their bedding today and am holding on to the hope that these five worms can start getting freaky and recolonize my bin. I know that it most likely won't happen but I can dream, can't I?

Worm Composting Wednesday- What Worms?

I have been feeling worn out lately and instead of tending to my worms today I sat with my son and watched the Lion King. We had some popcorn too- it was nice cuddling together while watching a movie.

Maybe I'll feed the worms tomorrow- I have some apples, pears and steamed sweet potatoes for them. The great thing about worms is that they are not too picky but the really great thing is that I could forget about them for weeks and they would be fine. Those are my kind of pets.

Worm Composting Wednesday- Please Don't Call Me Green

Yesterday was worm composting Wednesday, but as you can see I am posting today because I was relaxing yesterday (another way of saying being lazy).

The worms are doing good, still eating scraps and pooping compost.

Since there is really nothing excited to report in the world of worms I am going to write about my feelings on being green.

You may think that I am a "green" person because I worm compost but I'm not (*gasp*).

You could even say I am very anti-green.

I'm not a horrible person who wants to see the earth covered in trash but I just find this whole green movement so trendy- like how the Atkins Diet was trendy way back when. Everyone was so anti carbs and if you ate carbs- well OMG you were going to be so unhealthy and fat.

 I don't like trendy things and I don't follow trends. I do what I want when I want for the reasons I want. I worm compost because I think it is really neat and someday I may have enough worms to actually eat all of my produce scraps therefore cutting down on how many town trash bags I have to buy ($1 a bag- holy crap). I also want some high quality compost to use to counteract the fact that I am awful with plants. I reuse things because I am cheap and don't like to buy stuff if I don't have to. I use rags to clean because paper towels are so darn expensive- but at the same time I have lazy moments and use paper towels like they are going out of style. I also begrudgingly recycle because of the aforementioned price of town trash bags. If something is going to take more than one second of my time to clean though, I just throw it in the regular trash (why would I use tons of water to clean something because that just negates the value of recycling it). I think recycling ends up costing more in the long run but everyone is so into being green that it make the government feel god and like they are doing something proactive.

Being green is something that people do because it makes them feel good about themselves and it makes them think that they are on a higher level than those who aren't green. Being thrifty and frugal on the other hand it not done by people to make themselves feel good, it is done to save time and money which in turn is helpful to the environment without being pretentious.

So, please don't ever call me green- call me cheap.

Worm Compoting Wednesday

Worm Bin File Footage

I have no pictures this week because my bin needs no attending to.

This week I am going to talk about how easy it really is to start a bin. Here it goes:

1. Make a bin out of a large Rubbermaid bin (or any other brand- worms aren't too brand conscious). You can make the kind I made or just drill some holes in the bin- either works.
2. Fill bin with shredded, moist (not wet- think wrung out sponge) newspaper.
3. Add worms - I bought mine online from Red Worms For Sale but you may be able to find them at a local bait shop. Just make sure you get red wrigglers.
4. Add some produce scraps- less is better than too much. Make sure you bury them under the shredded newspaper. Do not add anything other than newspaper, cardboard or produce scraps.
5. Hands off! Only disturb the worms when adding new scraps which should only be once a week or less (I stink at this because I am always checking to make sure they are still alive).

So that is it. If your worms are trying to escape at first it is normal- they need to get used to their new home. Just leave the top off of the bin and the light on and you should have low casualties. Do not add too much food and do not add water unless the bin gets pretty dry- worms can drown (that's why you see so many on the sidewalk after a rainstorm- they were trying to escape drowning in the earth but instead succumbed to the sun drying them up).

For good information from an expert go the Red Worm Composting because you could say I am just making things up as I go along...

Worm Composting Wednesday

It's worm time!

I swear my husband thinks I am crazy- he looks at the bin and sees this. It looks no different that it did when I first started this little project.

I didn't feed the worms last week because they still had a bunch of food leftover. This week it is mostly gone so I am adding half a banana peel and a cut up apple. I stored these in the fridge until today because I didn't want them to get too rotten and gross (I have my limits of what I will deal with- slimy, rotten food is one of them).

The worms are doing a great job eating and pooping. Go worms!

When I add the "food" I pull back the shredded paper bedding spread out the scraps and then cover back up with the bedding. I cover the food scraps to keep the fruit flies away plus I think the wormies like their food buried.

It has been a little over a month since I started my worm bin and I am very happy that my worms are still alive. If I could go back I would have not over saturated my brain with information on worm bins- I made things more complicated that I needed to. This is really such an easy thing to do plus you get some great fertilizer out of it and get rid of some food scraps instead of throwing them in the trash. If you a "green" person this is right up your alley and if your not (like me) it is a fun project to do with your kids.

And I know this is so hard to believe- but worm bins do not smell bad! Mine smells like dirt and only if I stick my head in it (yes, I stuck my head in my bin to smell it because I smelled something gross which turned out to be my daughter's dirty diaper- ewww!)

Worm Composting Wednesday

Here is what my worm bin looks like today- not much looks different from last week's post but looks can be deceiving!

After pulling some of the top bedding back this is what it looks like. There is a rotten banana peel that the worms have been feasting on and you can see worm castings all around it (worm castings are worm poop aka awesome fertilizer!).

Here is a closer look at the worm castings mixed in with some of their shredded newspaper bedding and a worm who is probably wondering what the heck is going on. (My hand looks weird in this picture.)

I decided to not feed the worms this week because upon inspection they still have food leftover from last week . It is always better to underfeed than overfeed the little guys.

It is really amazing that they are turning my old newspapers and rotten food into "dirt". I can't wait until I can harvest my new fertilizer and use it on something- what that something is I don't know.

Having a worm bin is so easy- you basically just set it and forget it (remember the Showtime Rotisserie infomercials with Ron Popeil back in the day?) Once the bin is set up you just need to add food now and then but if you forget to sometimes the worms will be Ok. These are my kind of pets! No more dogs from now on- just worms!

Attempted Worm Escape

I don't know where this guy thinks he is going but if he is smart he will stay in his bin.

I never knew that worms could climb up walls until I started this worm bin. Very interesting...

Worm Composting Wednesday

Want to hear the exciting news? My worms are still alive!

Here is my bin- it doesn't look like much is going on but underneath this paper is a whole lot of worms eating and pooping.

This week I added a banana peel and some peaches to the bin. There was still some banana peel left from last week and the eggplant was still there but I went ahead and added the new food. I know that it is always better to underfeed your worms than to overfeed them but I feel like I need to feed them once a week- I am crazy.

It really seems like the only time worms try to escape is after I fiddled with their home- by adding food or checking to see if they are actually alive. This past week I left the cover on to their bin and had no escapees (at least none that I know of). After I added the food today and moved their bedding around (a lot) I had a few worms trying to slither (do worms slither- maybe crawl is a better word?) up the sides of the bin. I will leave the cover off and the lights on until they settle down a bit.

For anyone wondering what the smell is like having a bin of worms and rotting produce- well, it just smells like wet newspaper.

This is not a worm but it is our Guinea Pig who was named Pig by my three year old son. I didn't buy this little guy- I got him from my mom who became his primary caregiver after my little brother couldn't be bothered to take care of him. He lives on a table above the worm bin so I though I would share the worms' neighbor.

Worm Composting Wednesday

For those of you waiting on the edges of your seats for a Worm Composting Wednesday update, here we go!

Here are a couple of my little wormy friends. They really don't like to be bothered but I had to make some room for their food.

This week's menu is a banana peel and some eggplant. Yum!

So appetizing. Eat up little worms!

Week two has been pretty boring which in worm composting is a good thing. I didn't find any dead worms anywhere and I only had a few potential escapees so I would say that my worms are now settled and are happy in their plastic home. The food I put in last week is pretty much gone and the worms seem like the are getting fatter (could be me just being crazy- very possible).

I have been leaving the cover off with the laundry room light on to dissuade any potential escapees but I think this week I may put the cover to the bin on because the worms seem pretty happy.

Week two has been a success!

Worm Composting Wednesday

It has officially been one week since my worms arrived and I think I'm doing pretty good at my journey into worm composting. When I say I am doing pretty good I am going on the basis of my worms are not all dead.

I have decided to feed them once a week. During the week I keep a Ziploc container on the counter to collect food scraps that I think they may like- this week was strawberry tops, cantelope, peaches and steamed sweet potatoes. I think the fact that I kept fiddling with the bin adding food all week aggravated the worms so I am going to have a hands off policy.

Here is what my bin looks like today. The contents have settled from what was in there last week because of the moisture. I added some shredded egg cartons today that I moistened with water to give my little friends some different texture in their bedding.

In the past week I have found maybe five to ten escapees which were still alive and maybe fifteen escapees that weren't so lucky. All in all, out of about one thousand worms in the bin that is not so bad. I have been keeping the cover off (even with the cover on they can escape because it is not an airtight lid) because worms don't like light so they tend to not wander as much. Once I feel like the conditions in the bin are near perfect I will put the cover back on. I also may put a lot of dry shredded newspaper on top of the moist bedding to discourage any potential worms explorers based on the advice here. Worms like a moist environment but too much water will kill them- like how when it rains you see a ton of worms come out of the earth and then when the sun comes out there are a ton of dried up worms on the pavement.

For those of you wondering about the smell factor there really isn't one. I keep the bin in the laundry room which is where the dogs stay for part of the day (the kid's nap times- nothing sucks more than a dog barking during nap time) and is where I throw dirty diapers (wrapped in plastic bags but still a bit smelly). I guess what I am saying is that the smell is minimal and no worse than any other smells I have to deal with on a daily basis.

From what I read it could be about 2 1/2 months until I have some grade A worm compost and at that point I can use it on the blueberry plants I ordered.

Week one was a success!

For information from an expert on these matter go to Red Worm Composting.

My Journey Into Worm Composting- Worms Are Here!

My worms came today! My wonderful mail lady attached the box to the mailbox with a rubber band but that is a story for another day.

Any who, on to the worms!

Yesterday, I filled the bin with shredded paper for the worms' bedding. Today, to prepare the bedding for the worms, I moistened the shredded paper with water. You want to make sure that it is damp and not sopping wet because worms do not like too much water.

Here is the bag of worms. The wonderful USPS crushed the box so it is a wonder that I didn't open it to find a worm pancake.

The worms' first meal was a banana peel and some on the verge of spoiling strawberries. When "feeding" them you should bury the food into the bedding to avoid getting fruit flies.

Here are the worms after I dumped them into their new home. I only had two escape which is pretty good considering that there are about 1000 in the bin. Right now they have all gone "underground". I have the light on in the laundry room which will keep them that way (they don't like light) until they get used to living in a bin filled with newspaper.

Now I guess I just sit back and let them do their thing. Kind of boring but I guess it makes them pretty easy pets to have. I am not going to add more food for awhile until I figure out how much they will actually eat in a given period of time.

On a side note, my son is very happy that he has pet worms. He thinks that it is great when I put on in his hand and it wiggles and tries to get away.

I just want to say that this is my first time worm composting so I really have no idea what I am doing. I have done a lot of research and I am just crossing my fingers that I don't kill the worms. For expert information (as in someone who actually knows what they are talking about) go to Red Worm Composting. It is by far the best and most informative site that I have found.

My Journey Into Worm Composting- Worm Bedding

Go here to see the previous post on worm composting.

My worms should be arriving either today or tomorrow so last night my son and I prepared their home for them by making their bedding. You would think composting worms would have dirt as bedding but I guess they live in bizarro world because they like paper.

We used my paper shredder to shred newspaper and then dumped it into the bin to fill it almost to the top. We also added some shredded cardboard that came in a package I got last week. My son had a blast helping out and is very excited for his new pets to come in the mail.

Once they arrive I will spray the shredded paper with water until it is all moist and add the worms and some leftover fruits and veggies.

It is really going to amazing to see all of this paper turn into compost- I guess I'm not going to believe it until I see it.

Look at me, miss anti going green. I guess I am doing my little part to save the earth but that is only because I think worms are neat and I want compost for my garden next year (the garden I may or may not be too lazy to plant).  I still think recycling is a waste of time and only do it because my town charges bogus amounts of money for town trash bags.

My Journey Into Worm Composting- The Worm Bin

I have decided to dive into the world of indoor worm composting because I saw it in a magazine and it just seemed really neat. I am not a reducing, reusing and recycling kind of girl but I am a cutting down on my trash because the town trash bags are expensive kind of girl. I also like to do neat things like this because my three year old son learns a lot from them.

In my last post I talked about my research into this new hobby and now I will show you how I built my worm bin thanks to Red Worm Composting.

I purchased a Rubbermaid bin at Target for $5.99 and six vents at Lowes for about $10.00. Any type of vent will do as long as it is similar to these ones (these were the first ones I found and the kids were getting grumpy).

I decided to put two vents on the top and two on each of the longer sides of the bin. I traced each vent where I wanted to put it and then used a razor knife to cut out the holes.

Once the holes were cut I put the vents in. I had to do a little tweaking on some of the holes to get the vents to fit. Then I got some pantyhose and put it over each of the holes and secured with two heavy rubber bands on each one.

This is what the inside of the bin looks like finished.

And here is what the outside of my finished worm bin looks like.

I am going to order my worms tonight from Redworms4sale.

Once it gets a little closer to their arrival I will add shredded newspaper to the bin and when they get here I'll give them their first meal of produce leftovers.

My Journey into Worm Composting- Research

This is a picture of the worms I am going to purchase from Redworms4sale. After looking at at least fifteen different sites they have the best price while still seeming legitimate. It will cost $29.95 for one pound of red worms (about 1000) with free shipping.

I am going to make my own bin instead of spending $100 or more on a fancy one. Red Worm Composting has really good directions here on how to make a bin and any and all other information related to worm composting.

It looks like I will need:

Plastic Bin with cover

Vents (to allow air flow in bin)

Pantyhose (to cover vents to keep out flies and keep in worms)

Rubber Bands (to hold pantyhose onto vents)

I have rubber bands and pantyhose so I will just need to buy a bin and some vents.

Once the bin is made it will be time to add the bedding.

To be continued...