worms, glorious worms

A couple of weeks ago, we popped over to our friend Claire's. We'd split 5# of worms (red wigglers from Happy D ranch), and they'd been delivered. What a bonus -- we got to peek at her ducklings, with their sweet little waggling tails.


Once again, the livestock arrives before the housing is even begun. So we put this worm bin together in a hurry while the poor worms sat in a cardboard box in the kitchen.

We cut 4 pieces of 6" wide board into 2 1/2 foot pieces. Nailed them together, and nailed on some hardware cloth. Lulu's assistance was instrumental, as always.

We flipped it over onto a piece of plywood, and filled it with shredded paper. These were old bills and statements, but I don't think I would use those again. They just don't seem to absorb or hold water very well. Newspaper holds much better, but I think this fall, I will add a bin to the compost area for shredded leaves. I would like that for their carbon bedding better than newspaper.

The blue and green buckets hold compost tea. I had to move them off the deck once we started using the bubblers because I figured that the constant vibration would drive the worms nuts.

To the shredded paper, Dante added the leaf-mold compost delivered by Jessica's Garden to give it an infusion of microbes that will help decompose the scraps faster.

On top of the compost, we added a few spadefuls of soil for more local microbes and to provide the worms with grit. And on top of that, the worms and the bedding they were shipped in.


More shredded paper and newspaper, topped by a damp cardboard box. And then topped with a sheet of plywood. So we take our scraps (I'm either chopping stuff up a little or using table scraps

Once we grow and mow the buckwheat or alfafa, I'd like to try that out as a mulch on top to keep things below moist instead of the cardboard. And I have to find some similar wood to build the next few trays. I'll stack them all through the summer and possibly move them into the basement for the winter. That's the plan, we'll see how it goes. If we get the bunnies in the fall, I might also see if I can insulate a satellite location with hay bales or something under the bunny bin. Evidently the worms love the bunny manure, and the castings are one of the best plant/soil foods around.