We've Got Worms

Well at the top of this posting was supposed to be a picture from Thursday night when we were sorting out the worms.  For some reason I can't get the two pics of that night to transfer from the computer to this blog, but the show must go on so I'll tell you all about it instead.  As a part of Becky's science curriculum she is keeping worms to teach her students about vermicomposting.  Vermicomposting is when you use worms (red wrigglers in our case) to digest your food scraps.  Becky could probably tell you more about the science behind it all but I'll do my best to tell you about them anyway.  The worms have actually spent the majority of their time living in a rubbermaid container in the corner of our dining room and usually only make the pilgrimage to school with her for special occasions like recruiting new students to her program.  To start with we put 1000 red wrigglers in the rubbermaid tub with some wet shredded newspaper.  After allowing the worms a few days to get settled in to their new home we started adding the worm food.  The worm food of course is our table scraps, the newspaper itself, and other organic material.  We never add meat or any dairy products to the bin, but I have read of people doing so in small quantities in larger outdoor bins with some success.  Fruit and veggie scraps along with spent coffee grounds and filters are our most common items put in the bin.  We've been doing this now since August, I think, and the amazing thing is that as long as you bury the contents under the existing bedding you have no problem with pests or smells of any kind.  We've had plenty of people in the house who never knew what was in the bin.  Well, once the worms have digested all the bedding and scraps you're left with vermicompost.  It is a super rich fertilizer to put on the garden and the best part is that it's free.  So anyway the other night we needed to change out the bedding and give them some good clean bedding.  We took out the dirt and separated it into small piles then put a heat lamp shining down on them so all of the worms would concentrate at the bottoms of the piles then simply sorted out the worms and put them back in the bin with new bedding.  It was really pretty cool.  We got about half of a five gallon bucket in the basement now with vermicompost ready to be used in the garden.  It's pretty cool and another neat thing is that the worms reproduce quickly and your worm populous in healthy worm conditions should nearly double every ninety days.  WOW!!! Maybe we should sell live bait.