Three years ago we built a worm bin and purchased a pound of red wigglers to stock it. Our high quality food scraps went to the chickens, the middle grade stuff to the worms, and only a small quantity of the low-grade stuff went out to join the yard waste in the compost pile. This was a good strategy for keeping the bears and other wildlife at bay. Alas, the Abominable Dog dumped the worm bin, which we had been keeping in the carport at the time. Bye bye worms.
But now we're rid of the dog, and coincidentally zillions of red wigglers have shown up in the compost pile. So I've restarted the bin. It's chewed up a bit, courtesy of the aforementioned canine pest, but it's still functional. I've been grabbing a handful of worms every few days to stock the worm bin. They seem happy in there. They're starting to chow down on coffee grounds, grey guacamole and leftover pasta.
I love having a worm bin. (Okay, I'll admit it -- I love having worms. I'm not alone either. There are lots of enthusiastic groups of vermiphiles out there on the 'net.)
Did you happen to see last month's National Geographic? Good article about the things that were not native to North America, one of them being WORMS! Another being honey-bees. Interesting to think about how different things would be without either one of those!
ReplyDeleteLOL I have a friend who is the same way--loved her worms. She would show them to us every time we went to visit :-)
ReplyDeleteMe, I just buy some at the store and toss them in my veggie beds to work their way into the dirt...and my boxes did much better this year too! But I admit, I really need to read up and learn about true composting to get the best compost that I can. Your stories have been very inspiring.
And yes, I have heard the red worms are THEE thing LOL
Oh we just started a bin too. The whole process is really interesting, who knew worms were so cool. It was very exciting, our first official Roots & Shoots group project. The kids had so much fun, moms...not so sure lol :o)
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