Our Worm Composter

I had a very nice Mother's Day this year, it was a nice relaxing weekend. One of the activities that I had been wanting to do since Earth Day was to set up a worm composting bin for my garden. The weather was so nice during the earlier part of Mother's Day that we were all finally able to get the project completed. Since I had to leave behind my flock of chickens a few years back when we moved into town to be closer to the schools, I have hated throwing out all of the veggie scraps that my chickens would have loved. So having a place where the wormies can turn all of our veggie scraps into rich compost for my garden seemed like just the right idea. We used an old storage tote, and Gary and Joe drilled holes for drainage in the bottom as well on the top and side for air. We then added a layer of shredded newspaper, a layer of soil, a half cup of oats, some left over lettuce, and a bit more soil, we then set the entire tote into another shallow tote to prevent the worms from escaping through the bottom, update: we removed this bottom half and plan to drill holes in it also, we had a big 3 week rain spell and the poor worms were way too wet, so for now they are just in the red tote on gravel, and we are no longer using the clear tote, none have been seen leaving, so the bottom tote might not be important. Instead of sending away for the red worms that most people use in these bins, which would have been $30-$40 to have them shipped, I decided to liberate nightcrawlers from the bait shop for much less money, and although they might not compost as fast as the red worms, I thought I would give these worms a chance. They have settled in nicely, we will continue bringing them our scraps, as well as making sure the soil stays moist, and I will give an update later in the summer to let you know how they do. Here are some pictures of how we made our worm bin. This would be a wonderful scout activity, or family summer activity, it was super easy, and it will be interesting to see if it works.