I officially have a worm composting system. I have been wanting to try this since I read the book Worms Eat My Garbage. My New Years resolution is to reduce the waste that comes out of our house, no more packaging, composting, cloth toilet paper, etc. Making your own worm composting system can be done in a variety of ways. You can order a worm composting or make your own.
I got an empty five gallon pickle bucket from work and had Keith drill holes around it for ventilation. Instead of having to buy the worms for composting, I lucked out through craigslist. Someone in our area was doing the same thing and gave us a scoop of worms for free! Freecycle would be another great place to look.
Next I tore a couple of newspapers into strips, dumped them in water for a couple of minutes and added them in the bucket until halfway full. Then the worms were added, along with some kitchen scraps.
The guy we got the worms from said they like to be about four to five inches under the top layer. They also like a cover on the top, like an old towel, whole sheet of newspaper, etc.
I can’t wait to see the food turn to compost! Even more excited to put it in the garden we’re going to try and build this spring!
In other news, I finally made my own laundry detergent, thanks to this post on the PPK. I’ve been experimenting with how much to use for laundry, this last load I used about 1/4 a cup, and the laundry had a nice clean smell to it. I’m also using it in the bathroom to put our cloth toilet paper in, that way when it’s full, empty a little bit of the water out and dump the cloth into the machine. No touching dirty cloths required.
Bethany said,
January 13, 2009 at 2:36 pm
worm bins, yay!
I have to get it together and make some. right now i’m throwing my compost near the edge of the woods. I think the ferns are happy w/ it, but I need to prepare for my garden.
cloth tp is intriguing.
Shayla!!!! From Pottery!!!! said,
February 7, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Dude Emma you never told me you had such an amazing blog! Or even that you had one! I love it! Sooooo cool. Hope all is going great for you! keep in touch you crazy chick
ttyl
nico said,
March 4, 2009 at 10:08 am
Very nice, I’m trying to start my compost pile this weekend!! I’ll try to get some free worms for my plants bed.
Dante said,
March 12, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Disclaimer – I’ve never done vermicomposting, but I have read the “Worms Eat My Garbage” book as well, it was great!
I’m concerned about the full lifecycle of your setup there. You can only feed so much food waste material into that container. You have seeded it with a considerable amount of newspaper (which essentially just keeps it all moist). The worms will eat the fresh food material, and their castings eventually get in the way. They will re-consume to some degree, but it’s not very healthy for them to re-consume very much. The question I really have is once you’ve basically filled the bucket, and let them have their way with the waste material, how are you going to “fish” them out?
One clever way I’ve seen of doing this is by having the worms “migrate” in a larger (rectangular) bin. You could dump your bucket o’ worms & castings onto one end, and have fresh newspaper and food on the other end… they will seek out the fresh papers and new food and you’re left with old material that is worm-free (mostly). I think it takes a few days for them to make the move.
Where are you going to store the bucket o’ worms? It’s got to stay relatively warm, so a garage isn’t really suitable (too cold in winter, too hot in summer). That’s the main reason I haven’t already done this same experiment – no place to keep them in the house.
I’ve got a compost bin for my grass clippings that is the “Soil saver” – an outdoor square-ish bin that has removable doors at the bottom. I also have a “NatureMill” electric composter that is designed for indoor use, but I keep it on the back patio. I toss food waste and shredded paper (bills, etc) into the NatureMill, let it churn for a week or so, then dump that into the soil saver along with whatever yard trimmings I have. I always mulch mow my yard, but I do get clippings from my (poor, ignorant) neighbor now and then. I just took about 15 gallons worth of compost material from the soil saver and put it into my garden when I tilled it last weekend. I had some HUGE earthworms in there!
Good luck on vermicomposting!