worm bin!

a detailed pictoral of my worm bin setup!

this is my new can-o-worms:

when it’s all put together, it’s this big:

but I don’t think it’ll get that big for a while. The can-o-worms is a vertical composting system with 3 trays that the wormies can climb through as they move up to more fruitful digs. then you can just empty the bottom tray of finished castings and put it back into the system. so for now, my worm trays are stored above my kitchen cupboards:

on friday night I got down to business: first, I reused part of the packaging in the bottom of the bin to keep the coir bedding from falling through to the lower tray:

the worms and the bedding:

the coir bedding comes in a block – you put it in a tub of water and it expands into a sludgy fibery mass.

it’s like the incredible hulk!

I squeezed the extra water out and spread it into the worm bin. doesn’t it look comfortable?

I dumped the worms into the bin and spread them out:

it’s hard to see, but this is a big ugly ball of worms:

I gave the worms some time to nestle down into the bedding, and then I put damp shredded newspaper over the worms to keep the moisture in.

and then I started to feed them:

so! WORMS! and man, are they hungry. I feel incredibly responsible for them right now. it’s a little overwhelming, but heck. worms! I don’t have to toss my csa scraps anymore!