Will Work for Leftovers

1,000 unemployed worms arrive with an appetite and a resume'

Welcome to Science Tuesday!

(6th Grade Science Required)

This is where it all began.  The Tale of Two Composters, which begs the question...

If I have a Worm Tower AND a DIY Kitchen Scrap Composter, couldn't I combine the two?

(This is where that 6th grade summer science class comes in handy)

I pondered this question for awhile, read some barn burner worm articles then, I went with my instincts because they rarely fail me...usually. *ahem*  And after all, who doesn't want more worm castings?

I decided to give the composter/worm bin experiment a go.  I ordered 1,000 red wrigglers (champion composting worms) from Amazon.

These are NOT my hands.

I had to rework a few things first though.  I pulled my composter up out of the ground and emptied it.  I had 7 inches of layered kitchen scraps and dirt and, 2 earthworms...who were  pretty peeved.  And then I began to make their bed...

What I did differently now that I was making a home for worms was fairly simple.  I placed an inch thick flat rock between the bottom of the hole and the bucket for air flow.  Next, I made a bed of damp peat.  I tore up strips of newspaper then soaked them in water, wrung the paper out until just damp and placed a 6 in. layer of damp shredded newspaper on top of the peat.

The peat and the newspaper create an insulated bed or nest for the worms.  Once you have these in place you can add the worms to the composter, the fun part!

When the worms have disappeared into the bedding, it's time to add your compostables.  In my case, it took and hour for the worms to dive down into their bedding.

Come and get it!

Is it odd that I find this exciting?  I could hardly wait to add the worms and the leftovers.  However, I've held my breath for 2 weeks now, not knowing if my experiment was going to prove successful but, there's a lot of action going on under the lid, I believe we're in business!

Before setting the lid on, I like to cover the diner with several layers of damp newspaper as an added layer of insulation.

If you're going to make your own composter/worm bin, be sure to source back to the original post of the DIY Kitchen Scrap Composter to see how to prepare the galvanized garbage can.  It's very important!

Let me just say I still like the Worm Tower premise, it's what prompted me to consider these changes to the Kitchen Scrap Composter.  It made sense to speed up the composting process by adding worms, I only hope I can keep up with the ravenous wrigglers.

Experiment and Explore!

Rebecca