The Worm Saga: My First Adventures in Vermicomposting recounted how I started to raise my first batch of composting worms in the box they came in -- that Priority Mail Box in Photo #1 -- and the other mistakes that followed. That adventure ended as a pile in the garden, Photo #2. This is the account of my second attempt, which so far is going much better!
June 1: I begin preparing a new bed for worms, in the 14 gallon GreenCulture worm bin. Each day I toss in a little more dirt from the garden and a little more compost (from the garden store -- soon we'll have our own!). Stray bits of dropped leaves and deadheaded flowers end up in there too. I also toss in some crushed eggshells and a bit of bonemeal, for the calcium the worms will need. The occasional rain seeping in through the top airholes and the natural humidity that builds up in the closed bin keep the dirtbed pretty moist. Sometimes I leave it open for a few hours to dry down to the point where "if you squeeze a handful of bedding a couple of drops come out" (as advised by the worm experts).
June 3: When the level is up to about three inches, I work in a few handfuls of damp shredded newspaper, to make sure there are air pockets for the worms. The bed is very loose. Photo #3: The finished dirt bed. I plan to add a layer of shredded newspaper.
June 4: I order another two pounds of worms from Happy D Ranch. I also order a "Kitchen Compost Bucket" in which I can keep scraps to feed my worms without annoying my husband or anyone else in the building; it has a charcoal filter to let air in and not let stink out.
June 5: I get an email from UPS saying that a 3 pound package sent from Happy D Ranch would be delivered on June 6. I wasn't expecting the worms that early! I have to hurry to get their bed finished!
I plop the pile of newspapers I'd been collecting in the bathtub, turn on the warm water, and soak 'em good. Then I start shredding them, which is almost too easy; wet newspaper falls apart as soon as you pick it up.
I drain the bathtub and scoop up the shredded newpaper in big double handfuls, letting each scoop drain a bit before dumping it into a large paper bag. Out in the garden I dump the bag out, fluff up the pile of wet paper, and dropped on top of the dirt bed by handfuls. The resulting bed of shredded paper is loose and airy and several inches deep. (Photo #4)
Not shown:
- What the bathtub looked like afterwards.
- My husband's face when I asked him if he would want a bath that night, or if I could have a couple of days to get the newsprint stains out of the tub.
June 6: I anxiously await my worms. At the end of the day, I check UPS online for the latest on the tracking number they'd given me. It says they tried to deliver the package and nobody was here to sign for it!
I had been out for a few hours, but this is a secure building; the last package of worms I'd gotten, the front desk had signed for it. So I go down to the front desk to see what had happened. Was the person at the desk on break just at that time? Maybe. We check the security camera, which keeps a video of all traffic at the front door.
You know what? UPS has some invisible delivery people! The one that came to the front door and rang at 2:51 PM on June 6 didn't even show up on camera!
So now I am certain that my worms are languishing in the truck of a UPS delivery van, subjected to who knows what arcane substances make it invisible. I fire off distraught emails to UPS and to Happy D Ranch. Then I check the worm bin. The moisture level is staying stable with the addition of the newspaper.
June 7, 8:30 AM: The front desk calls up to say a UPS delivery is here for me! Not invisible this time! I charge down, to find a much lighter box than I expected. This is NOT 3 pounds. I open it upstairs, and it's my green Kitchen Compost Bucket. The worms are not packed inside the bucket.
So I go to the computer and reread my Happy D order. It says right on there, "Worms shipped separately." I remember that last time, I got the worms in a USPS box. I send Happy D an apologetic email and tell them I will be patient, I know the worms will be here soon.
June 8, 10:30 AM: The front desk calls up to tell me there's a package for me. This time it's the same Flat Rate Parcel Post box that the last worms came in. (Photo #1) The box to NOT keep your worms in.
This time, I have a real worm bin waiting for them. I take the lid off and put the newspaper on the lid, then I empty... I start to empty the sack of worms onto the dirt. I forgot that it is firmly fastened with one of those neat little plastic ties you have to cut through with something I don't have on me. I am save d from a run back inside! Ed the Maintenance Man drives up just then, and he cuts it open for me.
Now I emptiy the sack onto the dirt bed. The whole thing comes out as a clump of peat moss held together by worms. (Photo #5) I spritz it with a mist of water.
Only a few of the worms show on the surface, and they quickly wiggle in out of the light. But I know they are all in there; I've been through this before. I'm not going to poke at them. I'm going to let them migrate into the bed in their own good time. With the lid off and the sun shining down on them, they will be motivated to dive down into the nice wet dirt. I have garden work to do to keep me from hovering over them.
I put just a little bit of food down in case they get hungry; a bit of potato-and-oatmeal mix (with some kelp meal and bone meal added) in one corner, and a section of old brown banana (with peel) in another. I cover the food with damp newspaper shreds so that any hungry worms can eat safely out of the light.
About once an hour, I check on their progress. It really isn't much more often. I check six times in four hours. As the worms migrate out, the pile of peat moss flattens. I skim off the fluffy, emptied peatmoss and toss it on the garden.
After four hours, I decide to give both the worms and myself a break. I check the food -- nobody has started nibbling yet -- and then lay down the bed of newspaper again, snap on the lid, and go inside resolved to leave them alone until sundown. I have two meetings to go to, which will help me keep my resolve.
When I come home at 9:30 PM, I go straight to the garden first. When I lift off the lid, there is one worm clinging to the side of the bin, but he is not trying to escape. He's just taking a break from the hurly-burly. I put the lid back on to go inside for the compost bucket, and when I come back, he's gone back down into hiding. The light is low by now. As far as I can see when I lift off the newspaper, all the food is still there, and only one worm on it. I put down a little bit of nice rotten greens, anyway. The moisture level is just right. I cover everything and go to bed.
June 8, 10:30 AM: I'm back out at the worm bin, and the moisture level seems too high. When I squeeze a handful of the dirt, water doesn't run out, but it does pool between my fingers. So I leave the lid off and the newspaper peeled off while I do gardening for the next few hours. I also scoop out some more of the peat moss: I think that's throwing the moisture balance off.
It's still a bit too moist at 1:30, so I put the lid on but leave the newspaper out. I check again at 5, before I go to another meeting, and it's a little drier. I put the newspaper (which is a bit dry by now itself) back over the dirt. I've added just a little more food.
8:30 PM: The moisture level is optimum. No worms trying to crawl up the sides of the bin. The food is still untouched. I try burying some of the food, but when I scoop up some dirt, I find it swarming with worms just a quarter-inch down.
I decide not to put any more food down for a day. Half the bin is covered so far, though very thinly. Apparently I made the dirt bed so rich that the worms are finding plenty to eat down inside. As long as they're content, I'll be content.
June 9, 7 AM: Moisture level good. A couple of worms under the food; also a couple of them under the paper. None trying to climb the walls.
I spend the morning at Real Change and the afternoon out in Lynnwood where I've been invited to speak on homelessness at a symposium about slavery (interesting connection!). It's a cloudy, rainy day and although the symposium, at a Muslim women's center, is fascinating and inspiring, I fret a little about the worms.
7 PM: The worms are fine! The thick level of newspaper kept the moisture level stable even if some rain got through the airholes.
June 10, 8 AM: Moisture level good. Lots more worms under and around the food. They like the coffee grounds! I was worried that I'd given the first batch more coffee grounds than out-of-town worms were used to, so I put just one handful down to see how these would like it. They take to it like they were born in Seattle. I go inside and dump the rest of the 5-pound bag of used coffee grounds from Starbucks into the compost bucket with everything else.
Tonight I'll give them a bit more food: about 1/4" deep, across only the one end of the bin. I know now that it will take a while before they build up to eating a pound a day. Two pounds of adult worms can eat a pound of garbage a day, but two pounds of newly-purchased worms includes egg-coccoons and new hatchlings, as well as mature adults.
This time around, it looks like they will all have a chance to grow.
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