Vermicomposting Take 2

A few months ago, I was so excited to bring you my new adventure in composting with worms, aka vermicomposting. I told you I'd bring you an update on how to get the compost from the worms and increase your worm population....

Today was a gorgeous sunny day so we took advantage of the sun and went outdoors - with our worm bin.

We dumped the composted material and worms onto a black garbage bag and let them dig for cover. It quickly came apparent that they were working hard on reproducing because there were eggs everywhere! Not wanting to distrub the eggs and not wanting to loose the worms to the garden, I had DH make a new composting bin for me.

Digging for worms!

In that new bigger bin, I put new newspaper and some coffee grounds. These went on side of the bin. On the other side of the bin, 75% of the compost and worms. They will gradually move to the clean side and start feeding and living. The babies will hatch and move to the food, too. Then, I will be able to easily scoop up the vacated compost on the one side of the bin to use for my garden starts!!!

In my original little bin, I put the 25% compost and worms, along with new bedding, same situation as above. This is my indoor bin. I will now work on growing this population, just like I did before.

How many worms do I have? Thousands!!! I couldn't scoop one handful of compost without there being several worms in it. They are all over... and it was beautiful.

And, I think I may have found a way to get my niece to stop biting her fingernails. She had no idea that the "dirt" was actually worm poop!!! Once she found out, she hasn't bit her nails since. Next time I see her with her fingers in her mouth - "to the compost bin, you go!"