vermicomposting take two

You’re composting, right? If not, you should be. It has to be one of the easiest and greenest practices to incorporate into your lifestyle and family. We joke that Jasper doesn’t even know what a trash can is because most everything we dispose of is either reused, recycled, or composted. It’s amazing how much of household waste can avoid the landfill.

Grant started vermicomposting last year (see link above). We’ve actually had really good luck with the worms. They thrive in their homemade bin, and we’ve generated lots of compost and compost tea from our one little worm bin. Last weekend, Grant said it was time to sift the compost.

Because we only have one bin, we usually only do this about twice a year. He waits for a very sunny day (the worms hate the sun) and transfers the compost (worms and all) to a cardboard box. He lets it sit out in the sun for an hour or two, which sends the worm to the bottom of the box and makes it much easier to collect the compost off the top. We then dump the worms and remnant compost back into the bin, along with the now damp cardboard (the worms love cardboard!). It isn’t an exact science by any means, and we still have much to learn in this department. But we have a small operation, so we don’t need anything too complicated.

This year, when Grant started the process, there were tons of worms – far more than last time. He quickly decided that there were too many worms for one bin, so he went out to get another bin. While he was working on the new bin, I spread the compost in the garden and raked it in a bit to prep the beds. Grant followed the same process as last time with the new bin, and then added in several handfuls of worms + compost. I topped it all off with plenty of bedding – lots of shredded paper and torn up cardboard. So we are now a two worm bin family. We’ll keep you posted on how this goes!