It sounds as though you have a single bin. There are ways to seperate the worms from the compost, but they are all tedious.

You really need a layered bin system and a fair amount of patience . A second bin, nesting above the first, with 6mm holes in the base to allow the worms to pass between them is set up as a new feeder zone for the worms. As all the new food is now to be found in the upper bin, the worms gradually migrate upwards, as the food below becomes exhausted.

The reason you should be patient, is that optimally you should allow a few weeks for all the egg casings that will have been left behind in the first bin to hatch out and for all the small worms to move up into the top bin, before harvesting your compost. However, it's up to you and you can always skip this step, if you don't mind losing a generation of worms, when you dry out your compost.

With luck, you might be able to adapt your existing bin into a layered system - see the page below for a diagram.

Here is a link that might be useful: DIY Layered Bin

The key word here is "gradually." A lot of worms will migrate up pretty quickly, but you can still have a significant population of worms in the lower bin one or two months later.

At some point you may need to screen out the worms. You will have to allow the vermicast to dry out for a few days before you can do that, and you may not be able to do it all at once, as the top will dry out faster than the bottom.

african: how are you and your super bin doing?
The link to the DIY Layered Bin doesn't work; or is it just my computer? I did try several times.

Thanks all. I probably should have mentioned that I have two bins going right now, since in January the bin in question was borderline overfed, and I thought it would be best to just ignore it for a while and let the worms sort everything out.

My main question is how to get usable compost. Does that take just a few days of drying, and I'll end up with nice separable castings?

If it was my bin, I would take everything out and lay about 3 or four sunday papers or a few corrugated boxes in the bottom to soak up the excess moisture, leave it a week or so with the lid ajar, repeat as needed, Then sort the worms from the castings by mounding it up on a table or flat surface, take off the top castings, wait a while, take off the top castings, ect until you have some or all of the castings separated from the worms. You should be able to have usable castings within 10 days by using this method. steve

I used light to separate out the worms. I put the bin in a bright spot that isn't too hot and go by every ten minutes or so and skim off an inch of compost. After a while the worms begin to concentrate at the bottom and are easy to lift out.

The castings are usable whether they are wet or dry. My castings are always wet and sticky when I harvest them, and if I want to use them right away, I mix them in water and then pour the water into the soil for both potted plants and ones in the ground.

If I don't want to use the castings right away, I store them in old plastic food tubs. Sometimes it is many months until I use it and it dries out quite a bit and gets crumbly. I use the dry stuff if I want to add it to potting soil, but usually I mix it with water to apply it as a soil drench (just like the wet stuff).

I have one bin, but I use 5 or 6 small net sacks inside the bin and only add food to one bag at a time. The other bags have food that is in various stages of being processed. It basically is like a layered set of bins within one bin. When a bag has no more food in it and is all castings, it usually doesn't have many worms in it. I take it out and pick out the worms as necessary and either use or store the castings.

I also use a bed of wine corks under the net bags (and some torn strips of newspaper above the bags). When I want to clean it out, I take out all the bags, dump the corks covered in worm poop into a bucket, fill with water, swish around a bit to rinse the poop off the corks, remove the floating corks and return them to the bin, put the net bags back in, and I am done in 5 minutes. I use the water/castings 'tea' as a soil drench. Works for me. There are always a few stragglers and sometimes I pick them out, but I have a very healthy population so I don't worry about keeping every worm and egg cocoon in the bin. They do a lot of good out in the garden, too.

I invented this system :-). It's been working for me for maybe 5+ years and really couldn't be any easier.

A very unique system.
It contains many aspects I have never heard of before.
I am clapping for you because it is by trying unique methods that vermicomposting will move forward quickly.
You are pioneering lots of things.
Not many worms can say they get to travel in vintage style.
It was fun to read about your worm bin.
Thank you!

Thanks, equinox!

It actaully is bits and pieces of a lot of systems that have been discussed here over the years. I got an email from someone here and typed up answers to the questions and I thought I would put them here for everyone who might be interested.

It is a very simple system. I started with a Rubbermaid tote with holes in the bottom and a few on the sides and that's what I still use. It's raised up on bricks and is outside in the summer and in my garage in the winter. The corks are in the bottom (4"), the bags are on the corks (4"), and the strips of newspaper on top (12"). The filled bags are the about size of large novels when full of food and are just stacked on top of each other. They shrink as the food is eaten. There is a total of 5 or 6 in the bin at a time and they fit side by side, so they are 2 or 3 deep. The new ones are on top. Some water drains out the bottom on the ground, but not very much. When it's in the garage, I have a piece of cardboard under it, so I know not much comes out but a tiny puddle every now and then and a few crumbs of castings. I don't put very wet food in there. It's mostly banana peels and coffee grounds and other vegetable trimmings. If it does get wet, I leave the lid ajar for a while and the newspaper dries out. It helps regulate both temp and humidity.

Someday I will post photos, but not anytime soon.