Welcome to the fun world of vermicomposting! I think it's SUCH fun to gather scraps for my little guys and feed them each week. This is a great place to learn and to ask questions. Hope to hear more from you as you move your worms into their new home.

I can't wait for them to arrive! I feel like I've given birth, LOL!!!

I've decided to keep the bin outside in the shade while I get used to looking after the little guys. My husband is worried its gonna smell, so while I figure out the worms limits etc

I also can join your excitement. My worms arrived on April 3 and things are going very well. I was slightly skeptical at first as to whether these little things could actually turn these food scraps into GOLD. However, after only three weeks in their bins, they have comfortably settled in, are definetely getting bigger and much more active. They really do EAT MY GARBAGE. I am definetely impressed. I now wish that I had ordered 10 lbs of worms instead of just 4 lbs. I have access to all the veggie scraps that I want from the restraunt that I work at. I have a cold cellar in my basement with a dirt floor. This is where I have started my worm farm. Yes, the worms are in plastic bins with sufficent ventalation holes in the bottom and sides. You'd be surprised how many people actually want to contribute to this type of All Natural Life style that I live. I had a gentleman bring me dozens of huge "drum type" heavy duty plastic bins to use for this project. This same guy knows a man who was vermicomposting for one of our larger landfills. I am suppose to be meeting with this man soon. Hopefully he will give me some great advice. In the mean time good luck on your project also. HEIDI

I am also new to this. I killed my first batch, I think that I added contaminated sand. They were doing fine until I added sand. I was more carefull with the second batch and they are doing great after 3 weeks. They swarm to everything I put in there, even hair from my spring haircut! I plan on using my first batch for tea and top dressing since the plantings have begun. Then I can start saving to mix in the soil for next year. Any other ideas for harvesting mid-season worm castings?

Here it is only a month into my WORMING and I have just ordered 5 more pounds of red worms. The way I look at it is....if your gonna do something, do it big.... I would like to eventually beable to harvest enough castings/compost to fertilize the whole market garden that I presently have. The one thing I have found is that the simpler you keep this whole process, the less problems. If I had read most of these posts that told about the problems people were having with there bins, I probably would not have started the composting. However, I ordered the FIRST batch before I even started reading these things. Alot of this vermicomposting is just common sense. I just want to let everyone know that this whole experience can be a very easy and positive thing. This is a great experience that people should definetely try. I also want to thank everyone for all the wonderful info in thesse forums. There is a lot of very valuable info here.

Common sense is the key. For worm bins I advocate 2 simple things: when in doubt leave it out and monitor your bins regularly to check on things (moisture, progress of food decompostion & consumption, harvesting castings).

Worm tea is great-- you can use if raw (dilute, strain, and use) or brew some ACTIVE tea with a fish tank bubbler, some sugar (molasses works great), and some time. For personal use, I mostly use raw tea (I can get it to my garden in minutes); purchasers usually want active fermented tea. Put anything that catches on your filter back in your bin!

Good luck

Here is a link that might be useful: WormMainea