My wife and I have dedicated ourselves to making our family more green and teaching our children to be more responsible with their environment. Part of our transformation was starting a vermicomposter. We bought a 5 tray "Worm Factory" and 2 pounds of red wigglers and started our system about 2 months ago. We have been doing steadfast research on this site and many others to help guide us along the way. At this point, our worms seem to be doing fine and we added a second tray a couple of weeks ago. But, there are a few issues that I am not sure how to deal with. First, we have started to see a lot of gnats fluttering around the bins that prompted my wife to move them from their normal spot in the kitchen and out into the garage. Second, the layer of newspaper that we placed on the bottom of our first tray is now gone and the collection tray is filled with worms and compost. I am not sure if this should be happening. Also, we have not yet been able to drain out any tea from our handy little spicket and this seems abnormal to me, although I have nothing to base this feeling on. We also bought my mother a composter for her birthday and she was told to some filter fabric on the bottom of the tray to keep this from happening.

Should I clean out the collection tray and start a new bottom tray with a better filter? Should I be worried about the fact that after 2 months we don't have any tea? My wife is chomping at the bit to get some castings for her garden. Also, when should we plan our first harvest? Is 2 months too early? I have so many questions and it is hard to be patient. My wife and I absolutely love our worm farm and our excitement for our new hobby as the unfortunate side affect of a creating a little impatience.