Worm bins can go in any location, as long as the temperatures in the bins stay between 55-75 or so. For all your many questions you have now and will keep having, I would highly recommend the book "Worms Eat My Garbage",by Mary Appelhof. You might find it in the library, if you want to peruse it. It is easy to read and has many details of how to get started, be successful and have some fun!

I start with damp shredded paper and coffee grounds as my bedding and then I add kitchen scraps once a week. This allows me to freeze the kitchen scraps for three days before defrosting and then placing in the bin. This kills any fruit fly eggs and keeps the flies from hatching out of the bin. They are not bad for the worms - I just find them annoying. It will take about a week for the first batch of food to decompose enough for the worms so my advice is to add the first batch of food as soon as you set up the bin. You can add the worms at the same time with no worries. Just remember it will take them a bit of time to settle in and that it can take up to three months for the bin to reach maximum velocity in terms of processing the food.

My worm bin sits under a table in my back parlor. Once I got the hang of it, nobody knows that they're there unless I tell them. By "get the hang of it", I mean eliminating fruit flies, not over feeding, and keeping the moisture right. No smell, no fuss. They're great indoor pets and a cool indoor ecosystem. It's not rocket science. You get into the Yin and Yang of the bin and it just works.

I feed them coffee grounds from the office, as well as my veggie scraps.

Mine are sitting in the living room, under a pretty table covering. No one knows, except a few people that understand.

Moni

I keep my bin around the north side of the house, mostly shady, gets a short spell of morning sun. It sits on top of another old bin so I don't have to bend over so much to add scraps. Here in So. CA I leave the bin out all year, although in the cooler months there isn't much decomposition

I've always used peat moss for the bedding, but I'd like to use something else since apparently peat moss is not a renewable resource. I've tried newspaper but it just mats down and clumps up so much. I'd like to try it again though.

Your bin should be kept damp like a slightly wrung-out sponge. If it smells, it is too wet or there is too much food in there. You can leave the lid off or ajar
for things to dry out a bit. If it seems too dry, you might have to add water.

I'm no expert...I'm the one who put all the bean seeds in the bin! (red face) But the above is my experience. Hope you enjoy vermicomposting as much as I do.

I have been graciously allowed to keep mine in the dining room-either that or the dog goes to live outside

my worms smell better than the dog does!

bruce