I have worms in my kitchen!

[thriftymomma]

No seriously I do :smile: I have a vermicompost bin in my kitchen (couple months till my first harvest). I use an 18 gallon rubbermaid tote with air holes in the bottom and sides. It sits up on two bricks on top of the lid of another rubbermaid tote for any leakage (though it never leaks because I add paper with every feeding). It's awesome to have worms eat my kitchen scraps and supply me with a super rich compost in the end (no pun intended). :hysterical:

Anyone else into vermicomposting?

[jujubee]

I wanted to try this. I've been telling DH I wanted to start a compost, and read about vermicomposting during my research. I asked DD if she wanted a "worm farm", but she wasn't having any part of it! :)

[MrsPinecone]

No, but it sounds cool. My backyard compost pile is taking too long to produce anything for my liking.

[wookin]

OK, someone has to ask. Doesn't it smell? I know worms smell and so does food scraps.

[jujubee]

OK, someone has to ask. Doesn't it smell? I know worms smell and so does food scraps.
My understanding is that it isn't supposed to. If it does, you're doing something wrong. But I'd like to know for sure.

I don't think I could keep it in my kitchen, though. It would have to be out of the house for my liking.

[Kristen.C]

OK, someone has to ask. Doesn't it smell? I know worms smell and so does food scraps.

I was wondering the same thing. Is this something that is normally kept in the kitchen instead of outdoors?

[thriftymomma]

Nope doesn't smell at least mine doesn't! Mine is covered but even when I open it to feed 'em it doesn't stink at all. You wouldn't even know I had one or that's what it is unless I told ya lol! Mega kewl.

jujubee is right if it does it means you have way too much food in there for the amount of worms you have (solution - don't feed for a couple of weeks and give them a chance to eat it up). I think most keep lidded bins.

You could probably keep an outside bin for the spring/fall depending on where you live I think, but the worms would freeze or cook to death in winter and hot summer they like temps somewhere between 60 - 75. They're not earthworms that you dig out of the garden (soil movers) they are composting worms (e. foetida) so "theys special" :smile:.
Some keep them in the basement, garage, kitchen, depends.

1 lb of worms can eat 1/2 lb of food scraps per day! :misc1:

[pedspeech]

Okay, this may sound stupid, but how do you get the compost out without getting the worms out? Does that question make sense?

[thriftymomma]

Doesn't sound stupid Rebecca. This is what I do:
I have an extra tote that is empty. One month before harvest time comes I put new bedding (I use shredded black and white newspaper) in the empty tote. I also stop adding food to the working bin(tote). The tote, of course, is all set up with vent holes in bottom and sides. I take the top off the working tote and put the empty tote with the bedding inside directly on top of compost in working bin. I add food to the new tote (I feed at least weekly) only and cover. I give them about a month sometimes a little less. The worms travel up in search of food and enter the new bin through the vent holes in the bottom. When done I switch bins. Take compost bin outside - may have a few worms that didn't travel but majority is in new bin.

Worms that are still in compost I give them to my chickens. Nope, chickens are not in my kitchen! Have a chicken coop/run outside like normal chicken raisin' folk.:smile:

I have a compost bin outside too, a regular one, sometimes I have too much for the worms so I put excess in my bin outside.

[bargain_blogger]

Wow, where have I been?? I'm just now finding this forum! I ordered my worms a couple of weeks ago and have the same set up as the OP with the 18 gal. bins.

I must have done something wrong cuz mine started to smell icky so I haven't fed them for a few days and I added more paper and cardboard. I did have worm escapees but since we added the extra paper stuff they've not been trying to make a run for it. The smell is getting better, too and I did move mine to the backyard until this problem is resolved.

[purplefdu]

I wish I had the counter space for that. It sounds super fun and we could really use the compost for the garden.

[urbanqueen]

Can someone post a picture of how you set up your bins? I was going to purchase a worm tower which would end up to be $100 but haven't been brave enough to do it.

Also, where do you get the worms from? Mail order or local?

I know some people have them in their basement if you don't want them in your main living area.

Thanks for the info!:smile:

[MrsPinecone]

They have an article on this in Family Fun magazine this month!

[Nate]

It only smells if your carbon to nitrogen ratio is off. I have a compost pile outside, its great. I have tons of roly polys and earthworms that have migrated to it. I haven't used the soil for planting as my yard is 95% shade. but it saves me so much ( those home depot refuse bags are expensive) You can also use paper that you shredded ( old bank statements, canceled checks, etc)

[paradisemommmy]

How Awesome! Congrats...we will be getting worms for the kitchen in September...I can't wait for that compost!