Worm Bin Tour

This is my vermicomposting bin. It sits in our kitchen right next to the trash can. The bin is about 18 inches by 18 inches square and about 16 inches tall, but the tray with the worms is only about 6 inches deep.

The lid on the top is meant to keep light out of the bin. Even without the lid the worms will stay in the bin, because they are much happier inside than they would be if they crawled out. The lid doesn't snap on, so air can easily flow in and out of the bin. When I lift off the lid, here's what you see. That is a pile of moistened shredded newspaper. It helps keep the bin moist enough, and eventually the worms will eat all of this paper.

If I pull the paper back, you can see the layer of food scraps. Here you can see some slices of an apple and a couple of coffee filters. There were some worms crawling around this stuff, but most of them hid as soon as I pulled back the newspaper.

And here is one of the residents of the bin. These worms are called red wrigglers. These are surface dwelling worms, not soil dwelling worms. They are much smaller than a typical earthworm. In nature, you'd usually find these worms in piles of manure or decaying leaves. These worms are ideal for indoor vermicomposting because they are comfortable between 60 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit, they reproduce quickly, and they don't mind living in confined spaces.

Things are continuing to go well in the compost bin. I found something that I think is a worm cocoon. If I'm right, one or two baby worms will hatch in a couple of weeks. And I saw some worm behavior this morning that indicates I may have more cocoons fairly soon.

Vermicomposting: Update 2

The worms seem to be settled into their new home. They spend most of their time amongst the oldest food scraps in the bin. We added some more food scraps, but they’re still pretty fresh. I suspect the worms will let them age a bit before they start moving toward the new food. So far it seems like we produce more food scraps than the bin can handle. As the worms reproduce, we should be able to give them more food.

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I’m sure that we lost some of them from their cross-country trip, but the ones that survived look pretty healthy. They’ve rehydrated and I’ve seen them munching on the food scraps. We haven’t had any try to escape the bin, so we must have given them a satisfactory home. Now I just hope that they are happy enough to make some baby worms!

Vermicomposting: Update 1

Today is my first day of truly vermicomposting! My husband and I purchased a Worm Factory 360 which arrived in our home one week ago. We ordered 1 pound of red wriggler composting worms (roughly 1,000 worms) from a worm farm in Pennsylvania and started saving up our produce scraps. Two days ago we filled the Worm Factory with our food scraps and plenty of moist bedding (mostly shredded newspaper). Then today our worms arrived. We placed them in our bin, and TADA, it's vermicomposting!

It will take a little while for the worms to get used to their new home. They were shipped in some dry moss, so they looked pretty dehydrated. When we placed them in the bin this morning, some were moving around more than others. We gave them a spritzing of water and I'm hoping that they can all perk up and start exploring the bin today.

Their first meal consists of a variety of goodies. There's some broccoli stalk, carrot peels, bell pepper stems, celery trimmings, orange peels, egg shells, used coffee grounds (with the filters), and used tea leaves (with the tea bags). That's all organic waste that would normally end up inside a plastic trash bag then dumped into a landfill. Landfills don't aerate, so the food takes longer to decompose, and the trash bag takes much longer to break down. Inside the compost bin, the worms should turn it into soil in just a few months.

In case you can't tell, I'm really excited about this project! I'll be sure to check in with more updates soon.

Going a Little (Worm) Crazy

As a citizen of this planet, I like to do my part to conserve the resources that we have available to us. My husband and I recycle our cans, bottles, and paper, even though we have to haul them to a recycling center ourselves. We try to remember to use reusable shopping bags (I can't promise that we don't forget sometimes). We also try to keep our gas consumption low. We own a few vehicles, so we choose to use our more fuel efficient vehicles as often as we can. This includes our Honda scooter (100+ mpg) when the weather permits.

But of course, there is always more that we could do. Our latest conservation adventure is vermicomposting! Vermicomposting is a process that utilizes worms to break down organic garbage like paper and food scraps. We recently purchased a Worm Factory 360. This will be our worm’s home, and it looks like this.

This plastic bin allows air to flow through the unit, promoting aerobic (odorless) decomposition right in your home. The worms live in the bin, eat your paper and food scraps, and leave behind worm castings for your garden or houseplants. We placed an order for 1000 red wrigglers (composting worms) and we are expecting them to arrive this week. I hope they like their new home and enjoy eating my garbage!

So Much for That Plan...

And the PE countdown is gone. I knew this was a real possibility, but I was really hoping it wouldn't happen. My application to take the PE in April was denied. Thanks to an unfortunate technicality, I'm one month short of the professional experience requirement to take the exam.

I'm bummed, but I'm making the best of it. My grad school has been really great about getting me signed up for a class at the last minute. And I'll just apply for the October exam date this fall.

Countdown with Me!

If you glance a bit to your right, you'll see that I've added a PE Exam countdown to the blog. Now you'll all be able to see how many more days you'll have to listen to me whine about the exam. Don't worry folks, it will all be over in --->

Feeling A Bit Puzzled

Well, here it is, 2011. I'm going to keep my resolution post simple.

I just want to pass the PE Exam. That's it. Sure it would be great to become more organized, lose some weight, yada yada yada... But as long as I pass the PE, I will consider 2011 to be a success.

I cracked open my massive review book for my first attempt at real studying this week. I'll admit that I felt a little lost. I've always been a good student, but this is a whole new challenge. Where the heck do you start when you need to brush up on 8 years worth of acquired knowledge in just 3 months??? My current strategy is to just start somewhere, anywhere. I picked a topic, and tried to work some problems. That's ok, but I really ought to have a more systematic approach. Perhaps I'll do some planning this weekend.