Vermicomposting

Courtesy of Bingo B. Boise, ID 

This is the system I use for vermicomposting.  http://www.wormwigwam.com

I’d recommend not using the large commercial ones. You can usually find systems on craigslistt cheap, from retirees who bought into them to make some retirement money.

A worm360 is great for home use, but to produce enough castings for a small farm operation you want to go somewhat bigger. Get a reliable source of rabbit, horse, goat, sheep manure to feed your worms (no chicken… too hot). Also, tap into your local coffee shops and get coffee grounds. Worms love them. You can also get bags and bags of veggies and scraps from Blimpies, Subway and sub shops. Just talk to the managers. But unless you are producing 50 lbs. or more of castings a day, (100 lbs. of worm population) then you may not want to tap into that resource.

Most newsprint (not on glossy paper) is printed with soy inks these days, so don’t worry if some newspaper has a little color ink. Soaked and shredded cardboard works great too. So does coco coir. Soaked fall leaves and straw are good bedding too. Worms will double population under good breeding conditions every 3-4 months. If you are starting with just 1 lb. of worms, it will take a while to get your population up to where they are producing a lot of castings. Consider an investment of 10 lbs .or more to start if you have the bins and space. I started with 15 lbs. and currently run about 50 lbs. of worms in my bins.

Here are a few links for you wanna-be worm farmers.

http://www.wormdigest.org/
http://www.acmewormfarm.com/vermiculture2.html

worm bin plans
http://www.acmewormfarm.com/vermiculture1.html
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/worms/neighborhood/index.html
http://www.klickitatcounty.org/solidwaste/FilesHtml/Organics/OscrJunior.pdf
http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~compost/binplans.html

worm farming for profit:                                                                  http://www.ecologytek.com/kit1.htm