Vermicomposting at Home Is Fun, Educational and Productive: Our Journey to Becoming Worm Farmers

Vermicomposting. A very long word. A very simple process. Simply put, vermicomposting means "worms eat my garbage". To be more specific, red wriggler worms process my fruit and vegetable scraps and turn them into compost for my garden.

Our days of worm farming were inspired by my youngest child. He asked for a worm farm. Having never heard of a worm farm, I did some research and discovered this concept of vermicomposting. It turns out, this concept is catching on. Vermicomposting allows even apartment dwellers to convert their kitchen waste into lush nutrients for houseplants or gardens. This compost helps plants flourish, without the need to add chemical fertilizers. I have always believed that organic growing is the best method, and I was intrigued by the idea that we could make our own compost without a traditional compost heap.

For simplicity and frugality purposes, we decided to use a plastic tub that we already had around the house as a container for our worm farm. The container is quite large, probably too large, but we didn't want to invest too much money into an idea we had never tried. We didn't even know anyone who had tried it. In fact, people gave us strange looks when we told them we were going to start a worm farm. My oldest child helped drill air holes around the top edge of the bin and into the top while my middle child watched anxiously. Once the bin was sufficiently aerated, we began shredding our bedding. Again, with simplicity in mind, we choose a bedding of newspaper. You can buy special worm bedding, but we were going for quick and easy, not to mention economical. After a few minutes of shredding newspaper, my older children lost interest. Only my little worm farmer-to-be had the stamina to shred all the newspaper we needed.

Our hands blackened with newsprint, we moved on to the next step - wetting the newspaper. This turned our hands even blacker! I didn't think we would ever get our hands clean. Once the newspaper was sufficiently dampened, our worm farm was ready for its inhabitants. We added our newest family members and watched them wriggle their way into their new home. After the worms are added to the bedding, they must get acclimated for a few days before feedings begin, so we left them to get settled.

On the appointed day, we added our first batch of worm food - some crushed egg shells, and various vegetable peelings. Then we waited. A few days later we added some more scraps. And waited some more. We continued this process for a few weeks before we discovered that our worms could not keep up with our feedings. When adding food to a worm bin, the scraps are placed in a different location each time. This way, the food is spread out throughout the bin. But, we quickly ran out of locations to put the food because the worms weren't processing it fast enough. Additionally, fruit flies were beginning to appear. This is another indicator that the worms are being overfed. So, we cut back on the amount of food we gave them. After a few weeks, they caught up. Worms will reproduce to match the amount of food they are given. Our number of worms began to grow exponentially. This was a great delight to my children, and to the neighborhood children!

After just four months, our bin was mostly compost, with just a little newspaper and some food scraps. We decided it was time to harvest our compost and add it to our garden. There are various methods for harvesting compost from a worm farm, but we chose the method that provides immediate gratification: dump and sort. Very simply, this means to dump the contents of the bin onto a flat surface, then sort out the worms. Sounded simple, and it was, but it seemed to take forever. My children lost interest in digging in the worm bin after the first 30 minutes. Several neighbors stopped by to observe. Some even helped for a while. They were all intrigued. The strange looks we had been given a few months ago were replaced with honest inquiries and open curiosity.

The worm sorting process took about two hours to complete. It could have taken much less, but I was obsessed with sorting out each and every worm, down to the itty-bitty baby worms. I wasn't going to let any worm escape into my garden. They had to go back into the worm bin to make more compost. I was amazed at the number of worms living in that bin. Their increased number was a very good sign.

We added the compost to our garden and then set about recreating worm bedding with dampened, shredded newspaper. We added the worms back to the bin and began feeding them. Our worms are very happily creating more compost for us. The entire process is pretty incredible to watch. My children have learned many things while playing with the worm farm, and this knowledge is being absorbed without them even realizing it. That is the best part. Anyone can create a worm farm, and I think vermicomposting is the best way to create compost for the home. The worm bin is compact, enclosed, odor-free and can operate year-round. I intend to continue using our worm farm for years to come. We may even add a second one to keep up with our increased scraps.