Worms & Vermicompost

Let's Build a Worm Bin! 

I’ve always been fascinated by the unsung heroes of composting: worms, specifically Eisenia fetida (commonly known as red wigglers, brandling, or manure worms) and Lumbricus rubellus (another manure worm).

These species are the powerhouses of vermicomposting, efficiently breaking down organic waste into nutrient-rich vermicompost that’s a gardener’s gold. 

Avoid nightcrawlers for composting bins, as they require deep soil to burrow and have different feeding habits.

For a thriving worm bin, you want fast-working, surface-dwelling worms like red wigglers that devour food scraps with gusto. 

After neglecting my own worm bin for nearly a year, I finally set up a compact, indoor bin in my laundry room, which has been a game-changer. You can easily create a small bin to tuck under a kitchen sink or place on a porch, tailored to your space. 

My larger bin, safely housed in the barn with fencing to keep curious chickens at bay, continues to churn out compost for my garden.

With a little care, these wriggly workers can transform your kitchen scraps into eco-friendly fertilizer in no time.

Here’s a picture of it. It’s nothing exciting, but I have a ton of worms!

I’m gonna show you how I made my newest worm bin from a couple buckets that I had on hand.
First, you will need a dog and 2 buckets! 

​It’s super simple to add a faucet to a bucket and it is super handy later, as a lot of draining happens and you’ll want to use that liquid on a plant or two. You sure don’t have to have a faucet though.

Next, you need to drill some drain holes. It doesn’t exactly matter about the size cause you’ll be putting screen over the holes so the worms don’t end up in the liquid and drown or something tragic like that!

​I found an old window screen in my barn and cut a circle out for the INSIDE BOTTOM of the bucket with the holes.

Now the fun stuff! Use some newspaper, paper shreddings,  for putting in next, on top of the screen. I used a paper feed sack and tore it into pieces. It’s fun that you really can use things that you have on hand!

If your worms and the 'stuff' in the bin isn’t very wet, add some water to the paper and get it a bit wet, not soggy.
My worms and their dirt was pretty wet, so I added them on top of the dry paper.
There is just really nothing horrible going to happen either way, but just remember that your worm habitat needs to be like a squeezed out sponge. A bit more than damp.

Above is TOO WET. You can see the puddling of water. It's SO IMPORTANT to provide drain holes so this will never happen. 

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Next, I add some used hay, so it’s almost chopped looking, but only a handful.

I don’t want to create a hot environment by adding too much green matter.

But I want them to always have a way to be happy and never soaking wet.

If you have heard about compost getting hot and stuff like that, it’s very true. ​

So we want the worms to break things down and if it gets hot in there, they’ll die.

I have caught some outdoor compost piles on fire by accident of course, but it burnt an entire wall of a barn…but that’s a story for another day. If it can burn a building down, obviously the worms are going to die. NOT the goal! 

Next, you can add some food for them. They love coffee grounds and at my house, they get a lot of those!

Also vegetable trimmings, fruit scraps. Molded, uncooked produce is one of their favs! 

No fats, meats, citrus.

And egg shells don’t break down well, but it aerates things, so adding a few is nice, but really, it's a pain later when you want to use the vermicompost. 

Coffee filters, fermented cherry pits and skins, coffee…

As I add food for them, I add a bit more paper to the top. Kind of layering, but there really isn’t hard rules here. But just try to keep a balance going.

You will then sit the bucket with the holes, screen and all the worms inside the bucket with the faucet.  

That’s it! Super simple!

Do you have worm bins? I’m excited to know who else raises worms!
If you are somewhat local to me and want to get some worms, just reach out! I generally have extras.