Greetings!  - and welcome to my info-packed, easy-to-use, worm composting website.  In these pages, you will find articles on how to set up and maintain a home scale worm bin that draws from my 20 years experience.  You will find recommendations & tips not found elsewhere.  And in a few cases, you’ll read a slightly different take on how to create your thriving living system, as explained below.    But why am I so into worm composting?

For me, it’s all about the transformation.  The process of smelly garbage turning into rich dark worm poop;  whose molecules (some, at least) then get recycled into beautiful plants, amazes me.   There’s also the intelligence of waste as resource - the essence  of sustainability.   However small,  it’s a part of the solution, playing out on a home scale.

If you’re new to worm composting, check out the FAQ first.  If not, dive into the topics that interest you.  And please write your comments and questions - at the end of each article or in the Feedback tab at the top.    I will reply to all.

How my method is simpler & easier

Maintaining the mature worm bin

After the bin is well established, there are two areas where my method differs from other composters’.

Bedding

I have found that after a year or so - after the worms have converted the bedding and scraps into castings, you can then bury your food scraps directly into the castings.  It’s similar to digging into very rich soil.  When first setting up a bin, however, you do need to fill the bin with bedding: leaves, peat moss, etc.  In the beginning, by keeping your bin full of bedding & not overfeeding, you will avoid perhaps the main danger of a new bin - not getting enough air circulating and the system becoming anaerobic.  I’m into low maintenance, and my approach to this has always been “how can results be achieved with minimum effort?”.

So after the bin “matures”, you no longer need to add bedding.  Some say the bedding must be periodically changed.  Not so, in my experience.  I’ve been using a 65 gallon bin (9 cu. ft.) and consistently feed it 10 quarts every 7-12 days. The bin never goes anaerobic.    See the article How Much to Feed.

Harvesting

The second area where my system differs is in harvesting.   Again, the technique applies after the bin matures.  Since there’s no setup involved, and it’s part of the feeding process, it’s way more efficient than commonly prescribed methods.  For details, read Harvesting.