Buy Red Wigglers!

I had to take a deep breath once I realized that I had ordered my Worm Factory 360 and that meant that I would soon need to have worms available to make the thing work! According to the instructions that I read online, I’ll be buying Red Wigglers for the worm bins. They are available for ordering online, but I thought I might also check to see if I could find them locally. It took a little hunting, but I found someone on Craigslist who has them for $20/lb. I’ll plan to pick them up on Wednesday, which is the same day that my Worm Factory is scheduled to arrive. Hmmm…. Maybe I should wait until it arrives before I pick them up. Yep, that’s the plan!

Well, I’ve finally done it! After several months of thinking about it, today I ordered the Worm Factory 360. When I started this search for a composter that would be small enough, simple enough and odor-free enough for my small townhouse, I would never have guessed I would end up with worm bins. But after doing the research, it seems like it will be the best composter for me and I’ll definitely keep you updated on how it works out.

• Queen's students launch vermicomposting initiative – The Kingston Whig-Standard

September 29, 2009
- This is so cool… Queens University in Canada is starting a program where students will be vermicomposting at their dorms. It sounds like a well developed plan and I hope other schools will be inspired to follow.

I’ve been searching the Internet trying to find out if anyone has problems with geckos getting into their worm containers. I think this is my last question before I place the order for my worm composter. There are lizards on my porch all the time, and I know they are always looking for a good place to hide. I would hate for them to think the Worm Factory was a great new restaurant. I haven’t found anyone complaining of this, so it probably is not a problem… but someone did mention feeding red wigglers to a pet gecko, so that renewed my concern. Surely he was joking. Someone else suggested that I could put a screen over the holes if it’s a problem and I will do that if necessary, but wanted to throw this question out one last time.

photo credit: Sarah Camp

The three worm bins that are in the running for my first home composter are: the Can-O-Worms, the Gusanito Wormswrangler Worm Farm Bin and the Worm Factory 360.  The Can-O-Worms is slightly more expensive and a little bit larger than the other two, but does get pretty good reviews on Amazon.  The Wormwrangler is similar in size, appearance and price to the original Worm Factory and also has decent reviews. It costs the least of these three options.  However the one I’m leaning toward is the new Worm Factory 360. I don’t see any reviews for it on Amazon, but did find a couple in other places.  Supposedly, it improves upon the original Worm Factory with its new Thermo Siphon Design which is supposed to speed up the composting process. It also comes with a 20 year warranty.  I’ll do a little bit more research and make my decision in the next few days.

The last type of home composter that I would have ever guessed I would end up with as my first composter would have been a worm bin. Worms give me the ‘willies’. I can’t really explain why… maybe it has to do with their resemblance to small snakes… or maybe it has to do with them covering the driveway after a heavy rain. I especially don’t like squished worms. So why is it that I am about to purchase a worm composting container?

Well, I am determined to reduce my contribution to the local landfill and composting is where I will begin. The only problem with that is that I have very limited space and need something small enough to fit on my very small porch. The only composters that I can find that are small enough seem to be these stackable worm farms where the worms start eating your scraps at the bottom and work their way up, leaving their castings below. There are at least three varieties that will fit nicely in the space that I have, so I’ve been doing my homework and have decided this is the way to go.

So after making my decision and then putting in my order , I’ll have to start getting mentally prepared for the worms to arrive. I’m the type of person who carries spiders outside rather than stepping on them. I get along well with most animal life, although am wary of the alligator who lives in the lake behind my townhouse and the black snake who slithers by my front door on occasion. I’m sure I’ll come to like the worms and will surely admire their work!

photo credit: Cliff Beckwith

Since I have temporarily put buying the Naturemill automatic composter on hold, I’m going to start looking at kitchen composting containers.  Even though it’s only 50 feet from my kitchen sink to the spot where I think I will put my composter, I think I will get better family participation if I have something really handy.  Most of the ones I’ve seen so far seem fairly inexpensive. I’ll post an update when I’ve decided.

One thing I know for sure is that I am looking for a small compost container. I was outside my townhouse this morning looking at space and I’m not sure I really have a good outdoor spot for it. That means something that fits on my porch or in my kitchen. Naturemill is the only product I will consider for my kitchen and I think I would like to have one some day. However, considering the cost, I’ll probably wait a little while before I make that investment. So that leaves only my very small porch. I’m not positive, but a worm bin may actually be the best option for this space. I guess I need to measure my space and narrow down my choices accordingly.
photo credit: {eclaire}

My plan was to start composting at home, perhaps because it just feels wrong to throw food and garden waste into a plastic bag and then into a dumpster. So I went straight to researching compost containers, so that I could buy one right away and get started. What I learned quickly by reading product reviews is that there is both science and art involved in making compost and mistakes can lead to “icky” results. So what is composting, how does it work and what will I need to do to be successful?… Although I couldn’t imagine reading a long, tedious book about composting, I did read some book reviews to see if there was something that might give me the education I needed before getting any further along on my journey. I found Ken Thompson’s book Compost, the natural way to make food for your garden and am getting just the type of information I wanted.  It’s a quick read, with specifics on how composting works and what you need to know to get the right balance of ingredients. He gives pros and cons on different types of compost containers and even offers instructions for making your own. The book also addresses all the ways that compost can be used. I’ll reserve my final recommendation until I’m finished reading, but so far so good.

As I am learning more about composting and looking for the technique that will suit my lifestyle best, I can’t help myself, but think of getting some of my family members on board to do the same. Several of them live in Quincy, IL where they purchase stickers that adhere to their trash bags. I think for large bags they use two stickers and for kitchen sized bags, they use one, but I don’t know for sure and I don’t know how much they pay for the stickers…. but I was wondering how much money they would save in stickers and trash bags each year, by composting. My sister doesn’t have a garbage disposal, so she might especially benefit if she had a home composter.  I will try to have her estimate the amout of food waste she throws out each week, so we can calculate the savings.

photo credit: Adrian Miles ©