To do this I bought a 13 gal Rubbermade container and a spigot. I attached the spigot to one end to act as a drain for any nutrient rich moisture that accumulates. I then drilled small holes in both the sides of the container and the top to ensure adequate airflow through the bin.
To begin making a suitable environment for the worms, I shredded card board, and brown paper. Shredding the paper as opposed to just layering it allows for better airflow throughout the bed allowing the worms to do their job more effectively.
In the bottom of the bin I put wet, but not dripping, paper to form a bed for the worms. On top of that I began to accumulate left over fruit and veggies, and on top of that goes dry or moist paper.
With all this together I let it sit for about a week while I was waiting for my worms. Letting the compost sit for a bit before you add worms is beneficial to let bacteria grow and begin to break down the organic matter which makes eating easier for the worms. Not only do the worms eat the veggies, but they will also eat the paper products.
After searching around Cortez for Red Wiggler worms (the best kind supposedly for composting) to no avail I found LOTS of places online that sell worms! I finally chose Uncle Jim's Worm Farm because they had free shipping. Now the worms aren't local (bummer) in fact they come from the Susquehanna Valley in PA. Apparently good composting worms don't grow in the dry desert, who would have thought! After 5 days, I got a package marked "Live Worms". They are shipped in a breathable bag with dry mulch in it to suck out moisture and prevent freezing. Opened the bag to 2000 wigglin' friends!
And into the bin they go to eat and drink after their long journey!
As we speak, the worms are hopefully eating all of the goodies in the bin and producing worm castings, black gold. I can then take these castings and put into my garden as super rich fertilizer to grow more plants whose waste will go into the worm bin and the worms will make more black gold to make more plants...etc. Pretty good recycling, ehh? Not only do you get use all of your waste organic matter but also your waste cardboard which saves a trip to the recycling center and the eliminates the need for the energy consuming recycling process.
OK, now a few cool facts about the worms. Each worm will live for about a year and each day will produce its weight in worm castings. Each worm can reproduce in 90 days which means that every 3 months, excluding worm death, your worm population will double. This is great because these worms also are great garden worms and go well in my AP system eating up solids which are trapped in the growing medium.
Since I live in the Tiny Mansion, every thing has to be tiny. But someday I will hopefully create a much larger worm bin to be able to handle many thousands of more worms and much more compost.
It's cheep, easy, low maintenance and pays for itself quickly (go look how much black gold costs at a nursery!). It also fits nicely under the bathroom sink!
Wow worms in the bathroom...what will they think of next?!
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