My Little Wigglers

I love soil! And I love my worms. When I took a series of classes to learn about composting, vermicomposting and to become a Master Composter several years ago, we were told 'dirt' is the stuff that accumulates under your finger nails over time. Makes sense. We'd actually get called out and corrected if we said the word dirt if we were really referring to soil. . Soil, or earth, is something completely different. It's beautiful. And it's even more beautiful as well as rewarding when you make your own soil. My worms make what can be considered black gold. This stuff is not the same as compost. It's much more valuable and goes a lot further. What is it you might be asking? It is worm poop! Or you can call it vermicompost instead. But worm poop is easier to say.
My worm bin sits outside in the back yard. Inside the bin is a warm bed for the worms made up of dried leaves and shredded paper. Their diet consists of fruit and veggie scraps from my kitchen. Instead of the scraps decomposing in the compost bin, the worms eat it and what they poop out is vermicompost. In the summer, the bulk of my kitchen scraps go in the big compost bin out back. The worms still eat really well too, I just have much more in the summer months. By the end of summer, my compost bin is full and needs to rest and work it's magic so I have compost for my garden in the Spring. Kitchen scraps go to the worms during these colder months.

I harvest the vermicompost once a year, usually early Spring or late Winter when I start my garden seeds indoors. It's a little more difficult than compost to harvest because the worm poo has to be seperated from all the worms...and quickly because worms don't appreciate being exposed to light.

There's no good reason why I haven't introduced Esperanza to the worms yet...I will, and soon. And I can't wait!

Their home

Say hello to my little friend