How to take car of your Vermicomposter

or... The Care and Feeding of Worms

Materials

• Worms! (Red Wigglers are recommended by anyone who knows about these things)
• Scraps of fruits and veggies, such as apple cores, cucumber ends, pepper middles (seeds too), the part of the eggplant nobody eats (the top, silly, not the whole thing), strawberry tops, melon rinds and seeds, etc.
• Used coffee grounds including filter (I let mine dry out first sometimes)
• Newsprint (old newspapers, I know you have them laying around) but avoid the full colour glossy flyers, as they apparently kill worms
• Dirt (any dirt)
• Possibly some wood scraps, if someone has chainsawed a tree down in front of your house lately

Tools required:

• Hand shovel thing (Trowel? Tell me if that's right, as I don't believe my wife)

That's it. Really.

What to do

1. shred newsprint
2. collect about 4 cups of food waste (takes us less than a week)
3. put worms in dirt
4. best way: layer dirt, paper, food, dirt, paper, you see where this is going
5. Next time you have food for the worms, dig down with the shovel thing and put all the food in the bottom. make sure to bury the food entirely (prevents flies)
6. add newsprint with food, so you don't end up with a bucket half full of water (like my first one)
7. drain moisture from bottom tray when it looks like it needs it. (get someone strong to move the bucket for you, or use an old turkey baster) -the liquid is strong natural fertilizer. Dilute it and add it to plants!

That's all there is to it. Easy huh?