I finally got my vermicomposting worms today, after about an hour of tracking them down from the post office. I left the house to run an errand today and as I was leaving, I saw the mail truck about 10 houses away, so I thought, “Great! When I get home, my worms should be waiting for me.” But, apparently, they can’t leave “live animals” without someone being at the house.

So, when I returned home, there was a handwritten note from our mail lady, Patti, saying if I wanted my package I could try to track her down and she listed which streets she was going to be on. The package slip said I could pickup the package on Monday at the post office, but being that it was Saturday, I didn’t want the worms sitting there until Monday. So I desperately tried to find my worms, I cruised around the neighborhood but with no sign of her. I decided to drive to the post office to see if they had them; they didn’t, but I found out Patti was still on her route. And she was willing to meet me at the high school so I could pick up my package. I drove to the high school and Patti was waiting for me in the parking lot with my package. I raced home to unbox the worms.

I ordered my red worms from Moore Bait out of Eckley, Colorado. I was supposed to get them yesterday, but the temperature was too cold to ship them. Thankfully the owner, Larry, has the well-being of the worms in mind. I didn’t mind waiting another day to get them either. Email correspondence with Larry was great too, letting me know my package was delayed and when it was shipped.

The worms were well packaged, enough padding so the worms didn’t get damaged. The box had air holes in it for extra ventilation too. And when I opened the box, the worms were nicely wrapped in a little burlap sac.

I put the worms into my vermicomposter. I buried them with a weeks worth of food scraps. I hope they’re hungry!

Here’s a closeup of the red worms. I can’t wait to harvest some black gold!

This is my first vermicomposter. Here’s my how-to instructions on how I built my worm bin.

This is the first worm bin I’ve built, so it has been a learning experience for me. While doing research for my worm bin, I found many different shapes and sizes for bins; some are made from wood, some from plastic, some have multiple layers… there doesn’t seem to be a universal worm bin. I was kind of fond of the ones that use plastic storage containers; they are easily attainable and don’t cost too much either, so I decided to use one of those.

I noticed most people drill holes in the container for ventilation, but I decided to go with louvre vents. From what I’ve read, the vents provide more air flow than simply drilling holes. And it makes it look snazzier too. I used Mark’s Bently’s Mini Worm Composting Bin for inspiration

Some systems have holes drilled on the bottom and have a lid or something to catch the worm tea. Or bins are nested, one inside the other to catch the worm tea. I didn’t like the idea of this too much because I’ve read the worms can fall through the holes. So I decided to install a drainage spigot on my worm bin.

Here’s a list of materials and tools I used:

• Rubbermaid plastic storage bin
• 8 – 2″ louvre vents
• Spigot
• Pen/Marker
• Dremel

First, I decided where I wanted the vents; four on the lid. Then I traced around the vents with a marker and used the dremel to cut out the holes for the vents.

I did the exact same thing for the sides; two vents on each side and for the spigot.

Here are some tips I learned when building my worm bin:

• When cutting out the holes for the vents, cut slightly on the outside of the marker line. If you cut on the inside, the hole will be too small for the vent.
• Most of my vents fit perfectly snug, but two of them were loose and wouldn’t stay in. So I doubled-up a rubber band and used that on the inside of the vent to kept it in place.
• Be sure to peel off the price tag stickers on the vents before you install them for maximum ventilation.
• I found the louvre vents at my local hardware store; down the building materials isle, next to the parts for gutters.

Here’s my finished vermicomposter. Now I just need to get some worms!