WORMS and SNOW?

I got worms for Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I didn't say I have worms.

I bought a worm farm some months ago. I set it up and then vowed to wait until I had extra cash to buy the worms. It seems like that day never comes, so I asked Santa (okay Oma and Papa) to bring red wiggler worms for Christmas.

They came in the mail today, after a little shipping snafu. The first batch was accidentally shipped to my mom and dad's house. Luckily, Oma and Papa are going to keep them in worm bedding and well tended to until they see me again.

We decided to chronicle the set up for all the people who think worms in your basement are a weird thing to WANT.

While H and I were getting the worms' bedding ready, Lena was frolicking in the snow. Yep...more snow... :o(

So the first batch of worm bedding that came with the worm farm is coconut coir. I took care of moistening that and H brought the worms down to the basement. Here they are tossed on their bed.
The light brown is the coconut coir and the darker brown is the bedding that the worms were shipped in with a half cup water added to moisten them after their trip. Hard to believe there are 1000 worms in there.

Next we prepped a little food for these guys.

I won't add much more in for a few weeks until they are established, but the menu for worms today was...


Banana peeling, a moldy tomato (just bought those...DARN IT), a crust of bread, and a lone bean. Where the heck did the bean come from??? Additionally we threw some coffee grounds with an unbleached filter in for fun. Notice the food chopper in the first food picture? The food scraps are processed faster by the worms if chopped up a bit. I wanted to make their first meal especially easy!

Doesn't it look delicious?
Scott thinks so...
Ewwwwwww

Tonight the worms are all snug in their bed. I shredded some paper bag (with no print) and tossed that on the top of their bed to give them a little more cover because it didn't seem like the bedding was very deep.

So begins the Wegener vermicomposting experience.

More to come.

d