Worm Bed ready for new arrivals

Well, today students from the YouthCaN program at the American Museum of Natural History came over to help prepare the Worm Factory for the arrival of the worms tomorrow. Following the instructions that came with the bin, we lined the bin with newspaper, created a soil mixture made of soil from outside, leaves, egg shells, and a small brick of coir. Having researched coir, realize that it is a fantastic soil made from coconut hairs. Lots of water are added to small brick of coir and it expands by 9 times its original volume. It grows right in front of you! Here is some info on coir: http://www.greeneem.com/cococoirpeat.htm

This mixture is then combined with shredded paper and some initial "salad" of produce waste. After covering with moist newspaper, the bed is ready for the 1,000 worms' arrival tomorrow.





Wednesday morning I went to the famers market in Union Square, where the Lower Eastside Ecology Center has a booth on Wednesdays.  They sell the worms out of the back of a van--a pound (about 1,000) in each milk carton.  She lifted the top cover to prove to me that the wriggly crawlers were in fact there--all in a tight ball of worminess.

After a day in my office (which I was assured was ok for my new house guests) and an hour at a pool game with Fei, my worms were ready for their new home. I had been cautioned that the transition from worm breeder to new home can be traumatic, so I was urged to "gently" introduce them to their new home.    With great  and gentle care, I placed them around the top of the bin worm bed.  I was told to leave a light on all night as a way of encouraging the worms to burrow into the bed since they abhor light!     After the first 12 hours they did not seem to be moving down much into the paper/soil bed.  I was worried that they were rejecting the new bed and bin.  That still seemed to be the case after 24 hours and panic was setting in.

The instructions said to replace the bin lid (darkness) when it was clear the worms were gulping up the waste salad we had prepared for them.   Timidly, I dug down to the tomatoes, beet tops and other yummies and yes, there they were--wrapped up in an unsightly gorgy on the waste produce.   SUCCESS!   They were adapting and thriving.

Throwing the lid on, I went to bed Thursday evening confident that my 1,000 house mates were content.