Trouble in Wormville

Over a month has passed since my last episode of the worms. With all the traveling that I have done this summer, it was a relief that I could throw some organic waste into the worm bin and leave confident that my roommates would be safe and nourished.

Dark, rich worm compost from organic matter.  It's amazing that they can do this

Today I decided to harvest some of the soil that my worms have produced so far.  I collected 3 large bowls like the two in this photo and spread the soil over the plants in my back yard.  I could almost hear the sighs of joy from the flowers as they were showered with this dark nutritious matter.

But, in scraping the soil out of the lowest level of my worm compost bin, I have discovered that I have very few worms left (hundreds, perhaps, instead of the original one thousand).  Looking in the drainage level, I noticed about 100 dead and dried worms. I wonder if they could not climb back up into the bin after falling into the drainage level--despite the gently sloped sides that are designed to facilitate re-entry into the food and composting soil above. I noticed that some of the bottom holes of the now-empty compost level were plugged with newspaper residue from the original compost bed. Could this be the culprit and answer?  It was also quite dry in the drainage level. Is there too little moisture?

Wow, the questions are coming like lightening. Looks like some more web research is needed.   But, for now, I have carefully placed the living worms into the top food level of the compost bin, hoping that the rotting broccoli, tomatoes, and beet tops will resuscitate them.  The good news is that almost all the immediately visible worms are quite small--must be offspring from the original residents.

Stay tuned.  I think my travel may be over for awhile--until a trip to Argentina to see my daughter.