https://www.annieshomefarm.com/education daily 0.75 2025-03-20 https://www.annieshomefarm.com/education/what-to-feed-your-compost-worms-wz9rg-277k5 monthly 0.5 2021-04-09 https://www.annieshomefarm.com/education/whyvermicomposting-rwjkr-gnd4h monthly 0.5 2021-04-09 https://www.annieshomefarm.com/education/problemandsolution-yck94-sp3gx monthly 0.5 2021-05-21 https://www.annieshomefarm.com/education/diywormbin-p6632-4x4yg monthly 0.5 2025-02-28 https://www.annieshomefarm.com/how-tos daily 0.75 2025-03-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67dc59065c59c801423c28ac/1742493959250-NO1V9LO39HU6YZDO7B84/Step1_buy_prepare.jpeg How to Vermicompost - Composting with Worms | Annie's Home Farm - Step One: Buy and Prepare a Storage Container Starting out, I purchased a sturdy black 18-gallon tub from a big box store. Any plastic container with a tight-fitting lid will do, but it should be at least a 10-gallon size. You can find them at Target, Walmart, Lowe's, etc. for $13 to $17. Make sure to buy a color; you don't want one you can see through. It should have a lid that fastens down well. Once you get it home, drill six 1/8" holes in the bottom. This will allow excess moisture to drain out. You also want to drill 1/16" holes through the lid, and around the top of the sides of the bin for air circulation. A dozen holes in each location will work just fine. To be honest, it was this first step that kept me from starting my first worm bin. I didn't know how to operate a power drill. So if you are like me, don't give up! Look online and order a worm bin that is all ready to go or ask someone you know to help you out. Believe me, if your friend owns and operates a hand-held power drill, she won't think drilling a few holes in a plastic tub is a big deal. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67dc59065c59c801423c28ac/1742493959254-J5K1X6SNSG805XTRARH1/Step2_location.jpeg How to Vermicompost - Composting with Worms | Annie's Home Farm - Step 2: Location, Location, Location Decide where you are going to keep your bin. Some likely spots might be on a covered porch, an attached garage, or in the basement. A good location will protect the worms from the elements: wind, rain, and direct sunlight. In my book, the best place for a worm bin is in a basement. It stays cool in the summer and warm in the winter. If you live where it gets below 32 degrees in the winter, you are going to need to keep your bin from freezing. Be prepared to move your worm bin. I have kept worms in an outbuilding here on the farm and moved them into our basement for the winter. Worms are just like us: they can hack it in the 90's if they aren't sitting in the sun and they can tolerate the 40's as long as they aren't hit by 20 mph. winds and rain. One more thing worth mentioning here is fruit flies. My bins got them this winter, in the house, and they were prolific. Finally March arrived and it warmed up enough to move them back outside. So, if you know ahead of time that these visitors come and go, you can make better decisions on where to locate your bin. It's kind of relative to you and your family's tolerance level. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67dc59065c59c801423c28ac/1742493959262-WLRJM4GW6S8TQSQCENLS/Step4_grit.jpeg How to Vermicompost - Composting with Worms | Annie's Home Farm - Step 4: Get some Grit Add two tablespoons of sand to your bin and mix it in. It’s okay if it takes you a few days or weeks to get this part done. Just know that eventually, you want to provide this for them. Your worms need fine grit for their gizzards! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67dc59065c59c801423c28ac/1742493959266-VXMDU4P8WDVT12UE4I7D/Step5_wiggler_worms_A_.jpeg How to Vermicompost - Composting with Worms | Annie's Home Farm - Step 5: Order Red Wiggler Worms These little workhorses are the best composting worms! We sell them in lots of 500 or 1,000 worms. It's just Pat and me here, but one bin and 1,000 worms isn’t a big enough system to handle all the food waste our kitchen produces. That being said, your 1,000 worms could be 2,000 worms in about three months, so you will have the opportunity to raise your own worm population and expand the number of bins you need to handle your volume of organic waste material. It is good to start small because you are new to vermicomposting. When things go wrong, as they might, it's more manageable if you're only dealing with one worm bin. Experience definitely builds confidence, and it won't take you long to feel like you know what you are doing. When your worms arrive, empty them out of the bag into the home you have prepared for them. They will be in a big clump, but don't worry. They will spread out on their own. Put the lid on and leave a light on by their bin. This will encourage the worms to crawl down rather than out. Do not skip this step! Otherwise, you’ll find a bunch of dead escapees in the morning. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67dc59065c59c801423c28ac/1742493959258-YNAWLVPSPQEAPAOJY0M1/Step3_recycle_paper.jpeg How to Vermicompost - Composting with Worms | Annie's Home Farm - Step 3: Recycle Paper for Bedding Worms breathe through their skin, and their environment needs to be damp to keep them safe. Because of that, you will want to get this part of your composting system set up several days before your worms arrive. Look around your home for sources of bedding: newspapers, paper egg cartons, sawdust, dried leaves from the yard, cardboard from shipping boxes. Use your paper shredder or tear materials up by hand. You will want to fill your bin about half full of this stuff, and then add a cup of water. Dig in with your hands and mix it all up. All the bedding needs to be uniformly wet. It should feel like a sponge after you've squeezed the excess water out. If water is pooling at the bottom of the bin, or water drips from the bedding when you pick it up, add some more dry bedding until it absorbs the extra water. Put the lid on your bin and let it sit for a few days. Stir it up again and check the moisture content. When you’re all done, I'd recommend having about three to five inches of bedding at the bottom of your new worm bin, and it needs to be moist enough to keep your worms happy. At the beginning, you'll want to monitor the moisture level in your bin to make sure the worms don't get too dry. You can use a spray bottle, or just sprinkle water from your fingers and mix it in. At this point, don't pour water directly into the worm bin. You run the risk of over-watering. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67dc59065c59c801423c28ac/1742493959270-WMNR5ZHZFBHK0SLNZW2W/Step6_feeding.jpeg How to Vermicompost - Composting with Worms | Annie's Home Farm - Step 6: Feed the Worms After four or five days, your worms will have settled down and settled in a bit. It's time to introduce them to some food. Easy does it. A little goes a long way. Less is more. (Some helpful slogans to post by your worm bin!) Chop up 1-2 cups of raw fruit and vegetable waste. Dig a trough on one side of the bin. Lay the food in the trough and cover it with several inches of bedding. In a few days, dig down to the food. Is anyone there yet? If not, check back with them later. Eventually, you will uncover a beautiful sight: worms eating your garbage! You are on your way! When the food you gave them is mostly gone, feed them some more in a new location in the bin. Repeat this process, and you will avoid overwhelming the bin with too much food. Add more bedding from time to time, especially when you find that the bin has gotten too wet. (You don't need to moisten this bedding; You want it to absorb the extra water.) You add it on top, or you can gently mix it in. As a newbie, you'll probably overfeed your worms because of your excitement to see the system work. Putting too much food in the bin causes several things to happen. First, because fruits and vegetables are about 90% water, the bin gets soggy. Second, when there is too much food, it heats up as it decomposes. This could cause your worms to head to the lid of the bin, trying to get away from the heat. Third, if there is too much food added at once, it will turn anaerobic and that means it will smell rotten. https://www.annieshomefarm.com/faq daily 0.75 2025-03-31 https://www.annieshomefarm.com/home daily 1.0 2025-03-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67dc59065c59c801423c28ac/1742493963356-HHQTQG4TIZYAQ5FMQBAK/IMG_3092+3.JPG Compost Worm Supplier - Vermicompost - Vermicast | Annie's Home Farm https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67dc59065c59c801423c28ac/1742493963352-SS9AY64LA1EYNTMOJCV6/IMG_5242.JPG Compost Worm Supplier - Vermicompost - Vermicast | Annie's Home Farm - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.annieshomefarm.com/meet-annie daily 0.75 2025-03-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67dc59065c59c801423c28ac/1742493964535-D7NZ46TNEEYZ5CSQT8T5/IMG_3096+3.JPG Meet Annie, Composting Expert | Founder of Annie's Home Farm - How Annie Became A Vermiculture Expert & Worm Seller Annie’s passion for composting with worms began in 2010 after reading an article that sparked her interest in these fascinating little critters. A few years later, when the school group she was sponsoring needed an environmental project, her newfound love for vermiculture and composting came to life. By composting the school’s food waste, Annie gained practical experience that led her to start her own business in sustainability. Annie’s Path to Sustainable Composting Her journey toward responsible living began in 1970 when her mom introduced her to the importance of environmental stewardship on the first Earth Day. Since then, Annie has been dedicated to sharing food waste solutions with community groups, schools, clubs, and local businesses. Drawing from her experience as a teacher, community gardener, food pantry manager, and developer of school-based food composting systems, Annie continues to inspire real, lasting change in her community and beyond. https://www.annieshomefarm.com/about daily 0.75 2025-03-31 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67dc59065c59c801423c28ac/e29a7423-f972-44f4-8e8a-39c5e0196de5/Annie%27s+Home+Farm+Worm+Compost+Team.jpg Vermiculture - Sustainable Worm Composting | Annie's Home Farm - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.annieshomefarm.com/contact daily 0.75 2025-03-31 https://www.annieshomefarm.com/shop daily 0.75 2025-03-25 https://www.annieshomefarm.com/shop/p/vermicast-a6467-dzc4e monthly 0.5 2025-02-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67dc59065c59c801423c28ac/1742493968129-90Y2UIXST9WM6FU8QBGT/IMG_6745.jpg Buy Red Wiggler Composting Worms Online | Annie's Home Farm - Vermicast https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67dc59065c59c801423c28ac/1742493968135-6SZOS8RT81UV01AJV4AC/IMG_6768.jpg Buy Red Wiggler Composting Worms Online | Annie's Home Farm - Vermicast https://www.annieshomefarm.com/shop/p/worms-1000-ct-hhkz6-et2z9 monthly 0.5 2025-02-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67dc59065c59c801423c28ac/1742493968149-RUUG5RE3W7HWIH8IE53A/shutterstock_136077503.jpg Buy Red Wiggler Composting Worms Online | Annie's Home Farm - Worms https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/67dc59065c59c801423c28ac/1742493968154-9W6ZJVWG7FT7BUZ7U7KO/IMG_6686.jpg Buy Red Wiggler Composting Worms Online | Annie's Home Farm - Worms