House of the worms

After a couple of weeks, we began to realise that even with our wizz-bang compost, we still had green waste coming out our ears. We began to look for another source to process our scraps, to avoid overwhelming the micro-organisms of the compost and ending up simply with a smelly rotting food pile. And so we decided to try our hand at worm farming.
We had the novel experience of buying a pack of worms off the shelf at CERES to bring home. Creating the worm house/palace/temple/abode took a surprisingly short amount of effort and time, and after one delicious autumn afternoon's work we were tucking the new family members into their composty bed.  They are the worlds easiest/cheapest pets, content to simply live in the corner of the garden munching on our kitchen scraps, although they may kick up a fuss if asked to eat citrus, meat, onions or teabags. You may not receive the same amount of emotional devotion as from your fluffy animal friends, but these guys are a very efficient addition to the household. Watering the veggies with some of their juice or fertilising the newly planted seedlings with some of their castings is overwhelmingly satisfying.

House of the Worms Construction Guide

Materials used: 2 styrofoam boxes and lid
                         1 hessian sack
                         A block of peat compost (or some other equivalent)
                         500-1000 worms (depending on amount of green waste produced)
                         Damp newspaper.

First we punched holes (5cent diameter or slightly smaller) into the base of one of the boxes. This will sit on top of the second box and is where the worms will live. We lined the base of this box with the hessian sack, then filled it with the peat compost and worms. The holes allow the worm juice to drain into the lower box, while the hessian sack stops the worms and soil from falling through. The damp newspaper was laid over the top to help keep the worms warm. The lower box has one slightly larger hole in the base to drain the fluid. Place a bucket under here to catch the worm juice!