Organic fertilizer, zero kitchen waste, elimination of cardboard, newspaper, & leaves all through worm farming read it here.

"What goes in one end of a worm and then comes out the other end are, truly two different things. Soil that a worm ingests is suddenly 5 times richer in nitrogen, 10 times richer in potassium, it has 7 times more phosphate, 1.5 times as much calcium and 3 time as much magnesium. I am here to assure you that worm poop IS gold, actually even more."
quote by Jeff Lowenfels, author, Teaming with Microbes.

Air, Moisture, and Food are vital to the Red Wigglers.

Vermiculture, worm farming creating as close as possible a natural environment supportive of earthworms, encouraging them to thrive. That's my definition I came up with after watching them for the past 3 years, my successes and failures. There are successes and failures due to the changes made on the farm taking a long while until results are realized. It's difficult to track how many of the wrigglers die because they are made up mostly of water and decompose rapidly. Success is measured by the number of eggs and young worms in the bins, the eggs will hatch under optimal conditions. Failures are noticed by the inactivity of them, abnormal appearance, a noticeable drop in the population, and most obvious when they try to leave the farm. There is a learning curve involved, to succeed immediately with the completion of the first worm farm would be notable indeed, sometimes entire colonies are lost, due to inexperience.

Setting up the farm is not complicated or greatly time-consuming, setting it up is straightforward and not at all difficult. Dedication to the little creatures and a level of passion are major components for the development of a successful brood. Plastic packing bins are among the best items to be used to set up the first farm. (see my video explaining how I make them Link). Verticle bins are available, the worm factory 360 is just one,

Worm Factory 360, (I earn no money in any way for depicting this photo.)

There are home constructed wood bins, old bathtubs may be used. Buckets of all sizes and shapes are used. I have a friend who's grandmother raised them in tin coffee cans, he swears they can be heard chomping through their environment. Old bathtubs, water troughs, wood or metal bookcases, and brick assemblies all work well. Most containers, with a lid, serve, new is best and if used containers are employed be sure to clean them perfectly.

The farm may be set up in many places, garages, basements, sheds, outdoors, and even under the kitchen sink. Garages are a good place for a worm farm, typically they are in the shade, quiet, safe and relatively cool. The environment in a garage is adaptable to the farm due to the lighting, and normally a deep sink with water is available. Leaving a light on day and night helps to control the population, they will not venture out in the light.

Basements also are good places for the colony's, they are notoriously cool during the summer and warm during the winter. Water is normally available, lighting is good, and it like a garage is an easy venue to keep safe.

Outdoors is a tougher spot, weather, dryness, sun, and creatures are all threats. If an outdoor area is the best a person can dedicate a few things need to be addressed. Sun, the bins must be kept cool which means shade, the sun will bring the surface temperature of the boxes to unmanageable levels. Worms thrive in the 55F-75F (12-24 Celsius) range, the cooler the beds get the slower the worms move, recreating stops. Moisture is also harder to control when in low humidity, the dryness of the air will take the water right out of the beds. Water keeps the beds cool, there are times of the year moisture must be checked more frequently. Monitoring of the bin with a thermometer is a must, keeping the moisture at the proper level is critical, and air flow has to unimpeded, lack of any one of these may be fatal to the brood.

Under the kitchen sink may be a spot some people choose for the convenience, they may live in an apartment in the city or another circumstance. But it won't happen in my house, my wife did not accept the suggestion real well, neither did our friend when I offered to set one up for her. Setting up under the sink would have to fit the space, buckets come to mind. I use five gallon, three gallon and one-gallon buckets for small setups. I prefer the 3 gallons for under the sink, 1 gallon when I am setting up a "fishing" box, and the 5 gallons when I have overflow from one of the big boxes and merely need someplace to hold them until I build a new bin.

Composting toilets are also available, they appear to be a regular toilet, the difference is the bin under the assembly filled with worms dutifully going about their appointed tasks. They seem to be the perfect solution for certain challenges, I would imagine inside an isolated cabin up north is a good candidate.

As long as the environment the colony is placed in is controllable to a certain extent, it will be fine. It doesn't take long for an interested person to "get up to speed" on what needs to be done.

Food is probably the most talked and written about subject dealing with vermiculture, they literally eat their way through their environment. That means the food and bedding are directly related to one another, they are one and the same.

Browns such as paper, junk mail (not the shiny stuff), paper egg cartons, cardboard boxes, dry leaves, newspaper, wood shavings, coconut coir, organic compost, and peanut shells (unsalted) all make fine bedding materials. Mineral dust for their digestive systems (they have crops like birds), and egg shells for control of PH in the bedding, addition of calcium, and grit for their crops. All bedding should be moist when it is added otherwise once it is in the box adding water to gain the correct level may prove to be difficult.

Worms eat what we eat, with the exception they like it to be a bit more degraded in quality than we do, rotten is good. They eat coffee grounds, tea bags, vegetables, fruit scraps, bread, pasta, flowers, houseplants, garden trimmings, and vegetable plant leaves. I have found when the colony is struggling a combination of oatmeal and cornmeal cooked together when fed to them positive results are realized. Boiling the food, placement in the freezer, left to thaw and then pureed in a blender is the best way to prepare the food. Worms prefer their food as small as possible, which allows the good bugs in the bedding to attack it. Cooking and freezing break down the fibers.

Use of the castings dictates in many ways the restrictions of which foods to avoid. Feces should not be fed to them due to the possibility of creating "pathogens", and other potentially harmful bacterias. If pathogens are created and the worm castings are used on vegetables they may become contaminated. Humans eating the vegetables may incur a serious illness.

These are the foods not recommended for feeding to the herd. Dairy, bones, fat, meat, oils, grease, lard, salty items, cardboard with silk screened printing, onions, hot peppers, convenience food leftovers, prepackaged foods or processed foods should be avoided as well.

Some earthworms are better at composting than others, some are not allowed in certain states or countries, 7,000 species of worms share the planet along with us. Earthworms are divided into three groups, based on their feeding and burrowing habits, one group is best suited for composting.

Endogeic and Anecic worms are not suitable for composting, they reside too deeply in the earth.

Epigeic worms live on the surface in the layer between the totally composted organic materials, the partially composted material and the freshly fallen leaves. They must have the organic material on the surface, they will not survive in a garden unless it is rich in organic debris. they are more adaptable to the changes in moisture, and temperature that affects the surface. The best performer for composting is the Eisenia fetida, the noble "Red Wiggler", these guys are industrious. Small and reddish brown, they reproduce at high rates when conditions are just right, they live harmoniously among large numbers of their kind. Red Wigglers are big eaters, they consume 1/2 of their body weight in food and decaying organic matter every day. Handling by humans don't bother them, but it's best to leave them alone for several days at a time, they can become stressed. They are eaters, a wide range of foods appeal to them, it is noticeable when a food they like is placed in the bin, banana's being one.

Red Wigglers are not the only worms capable of composting, here are four of the remaining 6,997 species I have not talked about.
Lumbricus rubellus redworm, similar to the Red Wiggler, they are not as fast at reproducing or composting but they do the jobs well.
Elsenia hortsenis the European Nightcrawler, they have a lot of different names, the Belgian, Super Red, Carolina Crawler are just a few of the monikers they are identified with.
Eudrilus eugeniae or African Nightcrawler, larger than it's European cousin however good for fishing they cannot tolerate cold, being touched, or disruption of its environment.
Perionyx excavatus known as the Malaysian Blue Worm, or the Indian Blue worm, it is a tropical earthworm and not suitable for most of North America with a Hawaii exception. They have been known to invade worm farms and force the residents out.

Earthworms breathe through their skin, they are cold blooded and remain cool due to water keeping them moist all of the time. Mucus on the surface of their skin assists in holding the moisture lubricating the worm as it works it's way through the environment. They have no eyes, ears, teeth, or limbs of any kind, they have no need for them under the ground where they live. Their bodies are divided into "somites", heavily muscled, they are the segments easily visible on the exterior skin. All along each segment are "setae", tiny bristles helping to gain traction during their endless wandering. The setae are also what keeps them in the ground when a bird or a human attempts to pull it out of the soil. Five hearts between the intestines and the body will keep the blood flowing through capillaries delivering it to all points in the body.

With no teeth or stomach, they also have few digestive fluids, depending mostly on bacteria fungi, molds, nematodes and other organisms to predigest and break down the fibers in the food.

This isn't just any old bathtub.

The worms bodies are separated into two parts, the front "anterior", and the rear known as the "posterior". The forward most part of the worm is a flap over the mouth, called the prostomium, it pushes the food into the mouth. The prostomium also functions as a sort of shovel pushing unwanted materials aside. Earthworms have strong likes and dislike for various foods, it stands to reason they have cells that detect taste.
They have no real "brain", the nerve cells form a "ganglion, when paired up they form a sort of "brain". It gives off impulses to other parts of the body, mostly muscle activity, reaction to light/dark, and sensing moisture. Service cells on their exterior are sensitive to light, particularly blue light, they are unable to detect red light. Developed to help worms stay of the UV lights which can kill them rapidly. They are sensitive to touch, helping them find food and mates, also avoiding danger.

Earthworms are hermaphrodites, they have the sexual organs of both male and female, however, they are not capable of fertilizing themselves. It is not possible for them to cross between species. Two worms of equal length lay head to tail in opposite directions. Mucus surrounds them, after a few hours they separate with the mucus in a semi-liquid form. As they crawl away from one another the mucus rolls along the body enveloping the fertilized "eggs" which is worked off the head and into the soil. Ideally, the colony will double itself every 90 days, realistically they double their population every 3-4 months as long as there is adequate space, food, and other environmental needs.

There is a substantial amount to vermiculture, making a person wonder why in the world would someone take on a project such as this.
We have achieved zero kitchen waste, our garbage can is now empty of food waste other than the few bones, and meat. I am aware it is advised to not feed the wild ones, but I am guilty of leaving the foods Racoons dumpster dive for out. They are going to get it anyway, I set the food in the garden and in the morning it is gone.

All of our cardboard, as well as our neighbors,  is used in the worm farm, and as weed control in the raised bed garden. Newspapers, paper plates, fallen leaves, and spoiled fruits and vegetables from the garden are all used.

The castings are used for fertilizer, spread on the garden and added to the mulch I create in "leaf towers" it is better than steer, or poultry manure. Castings are easily brewed into a "worm tea", rich in nitrogen, and potassium it is in a form that is ready to use by the plants. It can be diluted up to 10 times, one gallon of tea can be diluted to 10 gallons, I mix mine 1 quart to 1-1/2 gallons of water.
(Follow this Link to my video about making a worm tea brewer)

My big worm bin, 4'x4'x4', with some bedding on the bottom.

Farming worms is an interesting activity, I was told it takes a different kind of person to raise them, some say a touch of eccentricity is an asset. But that overexuberance only comes out when the question "I understand you raise worms," comes up. The conversation has a tendency to hit a fevered pitch when two worm farmers start to talk, look out if there are three or more, that's a conspiracy, they must be colluding to overtake the world by storm. This article could go on for several thousand words more but all good things must end, and this is one of them.

Thank you for reading and sharing this blog, if you are so inclined to take up worm farming start today it doesn't take much research to get started. If you are a gardener the positive aspects far outweigh the negatives. I hesitate to call them "pets" but a guy gets attached to them after a while. Thanks again for reading, let me know what you think in the comments.

jacquesandkate  Emergencykitsplus.com