Vermiculture another part of being self-reliant, learn what goes into worm farming in this article.

Raising earthworms is a rewarding activity, classified as a hobby, business, or a process. Raising them is ecologically responsible and that is what drives some of us. Farming them for profit is a common goal, disposal of waste, using the castings for fertilizer, and assisting in the composting of organic materials are others. There are many people like me that have a specific reason for raising them. My goal is to achieve zero waste, I'm almost there. I use all my household waste in my garden and my worm farms, I have 13 bins of worms (I explain them below). Raising "Red Wigglers" and "European Nightcrawlers", they co-habitat just fine under the proper conditions. They need an environment they can thrive in, emulating their natural habitat is, in my opinion, the best method to raise them. When the beds are set up correctly with plenty of food, water, and air they react positively. In this article, I discuss what bedding is and what I use to make it.

How many cardboard boxes, newspapers, and waste paper products we collect is astonishing, most of it goes to the landfills. We are disposing of organic material that we are able to use and avoid tossing in the trash. I use most of our household waste in my worm farms, composting bin, and garden. A huge part of raising them involves the making of "bedding", it's the worms' environment. The worms eat their way through the habitat, they will eat almost anything, their diet is our diet with a few exceptions. It consists of an equal amount of "Carbons", and "Proteins", the Carbons being the bedding, the Proteins are what we feed them.

The paper bedding is in the top bin, cardboard, newspaper and egg cartons.
In the bottom bin is my organic material, it also has some cardboard in it but
it is 90% organic vegetation.

The food consists of most of what we toss out during the preparation of meals in the kitchen. Everything organic, lettuce, peelings, black bananas, and coffee grounds are all thrown in the recycle jars on the cabinet countertop. Bones, meat, grease, oil, and anything salty are not included in their menu, freezing or cooking the vegetables breaks down the fibers making it easier for the worms to eat it. As they consume their surroundings they leave a trail of manure, referred to as worm "castings", the reason many people raise them. Loaded with micro-organisms' and usable nitrogen the castings make is an excellent additive to the garden, there are two ways to use it. One is just the way it is, spread it around the base of the plants or mix it in with the compost while planting season is upon us. Worm Tea is the other method, placing the castings in a sock of porous material, tied shut and placed in a five-gallon bucket of aerated water. After percolating for 10 hours a nitrogen-rich liquid fertilizer is created, nitrogen that will not burn the plants it is in a state that is ready for the vegetation to use immediately. As the worms work their way through the worm bin the castings are below the bedding, they eat from under the organic material which makes up the bedding.

Bedding is one of the most talked about items pertaining to a worm farm, the methods I use are not cast in stone. There is a lot of trial and error when it comes to what the bed should consist of, and there are plenty of articles on the internet to support any method that is chosen. I spend a lot of time preparing the bedding, I spent several hours this morning in fact. I usually have a supply of materials prepared to enable me to add while I am tending to the bins once a week. I will check on the bins for moisture, bugs, and temperature one day a week, usually Tuesday. I feed them once a week as well, normally Thursday, I will add bedding along with the food.

One bin of materials consists of paper products, shredded newspaper, and cardboard cut into 1-2 inch squares. Uncoated paper plates are cut into leaf size pieces, removal of food debris, if it is oily, spicy, or salty, is advised. The plates that have a slick surface, silkscreen prints, or painted is undesirable for use. I add the paper plates to the paper bin along with cardboard. Like paper plates silkscreened designs on the exterior of the boxes must not be used, the ink will kill the worms. Plain brown cardboard is the best and is a preferred food of the worms. I use the cardboard to cover the bedding also, I cut a piece that fits the interior of the bin leaving an air space along the sides and ends. The cardboard is cut into leaf size pieces for the bedding, I like to keep it all on the scale of leaves. Red Wigglers in their natural habitat live in the layer above the fully composted organic material and below the freshly fallen leaves, the partially composted material is their preference. Cardboard and the other paper products decompose at the same rate as the leaves. Laying eggs in the wet bedding is common with the worms, with cardboard being the main attractor.

This is my Acorn squash plant, I fertilize with worm tea only.

I add a lot of eggshells in with the paper products as they add calcium to the bedding, acting as a neutralizer if the bed goes acidic, and the worms use it in their crops for digestion. It is best to dry the eggshells prior to adding them to rid the shells of any egg residue.  I have a drying table I place all the materials I want to dry in, our humidity is very low, (it's a semi-arid region), so it takes a short time to dry them. Micro-waving, baking, and boiling work equally as well, let the shells cool before adding them to the bedding. Crushing the eggshells into as small of pieces as possible is important, the worms will eat off of a whole egg shell but as they have no teeth it takes them a long time, I try to help them all I am able.

Shredded newspaper, office paper, and flyers are all tossed in the paper bin, again if there is shiny print on it do not use the paper, the ink is toxic to worms. Shredded paper has a tendency to clump together in the bin, I have found mixing cardboard in with it reduces and if enough is included clumping is a non-issue. Paper may be added to control dryness and the control of a wet bed. If the bin is dry the soaking of shredded material will improve it, and should be checked daily until the situation is satisfactory. If the farm is too wet the addition of dry paper products will soak up the excess moisture, eliminating that problem.

Paper egg cartons are one of my favorite products to add to the paper supply, the blown paper variety is my preferred product. I have several uses for the cartons, I make fire starter for the BBQ, and bedding for the worms being just two. They hold moisture well, the worms consume them readily, and they are easy to work with. Cut into leaf size pieces is my goal, I'm not talking about zucchini sized leaves, fruit and nut tree size is best.

(Follow this Link for more input on how to create a worm farm by Cornell Composting)

Vegetation and organic materials that go into the organic bin are much more varied and seasonal. I use almost any organic materials, there are some that are not advised to use. Eucalyptus leaves, Bay Tree leaves, and Pine needles being three. That leaves an abundance of material:

I use mostly dried leaves from trees, Black Walnut grows wild, Pecan, Apple, and Swamp Willow are all readily available. I try to store them over the summer in leaf towers and my outside compost bin, it's the beginning of August and it looks like I may have enough to last until the end of September. There are still some dried leaves in the ditches and open spaces.

I store leaves in the wire tower between the black and blue receptacles. 

My Straw is stored in a wire tower along with other organic material. I use the straw to control weeds in the garden, grow potatoes during the winter and early spring, and worm bedding. I use it as is mostly but will not hesitate to use it partially decomposed. Straw is hard, it takes the worms a long time to eat through it making it fairly undesirable to use, some farmers won't. The reason is for the castings, the worms need to move into the upper feeding box and evacuate the lower box to make the manure available. The use of straw slows the process down. I have used corn cobs also, they are consumed much slower than straw, it seems time stands still. Equal to straw is Tules.

This is one of my indoor bins, I had just finished it a few years ago.

Tules are much the same as cat-tails, without the tail on top, tules have a tuft of seeds much like wheat. The shafts hold water well when dried, I use them to hold water in my garden, I add them to the organic box also. They break down quicker than straw does, after six months the 1/2 inch diameter shafts turn to powder and becomes part of the composting process. Lily pads, water weeds, and safe algae all are added to the bin, as well as succulents.

Ice plant is a good organic material to use in a dry bed, they are like leaves stuffed with water, much like a grape. I will harvest and add some directly to the worm farm in the event the bedding dries out and I wish to add water slower than normal. Cactus without the spines and Aloe leaves serve the same purpose.

I like to use large leaves, Zucchini, Artichoke, Pumpkin, and Squash leaves are some of them. They are all tossed in the organic bin after being torn into small leaf size pieces, left to dry they serve as carbons. I will use the large leaves whole at times to cover the moist bed in the farms.

My Artichoke plant is fed worm tea as well.

Potato peelings are normally fed in with the food, I dry them and use them in the bedding. It takes a while for them to be consumed. Using them as bedding accomplishes two things, food, and the environment in the bed, the worms still eat them.

That is the basic idea, my goal is to paint a picture of the variety of organic materials that are usable for bedding. Commercially developed products are available, Coconut Coir, and Peat Moss are two of them. They work well, but why purchase something when naturally occurring vegetation is available.

As I mentioned above worms have crops, like birds, their food passes through the gullet and is then ground up. A hard material must be consumed for the worms to be able to start the digestion process. It is recommended to add mineral dust to the bedding, I don't. First-year growth has an abundance of silica in it, and is a natural source of grit for the wigglers, along with the egg shells they do get enough. We have an over-supply of sand around here so to toss a handful in a bin is handy. I don't worry too much about a lack of grit, they have enough naturally.

I have four indoor bins and ten outdoor boxes that are much larger. In the outdoor bins, I raise my vegetables, I added 500 worms to each box when I started raised bed gardening years ago. I now have an uncountable number of worms in each bed, Red Wigglers, and European Nightcrawlers. The Red worms occupy the upper layers under my weed controlling straw, leaves, and water plants. The European Night Crawlers occupy the deeper regions of the beds. Coming to the surface to feed they use established tunnels leading to their den as deep as six feet below. The nightcrawlers aerate the soil and move organic material into their dens as they store it in them. In that environment, they co-habitat nicely, but in the indoor farm boxes, the same results are not realized. I believe it is due to the Nightcrawlers needing the verticle space, they have to burrow down six feet.

No not that kind of worm, the good kind!

Such is my idea of a small but important activity on my part to reduce the amount of household trash going to landfills. vermiculture is an efficient way to accomplish that. It's a satisfying feeling knowing I am using 100% of the paper, cardboard, vegetable waste, and organic material our family creates turning it into usable fertilizer, composts, and eventually vegetables. I call it "circle gardening", everything I grow ends up back in the soil to grow more, and the best part is it's free. It's all a part of being self-reliant, self-aware, and being personally responsible, it is a good feeling.

Thank you for reading and sharing, it helps to be a little eccentric when raising worms. When two worm farmers meet their introversion is tucked away and the conversation starts, it's an interesting and rewarding activity to partake in. If you're interested I am happy to help you out. Thanks again.

Jacquesandkate  Emergencykitsplus.com