Worm composting and me

Leslie said I should write about worm composting...so here goes. I SUCK! I am a terrible worm composter and maybe a terrible person -- you decide.

So my sweet Thomas drove all the way to Grand Prairie to pick up two starter kits -- one for me and one for Lindsey consisting of plastic bin with holes; coconut fiber; 4 oz. of worm castings and 1/2 lbs of red wiggler worms. The plan was for me to get the bins started and Lindsey would take hers back to Austin...I was sort of the foster parent or worm grandmother, if you will.

Thomas set up the bins for me -- at the office. I carried the bins home and put them in our garage apartment, turned the air conditioner to 75 and made my new little borders all nice and cozy. Although I could hardly wait to see the little fellers, I didn't disturb them for a whole day -- wanted them to get settled in, of course. I even waited a couple of days before I started feeding them.

But I was so excited that I saved all the best of our scraps and even added a few morsels of "not scraps" into my "worm food" bowl...waiting, waiting, waiting until just the right moment to start feeding the little ones.

Finally the big day arrived and I popped open the bins to find a few of the little sweeties trying to leave! So I rescued them from the inside top of the bins and gently set them back on their "bedding". Then I made a small hole in the nice clean bedding and added some food scraps to both bins. And then I stirred.

Next day when I checked on the little darlings it was a little smelly -- I'm not gonna lie. And I added a little more food. And I stirred.

The next day the aroma of the cozy environment I had created for the little ones was so rank I had to move it outside and I fed them some more and I stirred it more.

After that I fed them some more and I stirred it some more. Outside.

So now I've had the little monsters and all their little creepy crawly friends for about four weeks and I think I've managed to overfeed and over attend one bin of them to death but one bin lives on. And the creepy crawly friends live on too.

Lessons learned...over feeding is a bad thing; stirring is a bad thing...leave your worms to themselves, bury their food, only feed them once or so a week after they have established good bedding.

Like Thomas did it -- but hey, what does that kid know about worm composting??