One of the cheapest, and easiest sustainable methods to implement into your life is building a worms bin. Every day the vegetable and food scraps we throw into landfills are rotting, and producing methane gases that are volatile. A worm bin can be used to turn your old food scraps into earthworm castings which can in turn be used to fertilize soil. As an amendment, it repels disease and causes pro-biotic growth to flourish.
All you need to get started is:
-a wooden box or rubber storage container
- 2 bricks (for the rubber container)
- Mesh screen (metal)
- News Paper Scraps
- Food Scraps ( Vegetable and plant matter only, no meats)
- Red Worms (ask for compost-friendly worms if unsure)
Make sure to buy a box that is big enough to hold all of your food scraps while they get eaten by worms. I would recommend drilling a hole in the bottom for drainage to help keep the environment stable for worm life. If you go the rubber storage container route, just buy a second container and some bricks to keep at the bottom, then place the second container over the top of the bricks, with holes drilled in the bottom to allow for drainage.
Do not make your holes too big or the worms will escape out the bottom, just cover them with metal screening that is a fine mesh if the holes get too big for some reason. You simply want to allow for drainage of the container without the worms escaping.
Once the holes have been made on the bottom of one of the containers, and the proper adjustments have been made, simply place the two bricks you bought on the bottom of the rubber container without holes drilled in it, and place the container with holes in it on top of the bricks so that it lays on top of the other container with about 4 to 6 inches of room between the two containers, (bottom to bottom).
Place the paper scraps over the bottom of the container with holes and then water it down a little bit. Place your old food scraps on top of the paper, and then add your Red Worms. Place the lid on top of the rubber container, and poke a few holes around it with a tac or some other small hole-punching device. And there you have it! Your very own worms bin.
If you go the wooden route, make sure that the wooden box you use is sealed enough that worms will not escape, and apply some drainage system to the bottom such as a spigot. The box can be as big as you need with wood ( as you can measure it) just make sure your measurements are correct, and build a box from wood at the lumberyard. Put newspaper shreds on the bottom, fill it with your plant scraps, and then add the worms.
Within a few weeks you will have fresh earthworm castings to use in your yard. It mixes great with composed material and old coffee grounds. Enjoy!
