I’ve got Red, Green, Camo, Brown, Purple available

The Worm Inn facilitates “Continuous flow” vermicomposting

The Worm Inn is designed to be suspended by a shelving unit, a sturdy cross-bar, or a laundry hamper stand,

After designating a place for the Worm Inn, such as a basement, a utility closet, a storage area, a garage, or a classroom, the bag is ready to be filled.

The only things required for set-up are: The Worm Inn

Bedding
This includes cardboard items such as egg carton containers, paper towel inserts and newspapers – avoid glossy inserts

Food scraps
It’s best to let the food scraps sit for a few days so the microbial waste can develop, as this is what the worms actually feed on
Amount – 1-2 lbs of food waste per week is a good amount to sustain a pound of worms

Worms
1-3 pounds of Red Wigglers

To fill the Worm Inn:

some bedding is placed in the bottom to absorb moisture
then a layer of food scraps
followed by the worms
then the rest of the food scraps
finally, a thick layer of more bedding
the whole system is sprayed down with water as the contents need to remain cool and damp

As the system settles, the worms move upwards, digesting the microbial waste of the food, which results in the castings, a rich fertilizer. These castings (or vermicast) are left below as the worms constantly move upward toward more food.

$69.99 plus $10 Shipping, This is a USA product, that ships to Canada and The USA
I’ve got Red, Green, Camo, Brown, Purple available
On check out.. make sure you tell me what colour you would like.Thanks Jeff

Pee Wee’s Great Adventure: A Guide to Vermicomposting has Pee Wee describing an amazing adventure from a classroom worm bin to a backyard composter. Instructions are included on how to care for worms and harvest their castings.

This book is printed on 100% recycled paper, is acid free, processed chlorine free and is printed using vegetable based inks.

Retails for $7.50 and ships anywhere in Canada for $3.00
Total $10.50

This article is from www.NorthernLife.ca news paper,(Sudbury Ontario) dated July 30, 2008

Here it is, enjoy!

R.H. Murray School in Whitefish is using an advanced wastewater system to treat its waste more efficiently. At the same time it is protecting nearby groundwater and streams, said Terry Luck, wastewater representative for Bionest Distribution Inc., based in Pembroke.

The $100,000-plus system was installed Monday. The company has installed 300 similar systems in southern Ontario, 6,000 in Quebec and 200 in Western Canada, said Luck.

Peter Firla, environmental engineer with Trow Associates, designer of the Whitefish installation, said the school needed a new wastewater system to replace the use of a sewage lagoon it has been using since the 1960s.

“The school has concerns over liability, mosquitoes, odour and illegal dumping regarding the lagoon and they wanted a new system designed and installed,” said Firla. The clay soil on site did not offer the proper percolation rate for a standard septic system, he said.

Because a commercial sized septic and field bed system requires a lot of space, the school asked Trow to come up with a smaller sized system.

“We had just investigated a system for a client locally using the Bionest technology and went with that.”

Between the standard-sized 25 cubic metre septic tank and the field bed, is a 15 cubic metre unit that measures 1.5 metres high, two metres wide and 4.5 metres long. The unit is called a Bionest wastewater treatment system.

The system will operate more efficiently over a longer period of time and requires less space on the site, said Firla.

The downsized field bed that can handle 10,000 litres per day is sized at 30 metres by 30 metres.

“A smaller field bed means less excavation, less aggregate used and less space (is) required,” said Firla.

The wastewater leaving the field bed is cleaner than that of a conventional septic system process. This is important because the liquid eventually seeps into ground water or ends up in nearby water bodies.

“The wastewater will have a lower BOD (biological oxygen demand) going into adjacent water bodies. It will tie up much less oxygen that is required by fish or other life,” he said.

Firla said he would recommend the system to other clients in the north. For more information about the system, go to www.bionest.ca

This is a picture with 1 tray added. I will also say, I am not a person that is very good with woodworking, I know how to raise worms! I know what kind of environment the worm needs to live and compost well. so I was able to get a friend of mine to help me build these bins. I told him the way we needed to build it and he did.
First of all my trays are 6″ high, not 3″ or 4″ high. This gives us a whole 2″ higher, yes it doesn’t sound like much but it really is. 2″ is a great deal to bury that food waste properly

This is a picture of the bin complete, with all trays added. I made these bins to put them into our local school board’s classrooms, The reason I added the 2″ to each tray is to make sure these bins will not produce fruit flies, The main concern of the School Board is the fruit flies, These bins will not produce fruit flies, if all food waste is buried properly. In the short future I hope to have one of these bins in all our local schools. if all goes well!!!

It has been over a month since the last post about the composting in the 1/2 classroom.

This past Monday was a big day for the students and I, Our bin is in great shape!! We now have alot of baby worms, and alot of egg cocoons as well.

We were able to see 5 BABY European n/c hatch out of 1 COCOON!!
(sorry I wasn’t able to get pics)

We are sure doing a great job, and our worms are very happy! We know we are taking great care of them, because on average we should be getting about 2 baby euros out of 1 cocoon not 5

ontil next update!!! The Friendly Worm Guy

In just 2 weeks and 1 email sent to the staff of my school, we have reduced our garbage to 1/4 of what we had going to the garbage bin. In this very short time we have made great steps in getting this school 100% garbage free! WE CAN DO IT!!!!!!!

Also Update on the Worm Composting in the 1/2 Classroom

Today we found our first little baby worms, I was able to get some good pictures of the bin.

With moisture concerns I had, I added a black plastic bag to the bottom of the bin before we started the bin, it has been a success. The bin is not drying out very quickly,the plastic down first then starting the bin works great! after the first tray is full. Then it will be time to add the next one above, should be fine just adding the next one with just bedding and food waste. The first tray is holding alot of moisture, in turn tray #2 will not dry out like the first would have without adding the plastic bag. The worms can migrate up through the mesh to the new tray above. When that time comes, the first tray has alot more composting to do yet!

I was able to get a great picture of a worm egg (cocoon). This cocoon is not very old it is still a greenish colour, it will turn to a dark brownish,reddish colour before the little worms emerge from the cocoon.

Hope you enjoy the pictures, I will update again soon!!! Thanks Jeff

2 months ago I started composting with Worms in my local schools.
So far every Monday I am able to get into this School and do Composting with this grade 1/2 classroom, In grade 2,3 and 4 the students take soils in science, so the worm bin fits great into the curriculum. The Students and I started this bin from scratch,
We shreaded egg cartons and drink holders into bedding for the worms.
We added an apple core and a banana peel, and let it sit for a week, then we added a half pound of European Nightcrawlers.
It was very hard for grade 1/2 students to wait to have this bin ready for the worms, Some thought it was a bee keeping hive, and some said it was for ants, and I asked if we should have bees or ants in our classroom with the holes in a bin like this.. They loved to see it was for worms!

My goal is to have a Worm Bin in everyone of the 45 plus schools in our school board. I talked to one of the high school woodworking teachers and he will have 5 bins ready to go by the end of March 08. At this time I am offering these 5 bins to teachers in our board for FREE,
The only catch is the teacher will need to take these bins home for summer break, so they can keep the worms alive to bring them back in the fall,the beginning of the new school year. After the 5 free bins are handed out. The teachers will be able to buy the bins complete with worms for cost from me! My wife and I will teach them how to take care of the bins as well. If there is any questions with the bins, we are only an email away.

I am doing a Pilot project with 2 schools to see if we can make these schools 100% garbage FREE.

Please check back here on a regular basis for up dates to this project.

Thanks Jeff The Friendly Worm Guy.