First I will talk about wooden worm bins, Wood worm bins keep worms much cooler then the plastic bins in summer temps.
In my last post, I wrote about my Wood Worm Bin I made for our local Schools, These Bins are Not For Sale, These bins are for a GREAT program I have started in our local schools only, and they are working great! I am also going to post some pics of putting the bin together in steps 1 to the last step, (anyone out there that has woodworking skills will be able to build their own).

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5 Complete..

There is also a great post about fighting summer heat over at www.redwormcomposting.com.
Here is the link http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-composting/help-your-worms-beat-the-heat/

Thanks
The Friendly Worm Guy

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.