Vermiculture Diaries: Day 1 with My Worm Factory 360

by Michael Nolan on 23 March 2012 · 4 comments

in Articles

With the generous gift of my new Worm Factory 360 from Nature’s Footprint sitting front and center in my living room, I was anxious as I could be to get started and the wait for red wiggler worms was almost unbearable. I’m a do it now kinda guy and I read the manual so many times while I waited to get started that I could almost recite it like I do with scenes from my favorite movies. It was worth the wait though, as I triumphantly walked into the kitchen armed with the tiny compost makers that are going to be my new BFFs, at least for the next few months while I give the Worm Factory a thorough test drive.

My Earth Garden: Vermiculture Diaries with the Worm Factory 360

With the base and worm ladder piece in place, all I had to do was place a sheet of newspaper on the bottom of the first tray, presumably to keep everything in that tray from falling through to the base. The pile of stuff in the corner is bedding material that was provided in the kit that comes with the package.  It is a mixture of coir and shredded paper mixed with water.

I spreadMy Earth Garden: Vermiculture Diaries with the Worm Factory 360 the bedding evenly in the tray and following the instructions on the included DVD, added a small handful of compost material (in this case, carrot shavings) into two opposite corners.

One of the points that I have seen reiterated several times in the documentation that comes with the Worm Factory is that the smaller the food, the easier it will be for the worms to eat it and since I want them to eat, these carrot shavings seemed like a perfect Welcome Home! meal.

My Earth Garden: Vermiculture Diaries with the Worm Factory 360

This photo above is the first tray fully set up, with worms in place. I added the worms to the center of the tray and not directly on the food as I was instructed. They  moved to get out of the light fast!

My Earth Garden: Vermiculture Diaries with the Worm Factory 360

Here you see the finished setup. To keep things moist I added a couple of sheets of moistened newspaper before putting the lid on and putting my worms to bed.

It felt kinda like I was tucking them in, even though I knew they were going to be eating all night long.

Because curiosity got the better of me, I peeked in just before going to be myself last night and sure enough, the worms had already made their way to both piles of carrots and were happily feasting away.

Don’t forget about the big giveaway that’s going on until March 30th AND the amazing Rockstar 10% discount if you want to buy your own Worm Factory!

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Megan March 23, 2012 at 11:17 am

Worms are so much fun! We’ve had our bin for a couple years. Instead of making the food small, we put our veggie scraps in the freezer and defrost before serving. It’s a super easy way to break down their food quickly and an easy place to collect scraps. All of our paper grocery bags go in to the paper shredder for bedding. You’ll be surprised how much food they can go through once they get established. Have fun with your new babies!

Compost King April 11, 2012 at 7:20 am

How are your worms going? They should be nicely settled in now. By the way, I like the photos, makes it very easy to see just how to set up the worm factory. Lucky you getting the worm factory as a gift.

Michael Nolan April 11, 2012 at 7:22 am

I’ve been out of town for a few days but I’ll be posting an update later this week. They’re doing great, thanks for stopping by.

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