The red wigglers are here!

A pound of red wigglers (Eisenia fetida) arrived at our front door today, courtesy of USPS, and they are now settling into their new home – a plastic compost bin Fran assembled at a vermicomposting workshop she recently attended at Scott Arboretum. The worms have a tendency, when newly arrived, to escape out the bin’s air holes, but they are repelled by light. So the bin and all 1000 of the worms spent their first few days sitting in our well-lit bathtub. For their first meal in their new home we fed them skins from sweet potatoes from our garden. The compost will then support next year's crops. Neat!

These worms come from Florida and are particularly efficient at consuming leftover food waste so as to produce good garden compost. They're house bound in this northern climate, but that makes it convenient in the winter (just carry the rubbish to their basement bin). But we still keep an eye out for the rumored occasional "Great Escape.” If unhappy, they may leave; if too happy (so that too many of them result), they may leave. This is going to be the Goldilocks experience...Just Right. So far, so good; they are currently ensconced in their basement home and happily eating our vegetable trimmings.

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