Composting with Worms - Vermicompost

I'll admit, the first time I learned about using worms to compost old veges and fruits and what not I thought "That's neat, and something I'll never do".  I didn't really understand what it was, why I'd want to do it, and let's be honest, worms are all the things that people think snakes are (slimy).  So why, now after a few years have I decided to start up vermicomposting?  Because it's way cool :).

Why would I want to vermicompost?
From my studies, composting with worms has a few benefits over normal composting, especially for a small garden.  The main problem with composting in piles is that you need enough material to actually get a good cooking going on.  Normal compost requires mass (amongst other things) to start an aerobic reaction so that the heat and microbes break down the materials.  But this only works if you have sufficient amount of mass to really get it going well.  Worm composting on the other hand is the opposite, you put the food in the "worm den" and they eat it.  You don't want to put too much in or they won't be able to, but that's just perfect if you have a big enough bin for what you do eat.  So why vermicompost? because it offers a great solution for a small garden where you don't really have the materials to get a good compost pile cooking.

Doesn't it stink?
No.  Ok, so that's the short answer, and I don't really know that yet.  What I do know is that if you're doing it right it's not supposed to stink, and the end result is supposed to be a very fine compost

My first build
My first build is made from a 55 gallon windshield washer container.  Probably not the best starting point, but it's what I had, and they'll likely survive :).  I'm building what's called a flow through bin, because it's the most perfect solution there is :).  Ok that might be an exaggeration, who knows.  What I do know is that to me it seems perfect.  You set a good amount of wet (like a sponge) bedding, shredded newspaper or cardboard or coco coir etc, for the worms, and then you add some food, fruit or veges or horse manure etc, and then a little more shredded newspaper or bedding on top.  Add the worms, and they'll travel on down and get themselves acclimated.  After a few weeks, add more food as you see them really breaking down what's in there.  Eventually you can just add, depending on the size of the bin, your scraps as they come.  They break down while the worms travel through the whole system eating what they want, meaning the bottom stuff is always the most decomposted and the top stuff is less so.  Meaning, as the system starts to fill up, the bottom is ready to harvest.  In a flow through bin the bottom has a "false" bottom, which allows you to harvest from the bottom, and put scraps in the top.  This makes it so that harvesting, isn't a messy process like it is in normal vermicomposting.  You practically don't need to know that worms are in the bin (though it's best to know, because you're really taking care of them).  You just put food in the top, adding moist bedding now and then, and get amazing compost out the bottom.

Pictures

The Lid

 The bottom hole - where I harvest

The bottom grate - what holds up the compost

Can't get this picture to work, as my phone doesn't have a flash, it's made out of the weed wacker cord you see woven in above.

The Bedding (pre moisting)

The whole system

Conclusion

I'll keep you up to date on how the whole system works out.  Many people have tried it, and say it's amazing, so we'll see.  The worms get here tomorrow.  Oh, the other main benefit - the vermicompost works awesome for soil blocks :) so that's a huge plus for my setup.