Meredith is a hot mess’s Reviews > Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set up and Maintain a Worm Composting System, Second Edition > Status Update

This is great for kids

There's no way a school teacher would have the time to go through this entire book. I see this being great for home school kids.

It's probably only 3 questions total where I've noticed the answer wasn't provided in the informational text boxes.

That is enough to set off the perfectionist 'I have to get an A' in me

If I was a kid actually assigned to answer the questions in this book I would be pissed off.

Some of the questions are about worm biology and not all of the answers are provided in the book. Unless there is a separate companion book with the info I have no idea where the author expects the kids to get the answers.

For my worm bin I'm going to buy 2 plastic tubs from Walmart.

I know some people use buckets. I'm actually thinking about buying the extra long tubs ~ the ones that are 4-5' long

Provides more surface area that the ones that have more gallons but are shorter in length

Worm bin tips:

Ideal worm bin is shallow, no more than 1 ft deep

Shallow worm bins with large surface area allow more air to contact the bedding

*We have an old chest freezer, no longer working. I've heard some people talk about converting it to a worm bin.

I'm not doing it. It's too deep. Hauling it away. The old bathtubs or even old standing fridges are better suited

With my cardboard experiment, I actually had 2 piles. 1 was 2 years old, another was only 2 months old. The 2 month old pile had already attracted earthworms to the area.

I hear people talking about burying rotting logs, organic materials to compost naturally in the ground. I'm tempted to bury shredded cardboard in the ground, where I'm wanting earthworms.

I want to create a worm bin for vermicompost but I'm still scared to touch earthworms. It's like this instinctive 'ew' reaction I still get when I see them despite knowing how beneficial they are.

The videos on YT where people run their bare hands through their worm bins are crazy to me.

Even if I tried to be brave and do that I'd probably flinch

Worm borrows in the soil create aeration for plants. Worms that tunnel deeply bring subsoil closer to the surface, mixing with topsoil. Slime secreted from earthworms contains nitrogen, an important plant food.

Slime also creates soil aggregates which permit air to move between spaces.

The clitellum (swelling band that covers several segments) is nearer to the worm's head than end.

That's how you tell the head of a worm from the end.

TIL

Worms respire through their skin. A worm does not have lungs inside its body as we do. However, exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules across a worm's skin is similar to that exchange in our lungs. This is why a worm's skin must be moist to breathe. If a worm's body dries out it dies because it cannot respire.