We’ve been separating our food scraps for the past several years. It doesn’t take much effort to change the way you do things in the kitchen. I have a small plastic bucket under the sink with a pop top lid on it. Food scraps go in and every couple of days I transfer my food scraps under the sink to my worm bin in the garage (no room in our tiny kitchen for it there) – cover the food scraps with a couple of handfuls of shredded junk mail and that is the extent of it. As time goes on, the worms migrate to the next layer of food scraps and leave behind what is called “Black Gold” – worm castings (worm poop) – it’s the best fertilizer money can buy – and it’s free.
Getting Started With Worm Composting
Getting started with Worm Composting is simple and easy!
All you need is a hand full of the right kind of worms, some shredded newspaper or junk mail, a nice dark place for your worm universe to grow in… and your garbage!
A Home of their own – There are many types of commercial worm bins in the marketplace. The best I’ve found is the “Worm Factory” It makes the entire process quite simple! Ask me about having one delivered directly to your home. Or make your own. I’ll show you how!
Make it easy – a small plastic bin under the sink is all you need. When I have some coffee grounds, or a banana peel, or an apple core, I just simply pop it into the little plastic bin. When the bin is full, I simply pour the contents into my worm bin – cover my garbage with some shredded junk mail – Mist the shredded junk mail with water and that is it!!
When the first bin is filled up to the proper level, start adding garbage to the next bin (which is placed on top of the first bin). Within a few weeks, you will find wonderful compost in the first bin. It is easy to separate the worms from your compost because most of your worms will have migrated to the next bin up
What to put in your worm bin: lettuce scraps, banana peels, orange and grapefruit peels (be careful not to put too much citrus in at one time), crushed egg shells, coffee grounds, potato peels
What NOT to put in your worm bin: Grease, bones, dairy products such as cheese, butter and meat. These items take a very long time to decompose, they smell bad, and they attract rodents and raccoons. Don’t put BBQ ash in your bin because of the sulfur dioxides and other chemicals. Wood ash is not recommended either – it can raise the alkaline levels to less than ideal levels.
Tom Patterson – Photographer – Writer – and Seeker 
The way it works in our home is that hubby does all the worm care and I accumulate their food. By now, I’ve gotten very used to saving all our food scraps for them in our small container, with lid, under the sink. I almost never use the garbage disposal; that’s mainly for orange and lemon peels to make our kitchen smell clean!
Hi dad, Tom Jacob has been taking care of our worms and has big beautiful roses now! His garden is amazing!