well, after one week of worm wrangling

[Organic Crusader]

I've read about composting till I have nightmares of being chased by decomposing rutabegas,

I've designed at least 40 "Perfect" worm bins,

I've poked, prodded, and generally annoyed my worms 752.3 times.

I've started a pre-composting experiment,

I've split my bin into two bins,

I have blisters from cutting up cc with scissors,

and I'm starting to use composting abbreviations

Hi All:)

all in all things seem to be going quite well, so far anyways, my worms haven't touched any of the food I gave 'em last sunday, good thing I didn't give 'em much, I'm guessing they're snacking on the peat and roots in the used soil I mixed in with their bedding.

my kitchen cupboard precomposting experiment seems to be going pretty well, just about to start a second bucket, the first bucket has reduced by about 20% and doesn't smell at all bad, can't be getting too hot or too sour as the squash seeds are germinating and look healthy enough if a bit pale :) I continue to be pleasantly surprised at how well the activated carbon filters (made for a cats litter box) completely filter out all composting smells, it should be just fine unless my teen figures out what I'm up to, he'd have a cow :)

I've ordered a pair of hedge shears to chop up my compost, that should speed things up a bit, and considering how fast the kitchen scraps seem to add up speed is becoming mandatory, and a bag of prilled dolomitic limestone to take care of any acidity in the compost before I feed it to my worms.

never occurred to me that worm wrangling might be fun and intellectually engaging.

y'all stay safe

OC

[iJohn]

If you have a "paper" shredder, it should shred your CC, unless it's from 7/11...(Shredder)   A box cutter works quite well also and can be purchased for not to many dollars, just make certain that it fits in your hand quite comfortably...!  

[Andrew from California]

A box cutter and an old cutting board also work well to cut up dry cardboard. (but pay attention to what you're doing...don't get distracted.) If you want to make damp bedding, soak the cardboard in water for 24 hrs. and you can easily tear them into chunks by hand.

[Organic Crusader]

hi all,

I looked at paper shredders and decided they were beyond my budget so I picked up a box cutter, soaking sounds like a good idea, pretty humid here though, I'd have to compost any that didn't go in the bin right away or it'd mold.

the hedge shears work great on everything but kleenex, guess I'll have to throw that strait into the bin.

My worms are finally getting into the food I put in over a week ago, was begining to wonder if I should put a bit of kechup on it :) I'll give 'em another couple days and then see if they like compost.

thanx for the advice and Ideas :)

stay safe

oc

[Bonnie]

lol Thanks for the laughs.  I like to keep my bins "clean" so I mix up a wet brew in a blender and let it rot (with the lid on) for 2 or 3 days.  I put it in and it's gone within 3 days.  The rest of my kitchen scraps hits the compost pile outside.   Your wormies were waiting for that food to rot well.