Worms Eat Garbage...

Today begins our first lengthy science project.... WORM COMPOSTING!

I ventured out to the store to buy the perfect container for our worms. Because I do not intend this to be a massive composting project, I got a smallish container - big enough to hold the worms but small enough to be manageable by myself and the girls. When we returned home, I added a few worms to the box. We have five worms in our container. I had purchased a box of red wigglers a couple of weeks ago for feeding the turtle. All that was left of the wigglers was six worms. After treating the turtle to one of the worms, we put the rest in our composting bin.

Because this is a science project, I have a notebook for observation. Day 1 lists 5 worms and lots of newspaper bedding.

We did a bit of research to determine what would be good to feed our worms and we learned that they like just about any organic material. Fruits, veggies, and other kitchen waste can be placed in the bin for feeding the worms. It's not much different from the turtle, really. In an effort to jump start the feeding of the worms, both girls went outside to collect some grass and leaves for the hungry little worms.

It is my hope that this project will teach them how certain household wastes can be recycled for the benefit of the earth. I also plan to use some of the worms to continue feeding the voraciously hungry turtle. She loves worms most of all and there just aren't any around here for digging. We're too close to the lake and the worms know that people fish in the lake so they hide... I'm sure of it.

For further reading on worm composts, I highly recommend the book Worms Eat My Garbage. It is an interesting read and gives useful information on the biology of worm composting and worm reproduction.