Indoors





Indoor Composting is usually with Red Wriggler Worms.
They are, well, red and wriggly.
They cannot survive Canadian winter outdoors,
so are best for indoor composting.



Worms live in worm buckets or Worm Factories. 


Or a simple Rubbermaid bucket works as well. 

Worms need care.  
Worms are great pets. Just like other pets, they need you to take care of them: 
1. They like to eat fruit & vegetable leftovers & peels.
2. They do not like orange peels, dairy or meat.
3. They like wet dirt but not goopy wet dirt.
4. They like moist paper on top of the bucket, to keep out fruit flies. 
5. They like the dark.
6. They need some air holes.
7. They like to be warm but not too warm.
8. They die if they're too cold or too dry.
9. They need dry as well. We add peat moss.
In return they will turn will turn your food waste into black gold!
The finished compost can be used for growing new food. 

Problems?
1. Smelly? You put in too much food. Add a lot of peat moss.
2. Don't see any worms? You might have dried them out.
Maybe it was too cold, or you didn't feed them enough, or you put in orange peels. Add a lot more water, and maybe the worm casings will hatch.
3. Too many worms? It's time to start a second bucket, get a Worm Factory or share them with a friend!

How do you get the worms out of the compost?
In about 3 months the worms will have eaten a lot of waste, and their poop (castings) will be ready to use. There are 2 ways to get them out.
1. Half & Half. Pull all the dirt and worms to one half of the bucket. Add new dirt on the other side. Only put food in the new side. The worms will move over in about 3 weeks.
2. Or leave the lid off & shine a light. The worms will wiggle down, and you can scrape off the top.

Where do you get worms?
Look on the internet!
They can cost as much as $90/pound.
If you are having worms sent to you, use Greyhound or a courier.
Mail is not reliable enough. Have them sent in dirt. 

Bokashi Composting
Here's an interesting alternative. Most composting is aerobic: air is needed to feed the little organisms. 

Bokashi is anaerobic - without air, using a completely different set of micro-organisms to break down the food. Check it out!