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available locally, as well as on-line from Yelm Earthworm and Castings Farm.

Begin feeding by placing handfuls of food buried into the bedding, in a different spot each time you feed your worms.

In three to six months, you can begin harvesting once you see all the bedding and food materials have been digested and deposited as beautiful, fine, dark-brown castings by your worms.

Push all materials to one side of the bin. They will have reduced in volume so there should be plenty of room to do this.

Re-bed the empty side of the bin, and begin adding food to that side. The worms will migrate over on their own to find their dinner.

In about a month, you can pull the finished compost from the bin and use it in your garden.

Another method that only takes a day is to spread a tarp in the garden and add all the contents of the bin to the top of the tarp. As the light reaches the worms, they will work their way deeper into the compost, and you can harvest from the top of the pile.

Let it sit an hour, and come back and do it again.

Eventually, you will be left with the pile of worms in a little bit of compost at the bottom, which can be returned to your freshly bedded bin.

Worm compost is often called “The Cadillac of Compost.” Try it for yourself and see!

For personalized questions, to find local worm sources and to discuss the best system for your use, call the Garden Hotline at (206) 633-0224. Or visit our website for composting brochures, www.gardenhotline.org,and e-mail a question from there.

LAURA MATTER is an educator and program coordinator for Seattle Tilth’s Garden Hotline. Graham Golbuff is an educator of resource conservation for Seattle Tilth.