Worm Inn Update 4

My last post was about cutting my worm inn in half, so that I could add some of the worm population to my outside bin, but also because of fermentation and smells that were getting a bit extreme and making my house smell bad.

So I took a few spatulas and started digging. I removed the top 70% of material and put it into buckets to separate what would stay and what would go outside. I also took this opportunity to find out what the vermicompost looked like, if I had any yet at all. I assumed I would have some castings because it had already been about 5 weeks since the worms were introduced to the inn and I figured a working system would show results by now.

 I wasn't disappointed. The castings were the darkest, nicest looking castings I've ever seen. This is no exaggeration, the castings literally shocked me!

I made sure to dig some out and place it in the bucket to help "jump start" the top layer when I added material back to it.

So I tore up some paper and started adding paper and cardboard and leaves on top of the castings and worms.

 I added some paper bags that we had laying around and tore up some cracker boxes too.

 Then I poured the bucket with the castings and vegetables back on top and mixed it up the best I could.

 I also added some corn meal to the top and was quite generous with it, making sure to get it everywhere, as the worms love this stuff!

 I then added more leaves from outside and mixed them in.

And finally, I covered that layer with more paper and more paper bags that I shredded up and added to the top! I haven't seen many worms around the top layer yet but I figure I will in a week or two, as the paper breaks down and decays and the process continues!