How to harvest compost worms

In a previous post, I showed a photo of the worm castings I harvested last Spring from my low tech Rubbermaid bin…a whole bucketful! Today I harvested again, and here are some gooey wormy pictures to illustrate my old school technique.

Step 1: Wait for a sunny day. Put down a plastic sheet.

Get ye a bucket and the worm bin from yonder dining room.

Step: 2 Find ye someone strong or agile to help tip over the bin in one swift motion.

Bin upside down. Worms confused.

Step 3: Unleash the worms.

They will recover.

No worries. The ooey gooey worms head for the bottom. Quickly.

Step 4: Worms hate the sun. Give them a few minutes to burrow down and then gently skim off the top, layer by layer.

Our friend Don takes a moment away from installing a new screen door to try his hand at harvesting worm castings.

As you sift through the top layers of castings, toss the worms you come across back into the bin.

Step 5: Once the bucket is full, gently move the rest of the worms into the bin.

Bucket full. Worms anxious.

Happy to be home in their newspaper nests.