Shaken Worm Syndrome

Today I finally got the chance to harvest the worm compost from my worm farm. I got these new pets back in May and they have been doing great all along, except for a brief episode where they tried to escape, but we're not mentioning that anymore...

Since I took the worm class (yes there is such a thing) I knew the compost was ready to go and I tried what usually works gets the worms to separate from the mix but it didn't work for me. I moved all of the compost over to one side and added new paper and some vegetable scraps to the other side of the container, but to no avail. They are supposed to migrate over to the new food. The worms were snug like bugs, happy as clams in their dark rich compost condo.

So my solution was to sift them out.

My supplies included a bucket to catch the compost, an old colander and a small garden shovel. Key phrase old colander, you don't want to drain your pasta in that after the worms have been in it. Although it is natural, I'm not that natural :-)


I also had more shredded paper to add in after I removed some of the compost, to refresh their space and give them more to eat.

I took small shovels of the compost from the bin and put it into the colander then shook it so the compost would come through and into the bucket but the worms would stay in the colander. Then I replaced them back in the bin. I hope they weren't traumatized to much, that was a lot of shaking, poor wormies!


This does take a while so if you try it, be prepared for that. Then what we had was nice fine ready-for-the-garden compost (on the left). I can hear the perennials calling for it.


Then I put more shredded paper into the bin (on the right), mixed it around a bit with the remaining compost (I didn't remove it all and left some to ease their transition). Now the worms are back home with new paper and my garden is delighting with some new earth friendly fertilizer.

The worms will get more dormant in the winter, so this will probably be the only time I harvest the compost until next summer. Have a good time hibernating my pets!