The Great Worm Escape

My husband let me sleep in Saturday morning. Just one example of what a great husband he is. But instead of enjoying it, I started to panic. What if the worms have again escaped and are all over the kitchen floor? Luckily, I ended up falling asleep and forgot all about the worms. Well, until I walked into the kitchen. There were six dead red worms on the floor and my little boy picked the live ones up and put them back into their bin. Ugh!


My parents were visiting last night so I thought I better hide the worms in the garage. The worms are very active at night. I couldn't have them escape while they were so nice to watch our children for the evening. After we got home, I looked in the garage and wanted to scream. There were about 10 worms all over the floor, most of them dead. They were squeezing out of the top of the container. So, I handled it just like I handle every problem in my life. I googled "worms escaping." A lot of people have this problem when they first start. There were solutions. Things I could do. I have tried some of them this week. Nothing seems to help. I should have started over. I should have bought a bin from EBay. But instead, I admitted defeat. I quit. Yes, I am no longer vermicomposting. It is so hard me for me to quit at anything. I just hate to quit. But, the worms were making me crazy. I knew it was the right decision when I felt a sense of relief afterwards.


My husband was thrilled with the news. When I told him, he said it was a great decision. He was tired of the worms getting loose. Tired of me worrying about the worms. Tired of the whole process. While I was away this morning, I came home to find that he let me worms loose in our backyard compost area. Can you imagine how happy the worms are to be free? They are free to live outside a plastic little smelly box. They are the lucky worms that didn't die on my kitchen floor!

Who Knew You Could Buy Worms from Ebay?

The Earth Day Celebration Continues.......

"Mommy ordered worms from EBay and we are going to keep them in our kitchen," said Ryan to my mother-in-law. It was such a weird sentence that she didn't even know how to respond. She just said "a huh, Ryan." She looked at me wondering what he was talking about.

I tried to brush it off and change the topic. My mother-in-law doesn't recycle. It just isn't their thing. How would she understand my need to start using worms to compost IN MY KITCHEN? It is weird. I feel the same. But, it was something I wanted to try. I had kept a clipping from the newspaper for over a year about it. I thought what the heck! I looked it up online and ordered red worms from EBay.

So in case you need a little more life in your kitchen, here is how I created a home for the worms.

Here is the box I used to hold the worms.

We ripped paper and cardboard to make our box welcoming to our new guests.

The worms finally arrived at our house. My boys were soooooo excited!

I had no idea they would arrive in a bag.

I didn't know how to get them out of the bag. Ewwww. Gross.

If I was a reading this, I would wonder how it was going with the worms. Straight talk. Be honest. Well, I am still learning. This morning, I awoke to 10 red worms on my kitchen floor. I have no idea how they got there. They were under my sink with a locked door. I wish I would have taken a picture of it. I was shocked so I googled "worms all over my floor" and there were posts. Apparently, my worms do not like their new house. They were trying to escape. So, I added more wet cardboard to their house. Hopefully they decide to spend the night in their container tonight. I have no idea how they got out. I am not sure I want to know.

We have fed them old grapes, old bananas, a used tea bag and bread. It isn't too smelly and I sprinkle the box with water before bed each night to make sure it doesn't dry out. It isn't any extra work for me. It is easier than a compost pile outside. I was too lazy to walk to the back of our yard to have an outside compost pile. So, I started this one. If you'd like to shock your family and friends and would like more information about vermicomposting, feel free to ask any questions about the process in my comment section or email me directly.

Happy Earth Day!