Worm Farms
There are lots of instructions out there on how to DIY worm farms. If you just want to get started though, there’s nothing wrong with a standard plastic tray setup you can get from most hardware stores. The trick is keeping them going. On the whole, I find them fairly forgiving (we often neglect ours for longer than we should!) but once you’ve set it up (follow the instructions) there are a few tips that will help:
Feed them Compost worms can eat up to half their weight a day! The best way to feed worms is to chop your scraps up into small pieces (to increase the surface area and make it easier for the worms to digest) and feed them smaller amounts more regularly - once or twice a week.
Flush them Once a week pour a bucket of water over them to keep them moist. The liquid that comes out is called worm tea or worm juice and can be diluted (just add enough water to make it look like weak black tea) and then used in your garden, potted plants, and veggie plants to help add good microbes.
Every once in a while, you can also harvest their poo, known as worm castings. These are found in the lower trays of your worm farm. I like to scrape off the very top layer and put it back to save any eggs. If there are worms in your castings, a good way of separating them is to pop the castings on a tarp or tray in the sunlight (don’t do it on a hot day when you’ll cook them!) and let the worms burrow to the bottom, then you can scrape the top layer of castings off and it should be worm free! Repeat until you have a little ball of worms left and then return them to your farm. Worm castings are a great addition to potting mix or your veggie patch. They are full of good nutrients and microbes which boost your soil health, and also help retain moisture.