Obstacles to the Worm Farm

After learning about vermicomposting from Lisa Harris of the City of Long Beach recycling program, I was very excited about starting my own home worm farm.

A few obstacles needed to be tackled first:

1. Where would I get a worm bin?
2. Where would I store my worm bin?

The City of Long Beach sells nice, tiered worm bins at a discounted rate of $45 for Long Beach residents. The City of Los Angeles offers an even more basic worm bin for only $5! Unfortunately, I am a resident of the City of Burbank, so I don't qualify for either.

The City of Burbank leads composting workshops and sells composting bins, but they no longer offer worm bins.

Online retailers generally seem to offer worm bins for over $100 (!). There are also many sites that provide instructions on how to build your own worm bin, so I was considering going the DIY route.

However, the second concern - where would I keep my worm bin - is what led me to choose Bokashi composting instead.

As I mentioned previously, my apartment is under 300 sq ft. The main room is about 10.5" x 14", and is dominated by my queen bed. The kitchen is about 8" x 10", which is generous for such a small unit. However, there doesn't seem to be a convenient place on the floor where the worm farm could live without interfering with traffic flow.

In my small apartment building, I share a stairwell with only two other units. There is a small alcove under the stairs that had been neglected for a while, housing an abandoned kitty litter box, an old bath mat, and other junk. I envisioned my new worm farm here - safe from the hot sun, and out of the other tenants' way.

However, earlier this week my landlord suddenly went on an unprecedented cleaning spree, and out went the kitty litter box and other orphaned items that had long called the alcove home! Now I wasn't so sure that my worm farm would be safe there after all.

I began researching Bokashi composting instead, which I had heard about from a very cool friend of a friend who lives in a Chicago studio. My next post will outline the pros and cons of vermicomposting and Bokashi composting for my living situation.