Finishing Chest 2

Meanwhile, back at the ranch …

A few weeks have passed. I started to skim the castings from the top of the chest and half-way down through the eight inches, discovered that I had a fairly sodden mass that was tending anaerobic.

Tipping the chest at a 45-degree angle allowed me to move the mass to one side of the chest. In the space I dropped a couple of bins of shredded paper, flipped the chest the other way (burying that paper) and placed another two bins of shredded paper.

I righted the chest, smoothed the soil over the paper, and have left it for a week.

My theory is that the paper will provide fresh bedding and help the mass to dry.

This morning I lifted the lid, removed the plastic sheet, and saw the worm colony going at it again.

I am optimistic that this will result in the remaining soil mass being rendered into top—surface castings, and I’ll continue to skim them on a weekly basis.

Here is the chest with the masonite lid removed. You can see some of the shredded paper poking up through the mass:

Here is a view of the mass, with the plastic sheet removed. Worms are scurrying away to avoid the early-morning light, but I can see that they are there, doing their productive thing atop the mass!

Here is a view of the underside of the plastic sheet. Worms are attracted here, I suspect for the moisture content.

Castings are in evidence and better yet – my worms are preggers!