Worms

Over Thanksgiving weekend, I was entertaining myself on ebay and decided to finally get my worms and worm box.  The worms arrived the following Thursday (12/2).  It's winter, and it was snowing and cold.  But they all seemed okay once they got inside where it was warm.  I let them "thaw" in a shoe box with their peat, some compost and damp shredded newspaper.  They seemed fine.  Then on Friday (12/3), the worm box came.  When I got home from work, I set it up and moved the worms in.  They were still a little cold and moving slowly from the previous day, but were surviving. 

Where exactly does one keep a worm box during the winter in Minnesota?  Why the kitchen of course.  The purpose of the worms is to create compost.  So where does their food come from?  Kitchen scraps.  Makes sense to keep them in the kitchen, right?  I think so.  Others don't and are not exactly pleased with the situation. 

I had initially put them on the counter under a window.  But today, the counters were being sealed, so the worms had to move.  They are still in the kitchen, in the pantry, but now they are back in a corner on a TV tray.  They'll move back to the window tomorrow or Wednesday.

So here are the worms, five days into their new home.  They are only living in the bottom box for now.  Once they finish breaking down enough food/newspaper, I will add the second tier and they will begin to migrate upwards.  That should take a few months.