wfike, are you adding wood shavings to improve the texture of the casts or to help aerate the bedding? I've read, and surmise, that wood shavings take a long time to break down, so I'm assuming you aren't adding them as feedstock, am I figuring this correctly? I've also read, from several older vermi books (and the Vermiculture_FarmersManual), that horse manure by itself is not the best feed, but that cattle manure is good. Do you mix the 2 as feedstock and bedding? I guess what I'm trying to understand is whether you use horse manure as feedstock and feel it is an adequate feed by itself. I added soaked, torn corrugated cardboard to the horse manure because I'd read that it has excellent nutrition due to the high-protein glue that is used to hold the layers together. Another advantage that corrugated cb has is it's water absorbancy, so the 2 (horse manure and corrugated cb) mixed together make a good bedding and a good feedstock. But, you know, you can find all sorts of contradictions when comparing books, websites, and opinions...so I'm interested in what you find to be true, based on your experience. Cheryl, I have been freezing the food waste lately. It does seem to speed things up a bit, but there is still the issue of varying amounts of water being released, mold/fungus, and odors if you use too much or have strong smelling foods to vermicompost. I've found that as much as I want to keep food waste from the landfills, it's a lot of aggravation (too much water, mold, fruit flies, fungus gnats, march flies, houseflies, odors..etc), inconvenience (both of my freezers are half full of food waste for the worms, leaving only half for my own food), and guess-work involved in feeding food waste to the worms. Now, if I didn't have access to horse manure and corrugated cardboard, I would still use primarily food waste. But since I do have access to those materials, I much prefer using them. I have encountered very few issues/problems using horse manure and corrugated cb. So, I ease my conscious by reminding myself that these 2 items would have been dumped in a landfill somewhere, had I not taken them. I still plan on freezing some food waste to use as trench feedings in my raised beds. This practice has eliminated all issues/problems with using food waste because it is buried 4-6" under the soil, and I have many worms in my raised beds who process this food quickly (and thank me for the cold stuff when it's hot outside). The junk mail I use are advertisements for credit cards, various insurance, and a hodgepodge of solicitations. I just remove them from the envelope and tear into strips that could be used as bedding (I put them in the compost crate, so they will be partially composted by the time the worms get to it). I don't use glossy papers, not because they are bad for the worms, but because they take forever to break down and I don't like the look of them in the compost. The Vermiculture FarmersManual recommends shredding cardboard that has a waxed coating, so I assume wax is safe to use if shredded or had the wax seal broken in some other fashion . I've read that oils are not good for worms (I assume oil would smother them since they breath thru their skin), but I wouldn't think a small amount would be harmful. The boxes that you have should be fine. Most of the corrugated cardboard that I use has colored printing on it and I haven't noticed any problems with it (the majority of people say that most inks are soy based now). I also use shredded office paper in the indoor bin I just created, and to absorb water from the barrel bins outside when rain has been heavy, and that paper has been thru laser printers. I haven't seen any ill effects from any of the paper products I have used. Welcome to the thread, Cheryl. I look forward to reading about your experiences in the vermi-world.

Lets face it if you have a plastic bin like I have [besides my fact. 360] it will sweat. I did a lot of adapting such as cut out the bottoms leaving a 2" lip. I replaced with 1/4" hardware cloth in that way it resembles the worm factory models. I also have wedges under neath so the bottom tray is not sitting flat on a base , it allows more air flow. After some trial and error I now leave the lid on , it has holes in it . But I do keep plenty of shedded paper inside more to deter fruit flies than anything else but I suppose it does serve a multipurpose. This works and worms stay inside as long as I keep a supple of food inside besides the paper/cardboard. The method of feeding that works best for me. Let me back up a step first. [ I save my food scraps in container until I have enough to run thru my hamilton beach big mouth juicer [800 watts] anything less than this is not powerfull enough to do the job when you have scraps like potato peels and cutup banana peels along with fruit peelings. Its usually enough to fill 1.5 gal container saving the pulp and recently started adding some of the juice back in to moisten the mix. ] Now, when I add the food it takes a couple of days for decomposition [teeming with microbes- bacteria] to take place . Worms feed from underneath first but once a mass of worms have moved on top of the fresh food I then start a new stash of food in another portion of the bin , usually opposite corner or side. In this way you can tell when the worms have moved to the new food usually 2 days before the new stash is ready. Sometimes the bacteria is working so well that you can see it before the worms get to it. This has happened before for me but now with so many worms I might not be able to.

"asking for fruits or vegtables now so she can feed the worms." A great cause and effect. I too have increased my consumption of and also well received fruits and vegitables for potlucks for scraps for my wormies. The poor humans do not know they eat to serve my worms.

How many levels do you have? Maybe it's not a different food but rather an amount all at once? I find worms attempting escape after the addition of too much broccoli stalk unless it's well rotted. I think it has to do with gases released, but I don't know for sure. I just notice that as long as there is the strong smell, the worms are trying to leave, but once the smell subsides the worms seem content to stay down and resume eating, pooping, making more worms. Maybe it's a combo of food or maybe you have peels that have soap of some kind or another chemical on them. Unfortunately, there have been times when a bin suddenly seems inhospitable to worms for a short time and while I try to figure out what went wrong the worms become content again. So, the problem often gets fixed before I even get the opportunity to pinpoint the cause. It often seems aeration is the key. I leave the top off with an LED light on when worms seem unhappy. If it smells bad, I cover it with some leaves. In a worm factory, it's not a bad idea to keep an extra level handy. If the worms seem dissatisfied you can just add bedding to the extra level and put it on top. I use half finished compost since if there is a smell the compost tends to filter it out fairly well and gives the worms something to eat. Shredded phone book works well, too. After a day or two you can then dump the contents into the previous level as the previous level will likely have settled as the water from the food drains down leaving room for the addition. That way the extra level stays an extra level in case you need it again later. Does that make sense? The couple of days (or longer if it that's what it takes) will likely lead to enough rotting and ph balancing to make things hospitable again. I've never noticed worms to be bothered by fruit flies. My outdoor summer bins get them real bad since I top feed those.