Nancy, I have heard that also. Why don't you try putting down cardboard in places and piling oak leaves or wood chips on top? Many people around here are raking up their oak leaves and putting them out by the road in bags. They make great mulch and earthworms love this combo. They will definitely come and multiply if you do that. Three years ago when we first started gardening here we had no worms. After doing the lasagna thing with cardboard and leaves, woodchips, etc. we have loads of worms. You have to keep doing it though but it's worth it. Anna

I think worm castings look a bit like chopped cigarette tobacco. If your bin is white or if you have ever kept worms in a light color container with a cover for a couple of days the sides of the container above the food level will have 1/4 inch castings on them. You should be able to see individual ones. Even when harvested you should be able to see the individual ones depending upon what harvesting method you use. Coffee grounds would be maybe rounder? It all depends upon how close one wants to look. I know one thing. However good your vermicompost is this week, if you stop feeding for a week and let the worms work just on what you plan to harvest, you will like it even better in a few more weeks. When I am in a rush for compost I put some in an old plastic easter basket with good sized holes in it and shake the material. What falls out is my harvest. What stays in is put back on top of the bin. I almost think this partially processed material is very good for the health of the bin. It balances out the excesses in all directions, too wet, to dry, to acidic, of new additions. Good luck, hope you have some already.

as well as what's said above, adding all those compost loving worms to the new beds just fertilizes the ground w/ 'meat'!! they won't have the rich diet they prefer in the composting environment, so die off or migrate to areas where they find a better food supply - a high percentage will be lost in a short time - I don't worry about getting all of'em out, or the cocoons/young'uns, but after feeding one end of the bin for awhile to 'migrate' them away from the mostly finished material I add the stragglers to a garden always kept rich in compost so they can continue earning their keep Bill

No Big 5 stores around here. I don't think any sporting good stores around here would sell them because we don't have many freshwater fishing areas in the county, I don't even know if they allow fishing in the freshwater ponds around here. So all of the live bait they sell are for salt water fishing. I found two redworms yesterday in the woodchips that are around my patio, but the rest were nightcrawlers. I threw those two in the bin, but I know that at this rate it is going to take forever. I am continuing to wet the cardboard. There is a local retailer I found online, but I don't think they have a store--all mailorder or online, and the minimum they sell are 1000 worms for $28. Ouch. I am going to send them an email and see if they will sell a smaller amount for someone local, and maybe save on shipping since I can pick up. Also, after a storm when all the worms come up to the surface, are redworms usually among them. Before I started this project a worm was a worm and i never tried to differentiate. But, the redworms are red, and smaller (I am noticing from what have been reading and finding in my soil), right?