If it has a lot of dry leaves and stuff you might consider re-layering it with greens. If you can move the bin (some of them come apart at the sides, or lift it off) and set it next to the pile, whenever you have greens, layer them in the bin and add some of that pile to cover. This is the lazy way, you can also stir it all up with a lot of greens but you may not have that much at once. You might actually find some compost at the bottom, depending on how long it's been sitting there. This would be a good way to find out. Anything not fully composted can go back in. And make sure it's moist, not drippy wet, but 'dry leaves' will still be there next year without some moisture.

I'm sorry if my first post sounded critical or unsympathetic. That was not my intent. I was simply offering "thoughts" that you had initially asked for. So, just answers to your questions. I would not shift compost from one section to another. I would move any unfinished food or bedding (the paper you have in section #3) into the active feeding section. Bedding is food if kept damp enough. I would also make sure that each section is touching the sections beside it. Visually, your lateral migration bin appears to be similar to the compost pile turning system. But in your case you would not need to "turn" a section until it was either ready to harvest or it was needed because the final section was full. Ideally section #1 would be ready to harvest just as #6 was getting full. In your original post you describe each of the 4 sections. It sounds like it's working exactly as it should. The majority of the worms are in the newest section where the prime food is. Just continue the progression and harvest #1 when #6 is almost full. I'm sure you've noticed that a section compresses (reduces in volume) as the worms process it. For that reason, I would fill each section to the brim (instead of 2/3 full) before starting to feed the next section. If you look at the height of material in each section from the side, you would see something like a cross-section of stairs. It won't be this clean cut, but imagine #1 = 4" depth, #2 = 6", #3 = 8" and #4 = 10". Since you are using one of the sections to store bedding, you really have 5 working sections. Harvest #1 when you fill #5. I would not "...leave the whole box alone for a few months after I've cycled through the sections maybe twice". Based on the dimensions you cited, each section holds ~8 gal. of material. With the volume reduction you will end up with 5-6 gal. of material to harvest. I personally would do a quick light/pile harvest to remove the larger worms and use the VC as-is. If you want the coffee grind look, then you'll need to screen with 1/8" or 1/4" hardware cloth and dump the chunky remains into #2 to process a little more. Andrew

Kathleen, Mine is the 3rd, when is your's? Wow, three of us were March babies! Sandi, I thought so too--her things are not elaborate but turned out very nice. I still want to go back and look through it all again too. I loved all her flowers too--I really try to plant things that will last more than a season, but her containers of annuals are gorgeous! Kathleen, Not sure how we can contact her--but I'd like to invite her to come visit here. I know she would love to see Judith's tables and all our stacked plates. Yachter, looks like she has quite a bit of property too. That's allot to keep up with and work too. Luvs

Do what my mom used to do when she finally got fed up: If you left something laying around, ie, shoes, clothes, books, etc., she would put them in the trash. Seriously. She had tried everything, and with 5 kids and a husband, she was at her wits end. So she'd just chuck it in the kitchen trashcan, (a big can in those days), which would eventually be dumped into the bigger outside can. If you didn't figure it out before trash day, you lost whatever it was. She did warn us, but of course we ignored her. Didn't take long for everyone to figure out that she was serious and start putting their things away! Granted, "putting your things away" meant just throwing them randomly into your room, but it was better than having stuff lay all over the house.