I also wonder where in Chicago area I can get a decent size witch hazel and american holly without sending for them from a catalog company who only carries a tiny size of these shrubs. I will appreciate any suggestions. Thanks.

Me the OP again. I'd be hesitant to use a mosquito dunk b/c of the worms and b/c I try to keep things organic (the compost gets used on my vegetable gardent). Here's what I did exactly - tumbled the compost as usual. Then I scattered some old sawdust over the top so that there was a thin layer everywhere - just enough so that you couldn't make out the veggie peels, etc. underneath. I imagine that dried leaves, straw, or even dried mulch would work as well.

"Are BSF timid creatures, or am I most likely going to have them crawling on me or flying around when I'm checking out my bin?" Some people really love their BSFL, as much as we love our worms. They too worry about them when they have to leave them for a few days. My understanding is that when BSFL are about 3/4 inch long and smaller they are white. Then as they mature they turn black and hard like little armadillos. Then they hide. The flys that emerge are like large houseflies but they do not land on poop and then on food. They avoid people, poop and food and want to find a bit of rot to lay their eggs on. They fly erratically. Slow when they are just warming up. Then faster. They are black with some of their leg area white. I think you would like the fly and the mature larvae and not be afraid of them. The thing that is cool about the white larvae is if one puts lets say the remains of a fish that the fillets have been harvest from into the bin, the the BSFL boil over the remains so actively that the remains float over the top of the activity and wonder around the container while getting smaller and smaller until they are all gone. Maybe let your helper know that these types of things in the bin are normal so they will not be startled. There is the cutest youtube that shows a little girl with a handful of BSFL feeding then to her chickens. If they knew that even little girls are not afraid of them then they might be more ok with them. Me I do not even touch my worms except with a 10 inch stick. Not even with gloves on. Maybe the scarriest thing to ever happen was I had noticed a few things out of place around the bin lately. Things were a bit mess with the vermicomost. I thought I was just sloppy. One day I put food in the top of the bin and out of the bottom a mouse jumped and darted off of my leg. I screamed like a little girl. Then I laughed a lot because I screamed. Many people love furry mice as pets. Maybe not me. I wonder if he was eating my worms. I move the material around in my bin to learn what is going on. As I am more confident I know what is happening in there and as vermicomposting is not my newest hobby, and I am not possessed with knowing what is going on with the little guys, I am more likely to leave them alone. Then my activity with the bin would more resemble how sbryce advises. Like him I would flip the bottom material over for the same reasons. Or gain interest in flow through bins like I have. I would think the cloth worm inns would work nice for you. Just put the stuff food by the tons and bedding in at the top. Zip it in. Water frequently. Harvest at the bottom. Supposedly no need to separate worms. They do dry out fast but the activity of adding water is pleasant for some. Others may have fish tank change water they want to use. I would think that maybe the condition of the material might be gauged a tiny bit by just squeezing the bag. I do not have one. Some people sew their own. Having a strong enough stand to hold mega weight is important. I guess like not buying the first year of a car I am waiting for them to come out with the new and improved version. I think mine would dry out. That would be ... ... .,. very bad for the worms. A homemade plastic bin is more resilient in that way.

Equinox, just curious as to why you would towards not on the silica powder? As far as the comfrey patch location, well that looked just like everywhere else out here when they were planted. The whole area there got a few inches of manure and few more of fresh wood chips not too long ago. Comfrey loves nitrogen and will take straight fresh chicken manure which is a feat for most plants. It will grow in poor soils though too and that makes it attractive here. When we plant them I dig a hole 2 feet deep and put a cubic foot of steer in the hole to give it a good start sending down its deep roots. This plant will root from 8 to 12 feet deep I am told. Once established they accumulate minerals and nutrients from deep down and bring it up to the surface. A couple other amazing things about comfrey is that they fix nitrogen through mycorhizal relationships and among all the nutrients they produce is B12 which I understand is quite uncommon for terrestrial plants. A drawback is though this variety does not reproduce through seed it will from small root fragments and once established it seems is quite difficult to remove, like crabgrass tilling just spreads it and I would be hesitant to garden much around it as working the ground would likely encourage its spread. I do plan however to try a wide bed with a row of comfrey down the middle. This will be a strict no till, start from seed and remove at the surface to keep from disturbing that roots and try and keep it behaving. I love the idea of having it so handy for chop and drop mulching. Francoise, yes we are looking at many different trees and shrubs. Some beneficial others more ornamental, our plan there is try everything and keep what works :D We have dozens of different types of seeds that are going in the fridge soon for their stratification period so spring is going to be quite interesting this year. You are also absolutely correct on the many strategies note. Much like a compost pile, the more variety the better. I am of the mind of the forest garden and intend to really push companion planting and interplanting throughout the garden and property rather than traditional row crop gardening though that will surely see its place too. Yes Pete, a pony or mule might be nice. We do have quite a few horse folks around though so I am going to make a point of seeing what might be available there and cut out the whole nother mouth to feed at least until we have better ground to do something like that on. Have to say I think of all I have read on rearing worms I relate to your style closest. Benign neglect is my kind of style for sure. The way i see it te more of what I do that is simple and somewhat self sustaining the more I can do and keep going. Otis, see above for probably more than you want to know about comfrey. There are other things like its fantastic ability to produce green material that breaks down quite quickly. A bucket stuffed full and capped for a few weeks will end up a black sludge that can be diluted and used in the garden. Lawrence Hill developed these Bocking sterile varieties and yields of 100+ tons an acre have been written about. With favorable conditions the entire plant can be cut to the ground giving up 5 to 8lbs of leave only to be regrown in weeks allowing for 5 to 8 cuttings a year. Thats 25 to 64lbs of nutrient rich leaves per plant per year. If we use an average of 40lbs every 50 plants will produce a ton of material that can be used in the compost pile, fed to the animals (worms included), made into liquid fertilizer or directly placed in the garden as mulch or compost. The last growth should be allowed to overwinter as they are a great shelter for many beneficial insects and spiders. I have read as many as 250 spiders might winter over under a single plant. That last foliage also helps support and shelter the plants own roots. Understand all of the above is from what I have gleaned as this is our first year with these plants. I will say though that from what I have seen so far I have little doubt in the validity of the information out there regarding comfreys use in the garden. About water, we have a very good well. Our water is about 100' and when it was drilled was measured at 100+ GPM. Our pump is 25GPM used to fill a 10K gallon tank. It cost about $0.35 1K gallons to get it into the tank and about the same to put it under pressure 40 to 60PSI. The tank is close to 500' away and maybe 15 feet of head so i am thinking about putting in a second line as a gravity line for irrigation cutting the cost of already cheap water in half. The one issue we do have with our water is that is is hard. i need to get a test done (we did years ago but honestly I dont remember the results as we mainly were testing to make sure it was safe) to see if there is anything we can do for it. Soaker hoses clog in a few months and many types of drippers suffer the same fate. Other than that drawback though water should not be any issue especially if we can get the material into the soil to hold the water where it needs to be for plants to flourish.