This is a great idea and I have thought about it many times. In fact, during the couple of years that I had quit vermi-composting, I offered to give my 2 cows to the school system and a representive of the schools accepted and said he would pick them up. He never did, for which I am happy because now I am back in operation with 4 cows. I am going to talk with the principle of a nearby school to see if he is interested. If so, I will gladly pay for a unit to get them started.

Dave Nelson

I think the whole garden is a great idea. As the rep said, we have a lovely botanical garden in town that does a lot of stuff on sustainability, but not everyone can afford to go to the garden -- the library is free.

My mind jumped to places that have
"Leave a book, Take a book."
People can leave a few books or take a few books.

I wonder if it would work with worms.
Ask for donations of worms. Let peole take a 3 oz dixie cup of worms to start their own bin. Or even 24 worms once a month. Maybe the biggest thing people would need to know is like planting a seed the results occurs over time. You can't really control the variety of worms in the bin because people will be sneaking in at night and leaving worms like babies in baskets. The concept works well with pennies so people are familiar with it.

Borrow a book.
Borrow a worm.

Or like drive thru up sell...
"Do you want a worm with that?"

I like the idea that was suggested elsewhere of a bench that opens to a worm bin. Each lunch on top, throw your veggies peels below.

Here is a link that might be useful: worm bench

Do what you know. If they want an outside bin, so what? Prepare materials to teach the kids and their parents vermiculture at home in a tote. This is what you know and what you do. If they have a problem with it, so what? Senators? Worms were here before they were and will be here when they are gone. You agreed to show them vermicomposting. So show these folks what they need to see. Wurmz iz e-z!
The goals are:
-Educate kids and their parents about worms and vermicomposting (My granddaughter kept worms)
-Provide worksheets people can take home to make their own worm bins (Internet is full of this info)
-Compost onsite materials instead of landfilling them, including large quantities of paper (shred it and provide free bedding for all)
-Reuse worm castings and compost on the garden (It doesnÂt get any easier)
As long as you say what you know- you are bullet-proof. If they ask you something you donÂt know, simply say ÂI donÂt know that, but I will try to find out for youÂ. DonÂt let them bully you- wurmz iz e-z!

No one is trying to bully me -- they are merely enthusiastic and I am happy to help. I will certainly be doing the instructions for the home worm bins. I think the fact that they want to recycle all their stuff on site is *fantastic!*

I sent them a bunch of questions this morning that are intended to be thought provoking and to clarify their expectations and resources. Seriously... I need to know things like if the librarians are going to be checking the worms during the summer to see if they need to be watered. That was probably not in the original job description!

They already know I'm not a pro. No worries there.

There is a company in Oregon (I think) that makes a bin called the OSCR. They might even be willing to donate a unit just for the publicity (and tax write-off) for the library to use to consume their trash.

I saw an adapted version of an OSCR on youtube with a guy called gourmetstrawberries who uses harvesting rods.

I agree with Steamyb that the way to win minds and hearts is to show how easy it is for the average guy to vermicompost with a rubbermaid bin. Now THAT will be an accomplishment.

I hope that your library will make use of this video from Cornell U. Professionally done [no jerky camera, hokey music, or rambling narrators] Fascinating microscopic live view of vermicomposting ecosystem.

Here is a link that might be useful: Video - vermicompost

You have a wonderful oppotunity! I would try to show and/or demonstrate as many vermicomposting systems as possible. Keep the emphasis on easy and cheap.
For indoor systems, maybe you could get a large rolling cart donated from Home Depot or Costco. Set it up with a simple rubbermaid bin, a stackable bin set-up, and a small flo-thru. Wheel the whole thing to shade in the summer or indoors in the winter.
For outdoor systems, it depends on your climate, space available , and feedstocks available. A nice bench, as antoniab suggested is a good start. Have a removable board at the bottom to remove VC. A windrow would be messy, but a "worm cage" is not. I use a piece of 1/2" hardware cloth (10'x3') to form a cylinder and hot compost horse manure, straw, UCG and garden waste. After a few turnings the pile cools and shrinks in half. Then I line the cage with 4 layers of burlap (coffee-bean sacks) and add worms. The burlap keeps things dark and moist while allowing airflow. My first cage produced very well!
I would think your biggest challenges will be:
1) Bin Maintenance. If you don't control the odors and flies your project may be short-lived. Use LOTS of shredded paper.
2) Sanitation. If left unsupervised, kids will play with the worms. Hand in/on a worm bin and eating lunch?
I love the video Barb posted about, and think it should be available for viewing.
I would also have some exhibits of plants with VC and without VC.

Good luck on this very worthwhile project and keep us posted. Pete

Just an update on the project. I haven't seen the site yet but I hope to in the next few days.

After discussing the goals of the project via email and reading your suggestions, I am suggesting two wormeries. Their primary goal is education; being able to process their garbage is a desirable secondary goal.

First, a cold compost pile designed to attract and protect native worms from predators, since they were planning a compost pile anyway.

Two, an educational bin with EFs where the kids and meet the worms and throw in their lunch scraps and prepared bedding. To reduce uninvited guests in the bin, I plan to discourage them from using leaves and other garden leftovers in the educational bin -- they go in the compost pile.

My current thinking here is a strawbale construction bin (with drainage, of course) and an insulated lid tough enough to withstand raccoon attacks. I think the strawbale construction, or something similar using insulating foam, will lend itself to artistic interpretation as well as being functional and will make a ledge for the kids to lean on and to help catch any dropped worms kids pull out. The whole site is made of recycled and eco-friendly materials, so the strawbale construction will fit right in. I'd love to think of a lip or other barrier that discourages worms from leaving the bin... good luck with that, Nicole. It'll be a big bin, so maybe some tubes coming up in the middle of the bin for aeration.

There is a shady spot set aside and they are trying to get a grant to build a "Worm Shack" for the worms similar to a garden shed. For the winter, a heating strip in the bottom of the bin. For the summer, a solar powered fan on a temperature sensor to help cool the bin if it starts getting too hot. Rain barrels are going in to water the garden and the worms.

Nearby, a hand sanitizer dispenser, a model of a DIY home bin, an instructional display and instruction sheets to take home. I haven't decided on the design for the DIY bin, but probably one of the RM bin variations.

More info on the project here:
http://www.madisonal.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=123&ARC=431

And the PDF of the original plans (which don't show a spot for the worms) here:
http://www.madisonal.gov/DocumentView.aspx?DID=1281

I saw the location tonight and the in-progress garden. It's perfect -- next to the library under an east-facing but deep overhang, right next to the the bay windows in the children's library and near the garden entrance. Also right next to the rain barrels.

They are going to decide if they want outdoors year-round, outdoors with worms relocated, or a bin they can roll indoors. We will go from there with specific plans. The garden is due to be completed in early October.

The librarians, who will be doing the day to day maintenance are jazzed up about the project, as is the project manager and her young kids. I was surprised to learn that the primary use for the garden will be kids under 5 years old, although there are programs planned for older kids in the summer. So everything needs to be sized and accessible for really short people.

One end-of-year option is to have a bin-building workshop and give away the worms to participants along with bedding. I'm not to keen on this idea since they will never have a large herd if they give away ALL their worms, but they may want to give the librarians a break in the winter. I suggested they build a bin capable of year-round worms, because they can always choose to do the giveaways at a future date but it will be harder to change their minds in the other direction.

alabamanicole: My original worms came from a free Public Library workshop. A few, 10 maybe, in a tiny cup to put into a half gallon container. Very hard to be sucessfull with that. Failure would be pretty much guaranteed. Anyhow public librarys are a great way to get worms out to the public. There is a small worm bin at my library in the childrens section. The tiny worms are living in damp white shreds. If the apple slices etc. get too moldy it is removed as it "has gone bad". Not my bin. As far as giving away the worms. Might want to provide the participants with postcards to mail back in 3 months and ask them to count their worms. Able to see then if 97% or 10% of the worms are being sent home to die. Or ask people to come back and report into a log book. No postage. Mainly I'm thinking yes pass the word on vermicompost and encourage the children to feed the worms. But with a large number of children somebody might need to at the end of the day remove some of the excess food. Or have every child put in just a pinch of food. What they think half a worm weighs. Have them rip up egg carton to put their pinch of food on a mini cardboard plate to teach the idea of balancing carbon and nitrogen or wet and dry.

You energy and enthusiasm are the most valuable of items for the project and what brings it to life.

I like the postcard idea -- it gently encourages people to stay on top of the project and not abandon the worms to die. If they decide to do giveawaya, I would advise a decent amount of worms (maybe not everyone gets some) and some sort of return policy if the kids lose interest and the adults don't get hooked. How to QT the worms and extract uninvited guests like mites would be something to work out.

This is the biggest library in the area, but I don't think we are talking about huge amounts of kids. I plan to train the librarians to check the bin daily, even though I don't think there will be any work needed. Besides, the bin will need to be locked at night; you never know when vandals or predators will strike. The bin lid may not even be open except during planned events.

So many details... but I am looking forward to working in the bin design. There are volunteers with various skill sets and hopefully an artist to make it look cool.