Anthrax and Botulism are both caused by soil-born organisms. They are probably in every garden on the planet. Has your child had chickenpox yet? That's a Herpes virus that attacks the nervous system and remains alive in your nerve tissue for life. Look forward to the neurological conditions it can cause forever, especially if your immune system is depressed by excess worrying. The fact that there are millions of other species in the soil, taking up most of the space, eating the microbes that make humans sick, is the safety factor. Getting an assortment of harmless germs on your hands and breathing normally, I argue, is safer than walking around a hospital or working in a crowded office. That's where there are high concentrations human-specific pathogens. Sanitizing everything in those areas also eliminates most of the competition that keeps the bad germs in check. Your garden is your happy place, not your mortuary. I have a worm bin. A large one. I'm worried about inhaling the powdered lime and the rock dust that I put in it and on the garden, but my only negative reaction to my worms is the 'gross' factor. I regularly harvest buckets of liquid that drains from my worm bin so that I can water plants with it. Pouring it from the bucket into my little watering can normally results in getting some on me and everywhere. Not dead yet. My dog drinks the worm juice when I'm not looking. The only days she acts sluggish or sick are after she gets her shots at the vet. After playing fetch with her for a while, I sometimes rinse the slobber off of my hands in the bucket of worm juice. (I do rinse them in the sink once I get back in the house though) I think the last time I got sick was in 2002. I was in Army basic training, under a lot of stress, sleep deprived, and sharing space with people from all around the country. People carry disease-causing germs in concentrations that can cause disease in healthy people, healthy soil does not. The stress of worrying about disease is arguably more harmful to your health than dirt. Humans have been farming by hand for something like 10,000 years or so before the queen of England declared she takes a bath once a week and thus made wash tubs common household items. Germ hysteria has probably done more to harm human health than guard it. Here is a link that might be useful: Chicken Pox

Slaters! Thats a new one on me too ;o) Slaters are good guys or bad guys depending on the situation. Good when in the compost pile as they break down the organics for your use, bad guys when they munch on your plant roots. If they are interfering with the worms in some way I would be concerned otherwise they are helping you out. Don't fight nature but work with it to reach your desires. I would screen the compost if going into a seed bed to remove the ... slaters. You Auzzies ;o) The removed bugs would be enjoyed by your chickens if you have 'em. G'Day now from the American south :o) Mike

Sure, as long as you have the space, which you probably do, since 1000 worms don't need a lot of space.

for me i'd be putting them in the garden wherever now, storage might result in loss of benefit, also would need to be dry i would imagine as stored wet in bags it could rot or mildew. our worm farming now occurs in the gardens where the benefits are delivered direct and where they are needed most. len Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page