Hi and welcome to the forum. Your previous vermi-experience will make this much easier. If you have room outdoors and a mild climate, it would be fairly simple and inexpensive to establish a wormbed to handle that amount. I got my first worms given to me by a local restaurant/bakery owner. His wormbed was about 40' x 12', and was covered with old carpet that was diverted from the land-fill. It was a beautiful site. I will NEVER forget the moment he pulled that carpet back. Wigglers were squirming everywhere!!! 30lbs of waste weekly would not need a bed as large as described. 10-12 lbs of worms with about 6 square feet of surface should do it. Pre-composting the waste would help. Food scraps will attract vermin and other critters. Good luck, and keep us posted. You can do it!

Welcome to the world of worms Benamarq! 1) I started a mini-bin on May 1st in addition to my larger bin with only 10 adult worms in a 40 oz clear plastic jar and by June 1 st, I had 20 more worms in varying stages of development plus many cocoons. Those 30+ worms are still only being fed a tiny bit of food which was previously frozen. Ex: a sq. inch of watermelon or banana peel. When that has almost disappeared, then I add another piece. I have never smelled any bad odors except when allowing too much water to stand, so add more dry bedding (a dry piece of cardboard pushed down along the side will wick up the excess and the worms just love to hang out there) or use a turkey baster to get the excess if you see that happening. Adding too much food will lead to bad odors, too. So, I find that covering the food with a damp piece of cardboard in my larger flo-thru bin allows me to see how much progress the worms are making and I often see several hanging out there. It doesn't sound as if you should have any problems with too much moisture since you have holes in the bottom. Just remember that the worms will eventually eat the bedding and really only eat the microbes that help the food decay. 2) I just read a previous page of the previous Q&A each day, but most of the members here are very patient with new "wormers" questions if you give enough information as you have. Patience is something you need a lot of when you take up this hobby :) 3) I have found that the worms really like the wettest part of the bin the most, but too much water left standing is more of a problem. Generally, the food you add releases water as it decomposes, so you don't usually have to add water in a covered bin, but if you feel that it's too dry, add some day old water with a spray bottle. Is yours covered or open? Also, what is the temperature of the basement where the worms are kept? Ideally, worms do best in the same temperatures that we like, but very damp and totally dark. PS...I still check mine daily, mainly to see how much food is left or if there are any bad odors. I try not to feed them strong smelling vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, onions or garlic either as I have heard that those will lead to a stinky bin.

What a great thread. I miss grandma/bubbie! (Yes, I had one of each!) Mom's mom was Dutch, and I don't remember anything remarkable about meals at her house, but she had an awesome garden and fresh home grown produce says "Home at last" to this Michigan girl. I remember eating fresh picked blackberries with cream at grandma's. But the "home at last" moment for me always when visiting grandma (mom drove us up about once a month) was walking into her house and going straight to the cookie jar on the front closed in porch. Almost always there would be my favorite molasses cookies. I have grandma's recipe but it makes enough for an army so I don't make them too often. She also made a very bland sugar cookie I didn't much care for, and homeade cake donuts. I never much cared for those like the molasses cookies. "Home again" at grandma's and also at my mom's house means someone will put the kettle on for afternoon tea. That almost always includes a little something sweet, like the cookies. Sadly, these days due to having to be on a low acid diet, I can't drink tea. That is the saddest thing for me. But I try to make do with afternoon low acid decaf coffee! Bubbie lived in our hometown, and we used to go there on Sundays for the whole shebang--homeade chicken soup with either homeade noodles or matzoh balls, roast chicken with the stuffing in the bird, homeade applesauce, boiled or mashed potatoes, salad, cooked vegetables and usually macaroons, jelly candies or chocolates for dessert. Bubbie made oatmeal cookies too, which I loved. Her kitchen had big windows and was always kind of shadowy because she probably didn't turn on the light in there often to save money. She had one of those old fashioned little refrigerators with the rounded edges and big chrome handle, and a big porcelin sink hanging from the wall with a skirt around it. Linoleum on the floor. How I miss that kitchen, with the chrome table and the chrome chairs with naugahide, and Bubbie would make me another one of my favorites--lukshen noodles, which is a noodle pudding but Bubbe's version was just noodles, cottage cheese and cinnamon sugar. It is one of my great sadnesses that I don't have a family that wants to get together for one of those Sunday family meals. Oy vey, all those carbs!! My own mother was a similar cook to her mother--from her I gained an appreciation for vegetables and fresh fruits. And afternoon tea. Her specialties are potato salad made with grey poupon mustard and dill weed and lots of eggs, and a cucumber and sour cream salad made with chives. Dad is uber picky so mom wasn't able to spread her culinary wings much. But I really loved those summer meals--burgers with homegrown tomatoes on top, home grown corn, and those salads! Home grown watermelon or muskmelon for dessert. And for Sunday brunch, waffles with strawberries and sour cream and MI local maple syrup. Luckily, I carry on most of their traditions, I just sadly don't have any children in my life to pass these traditions on to.

For the average person though, one who feels fine eating everything, exactly what am I going to be feeling if I give up these foods? If you feel fine, why bother? In other words, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But I would say it's worth trying for anyone who doesn't feel as well as they would like to. Another thought, Ellen . . . I don't know how old you are, but many people seem to do just fine eating whatever, but then at some point don't tolerate certain foods as well as they used to. Their digestion gets quirky, they lack energy, and so on. My severe allergy to solanine (in all the nightshade vegetables and a few other things) didn't start until I was in my thirties, and has gotten progressively worse. Momrox, I have a tendency toward high cholesterol too, but have kept it in check by being very careful about saturated fats, plus eating oat bran. I've eaten oat bran (raw or cooked) every day for years. I just had my cholesterol checked, and it was 168. That's good for me. Now I have to do better with triglycerides, which are inching up. They're just borderline, though--nothing like the dangerously high numbers I had years ago, before I gave up sugar and lowered my carb intake. When I was stricter about carbs than I am now, my numbers were excellent. I'm sorry about your husband. I'm a widow too, and have to guard against mindless eating. It slips in.... I just came across this website with info on JJ Virgin's approach. I'm sure there are loads of other resources too.