I've tried a variety of composting methods over the years. My first was a 3' circle of chicken wire (all I could afford). The side aeartion was nice, but I kept getting the pitchfork tines stuck in the chicken wire. After that, I made a compost garden. That was an 8' octogon raised frame bed with a 2'diameter chicken wire in the middle. I dumped compostable stuff in the chicken wire, never turned it, and let nurients leach into the surrounding soil to feed cucumbers up the chicken wire, tomotos outside that and bell peppers and flowers and the outer ring. Worked well actually. More interesting, I happened to drive past the old house and, 20 years later, the octogon is still there (but with roses)! When I moved, I tried a plastic cylander that you filled up, waited a few weeks, lifted up and moved to the side and refilled from the old pile and with new material. It actually worked OK, but it was a pain to move. I finally build a real double compost bin. 4x4x3'H. I got tired of turning the compost from 1 bin to another and they both ended up being filled. That meant I had to fork everything out of one bin onto the ground, move the 2nd bin into the 1st, and move all the outside stuff into the 2nd. And the rich supply of melon rinds, carrot and potato peels, etc from the kitchen waste was attracting critters. Well, if they were eating the best stuff, it wasn't doing me any good. I decided to re-think the whole process... I started to leave my grass clippings on the lawn (free fertilizer). And I decided that the trees needed the nutrients from the decomposing leaves, so I merely shredded them with the mower and left them in place. That way, they wouldn't blow away, and any blown-in leaves would add to the nutrient pile. But I still had kitchen waste and weeds to compost. So I got an aerated closed tumbler to use for the rich critter-tempting stuff. The built compost bins get all the weeds and old flower stems and such. With an occasional shovel of fertile garden soil, that stuff breaks down eventually. The compost tumbler doesn't make compost worth a darn, but it does hold the kitchen waste nicely until it is too far gone to attract critters. So then it goes onto the old compost bins (turning it in once a month isn't much trouble). The other half of my new system is to get free mulch from the County recycling Center. It is lousy mulch, but only becuase it is way too decomposed for mulch. It does however make great compost after it sits for a year. It is as good as the leaf compost available commercially. I even let all my chicken bones dry out in the basement, pound them into pieces, and toss them in the kitchen waste tumbler to break down (free bonemeal) So the lawn keeps its clippings, the trees keep the fallen leaves, the critters can't get at the tempting kitchen waste, the old compost bins slowly provide some compost with little effort, and the year-old "mulch" is good as soil. I'm actually accumulating more than I can use. Guess where it is going? On the lawn! I have one of those pushable mesh barrels to sprinkle compost over the lawn. Anything that doesn't fall out through the mesh goes back onto the compost bin. :)

My large worm bin is a commercial one given by the city at their workshop, and it has 2 air holes at either end. That's it, no other holes. The lid snaps closed, tight. My other bins are buckets that the likes of Dairy Queen, Williams Coffee Pub throw out, that muffin mix, whipped cream etc come in. No holes in them at all, so the lids are ajar or completely off. I haven't had any escapees or crawling on the sides, maybe a couple or so worms exploring once in a while. Having said that, I worry if people new to worming, keep their lids off to force them into their bedding. If there are a large number of worms escaping or trying to escape, there's something wrong, and they're not happy. Forcing them into undesirable conditions isn't fair. "which I've done to have the light keep them at bay despite bin conditions" That sounds mean to me.

there are a few people who use large bins like yours...your commercial stacking bins would probably be the best but they are pricy. I have made myself a stacking system with meat / fish crates which works quite well. They are a little deep but work quite well. Have you thought of a flow through bin. Easy harvesting is a major advantage with this bin. Hope this helps.

We don't have Target yet and I'd like to get the closet done somewhat (so I can organize myself from the get go). Wally world and Fredmeyer both have the semi clear plastic bins for cheap, but they're not terribly tidy looking when all stacked up, and you really can't clearly see what is inside. I also have bins of cloths RM LOL DS had a gorgeous wardrobe because he never grew. I was a big ebay shopper and it's fll of Polo, Hilfiger, blah blah and his sailor suit collection almost riveled his sweater vest collection. I still hold on, hoping to have that baby to use them on. How's that going? I find out tomorrow if I'm pregnant (we're doing Clomid and a little assortment of timing and drugs). The pee test says no, but I'm told it's rather early for those so we do a blood test tomorrow. We'll see :) I'm sorry it's not happening yet for you...You're in my thoughts there!!! Now, off to sidelines LOL Oh an I do understand shipping because it's a fact of life her in Alaska, but almot 900 for twenty boxes is REDICULOUS! It's not that expensive to ship here.