The worms are doing their thing. They’re tearing through the organic waste we’re depositing in their bucket every couple of days. The initial newspaper shreddings are also being converted. See the pictures.

Not quite sure when to take out the compost though…more research should hopefully shed some light on this. You can see what I have been able to harvest so far.

The smell coming from the bucket is dank, like what you smell when you scoop up soil and loam from a forest. Not pungent nor offensive. Flies have been attracted to the bucket as well but no more so than they would any decomposing material one might find in a garden.

It will be interesting to do a worm count to see how quickly these critters are multiplying. If conditions are favorable, how fast can they procreate? Again, research should help with this.

Here is a basic systems view of the dynamics involved in vermiculture. Of interest is that it is fundamentally a set of positive, reinforcing links. However, as always, too much of a good thing can push the system out of balance. This can be seen in the links involving moisture and adding organic material to the process. Another interesting point is that between each link there is a significant time delay. Thus if the balance is disrupted it may be awhile before the effects of the disturbance are noticeable. This is generally the problem with pollution. It takes a long time before we notice that the materials we release into our environment have significantly disrupted ecological systems.