I gave my Mom a worm bin for Mother's Day!!!

You know that feeling where you just can't think of what gift to get someone.  You want to find them something special that you know they'll love, but you have no ideas and they can't think of any ideas to give you any ideas either. If you're lucky, like I was this time, all of a sudden and idea comes to you and you're set!

Courtesy of US dept. of Agriculture

Coming up with a gift for my Mom went just like this this year.  The idea that I landed on was completely nontraditional, but I knew she would love it!  I made her a worm bin!  Yep!  My sister and I gave my Mom a bin full of worms for Mother's Day.  It sounds a lot more like a gift that a 6 year old boy would give his Mom, huh?

I've got a feeling most of you have no idea what a worm been really is or what it is used for.  Worm bins have been becoming a more popular method of going green lately.  They are used as indoor composters for your organic kitchen waste.  Not only does this keep organic matter out of landfills, lowering the amount of methane gas produced (you can read more about the benefits of worm composting for our environment here: Wormilicious), but the worms produce amazing organic fertilizer!

My Mom is an avid gardener of flowers, fruits, and veggies, so having the worm castings to fertilize her plants with will be great!  Apparently worm poop is a fantastic fertilizer... some of the best out there!

Courtesy of the Klickitat County Website

When I came up with this idea, I knew I needed to build a worm bin, but I didn't have a clue where to start.  I watched a lot of videos and read a lot of articles on the subject and finally settled on this one.  It is called an OSCR Jr. worm bin and it is one of the most popular designs.  It is built out of Rubbermaid containers some thin pieces of wood, and a chuck of window screen.  It is very simple to make, only a little time consuming.  I followed these instructions.

Now, all I needed was the stuff that goes inside the bin- some bedding, some kitchen waste, and worms!  The regular old worms you'll find in your backyard aren't the right kind to use in a worm bin.  There are a few different worm options, but I opted for the Red Wiggler.  It is an efficient, versatile little bugger ideal for worm bins and fishing, which also will benefit my parents.  I bought my worms on eBay and got them in the mail!  Let me tell you how bad I wanted to write an, "I received 500 worms in the mail today" post, but I didn't want to risk spoiling the secret!  My worm package looked so funny when it showed up!  It was just a regular priority mail box, but the tape holding it shut was trapping in all sorts of dirt!  Our mail lady was really curious about it!

I prepared the bin for the worms by shredding up newspaper for bedding, wetting it down a little, and putting in a nice layer of food for them.  Then I spread out my little worms and let them go to town!  They seemed very happy in their new home.  My Mom's worm update today indicated the same thing.

I added the finishing touches with a little paint on the cover.  I painted four happy little worms, complete with eyes and smiley faces and wrote, "Ma's Worm World" in my very own font that I'm going to call, "Wormy Words". 

I was so excited to give her the worms!  I couldn't wait!  I knew she would love it!  We gave it to her right after my sister's Mother's Day concert at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN (hence the rose and the pink program).  My Grandma is the other lady in the video and my Dad is the background photographer.

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