Worms consume rotten vegetable matter along with small grains of rock to help digest the food(just like birds). The worm manure or castings as they are called are incredibly rich in nutrients. The fact that worms eat their way through soil, creating tunnels for air and water to get into, make them the most valuable addition you can add to your garden or flower box. They eat almost their weight in food every day. They never harm living matter. They are bi-sexual and need another worm to reproduce. As long as the food supply is good they will reproduce a lot.

A few years ago I started with a pound of worms (about 1000) as my breeding stock. I now have a freezer full of worms. I estimate about 5000-7000 worms in there. I have been saving my compost stuff to feed them and I have been putting my food scraps and coffee grounds to good use. I have been slowing down on feeding them during the winter because I don't have the room to let them expand too quickly. I have 4 more bins I have to convert over then I will be ready to start splitting up the stock, I'm just waiting for the weather to get warmer.

Since I am an avid fisherperson, I will have all the bait I need. I am also a gardener. Since I have been using compost scraps, I am going to get the most of my worm castings and worm tea.

What is worm tea you ask? When I make the bins I drill tiny holes in the bottom to help it drain and to add air to the soil. When the worms consume the rotten matter, there is a lot of liquids released. It flows out the bottom of the bin and I collect it in recycled orange juice containers. This liquid is highly sought after by gardeners who want to add natural fertilizers to the soil. From what I have read, it is too strong to add directly and needs to be diluted. I have not had enough to experiment with to see what the dilution factor would be. I will have to do more research on that. Worm tea looks like tea and it has almost no smell.

I am surprised that there is very little smell coming from the bins. Since I don't have my garage set up to house the worms through the winter, I have them under the kitchen table. I have an old freezer I am going to convert. I may be able to get away with leaving them in there, if I find a few bales of straw to put around it.

As bait the type of worms I am raising(Red Wigglers) are known to stay alive along time on the hook, attracting more fish. They are smaller than the big Night Crawlers, but they are livelier. Since they are related to manure worms, they don't get illnesses bunched up in clumps like some other worms do. Since they are hand fed they are are tastier to the fish. I have tried a few last year compared to the big dew worms I dug up in my garden. The Reds did better. Ants and other insects are their enemies. The ants can a ttack and they steal their food supply. I will have a longer list when I have read up on it more.

I will be selling them for bait , 20 -$2.00, depending on the local trade. This year I will not have enough to sell pounds or 1/2 pounds, but I will next year if all goes well. By getting the word out that worms are good for your soil and good for the environment, I will be promoting a good cause and make ethical money doing it. That is a win-win situation.