Vermicomposting in the cold-climate apartment – Grate Idea

June 10, 2007

(Read more at http://kitchenecology.blogspot.com )

When I was a kiddy, one of my jobs was to clean the fireplaces. Each fireplace and stove had an ash pan that slid out. I would deposit the ash in the garden and return to sweep out the cavity.

A few months ago I set up a second tower vermicomposter to use as a finishing tower.

Here is a view of it today. I have been feeding it in the main with the outfall from my primary vermicomposter. I offer it a cup of grey water twice a week to keep it moist.

My reasoning is that stray eggs hatch and the baby worms finish off whatever was not digested from the primary vermicomposter.

Of course, the baby worms grow to adults and lay eggs, so that … well, anyway.

You can see that bits of shredded paper and castings have been dropping through the grate, which I made from a refrigerator shelf I found lying outside.

I can jiggle the castings through the doorway and they fall on to the plywood base, from where I can shovel them out, but the shoveling is awkward in such a confined space.

Here is one end of an end-table that no-one wanted. I dis-assembled it and saved the plywood ends and top, figuring they would come in useful one day. Waddyaknow! The end is twenty inches square – a perfect fit for the cavity under my tower.

I have removed the beading from the edge. Too fancy for a vermicomposter. Find a Second Use For Everything, right?

Right! I can trim it into twelve inch lengths and glue it to the edges of my shelves in the bedroom.

"Where is Quality Control while all this is going on?", you might ask.

Evidently he has been busy on the balcony. Again.

I hung on to a thick cardboard backing from a picture frame. I am scoring and cutting it with a fruit knife (SUFE!).

It is 4¼" wide and fits perfectly inside the cavity.

I use 1¼" pins to hold the sides in place. There is no grate (!) load on the sides; they need only stop the castings from spraying inside the cavity.

Oh look! It doesn't fit! I had mis-calculated the clearance required. To fit the grate in the cavity.

Since I am using pins and cardboard, it's no trouble to take it apart, trim half an inch of each of the three sides and re-assemble the tray.

I took the opportunity, when re-pinning the two sides pieces, to make them overlap the base of the tray. I am optimistic that the edges of the sides will act as crude rails and ease the sliding of the grate.

And here we are, all assembled and put in place. I make put a drawer handle on the front to facilitate the sliding out of the grate.

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