I have two worm farm setups I use to recycle kitchen waste, and create compost. One I bought, the other I made from materials I bought, and I love them both.
This one is called the Worm Inn. I really like it because of how low maintenance it is, how easy it is to harvest castings and compost out of the bottom, and the way it provides leachate, dripping it from the bottom into the bucket below it. That leachae always supercharges my fruit trees every year, making them explode with fruit. Disadvantages: Because of the contact the material inside has with the air on the outside (one of it's best strengths, btw) it dries out fast, and you really have to remember to water it. The waste you add doesn't provide enough moisture like it does with other worm systems. I empty the bucket below it into my garden, and I another one near by full of water that has rested (allowed the chlorine to exit the water) that I pour into it. Within about 24 hours the bucket below is full of leachate. I do this at least once a week in the summer. The more the better. If you let it dry out the worms will die of course. Not a disaster though if it happens, as when you re-moisturize it, any eggs in there will hatch and you'll be back up and running in a few weeks.

This is my other setup. I essentially just took rubbermade 18 gallon storage containers, drilled holes the bottom of all but the bottom one, and in the lid for the top one, and nested them inside one another on top of some bricks located in the bottom one. It has worked great for me for many years generating lots of compost. Disadvantages: High maintenance. Because of the lack of contact the material inside has with outside air, it gets anaerobic pretty fast. That will sour the system and kill the worms or force them to leave it if allowed unchecked. To prevent that I toss all the material every week. I have an extra bin that is empty, and I toss one of them into it, and another into that one, and so on until I've tossed all the bins and the last one I tossed is now empty. That one becomes next weeks empty bin. That doesn't harm the worms at all, and keeps the system oxygenated, which keeps it cooking along nicely, making lots of compost. A real advantage to this system is that it is infinitely expandable, just keep adding bins until you have met the needs of your waste stream. Mine has 5 bins now. Another advantage: Because of the heat this baby generates, it cooks compost fast if you keep it tossed weekly.

Edited by BugFinder, December 21 2014 - 11:52 PM.