Just a Little Farmin'

I have worms, yes that's right, worms. "Why worms?" you ask. Worms are the easiest livestock to look after and they work the hardest. They are easy to look after and you can go away for a week and not have to worry about them. The worm farm here can be made simply and cheaply and will take care of your kitchen waste, although they do have to share with the chooks. The nutrients from a worm farm are ideal for high demand plants and can be easily harvested. You have to face it, worms are just plain cute.
The worms, you use are compost worms NOT the regular worms that you dig up in your garden. The worm farm will not give great quantities (compared to a compost heap) of casting or worm tea but the quality is what is important here.  Worm castings are higher in micro-nutrients than compost which are more readily available to the plants also making your soil more aerated and able to hold more water in dryer areas. 

What I used:
an old bath tub from the tip shop 
second hand timber to make a frame for the tub 
Something for the top ( used an old fridge door as I had it left over from another project but an old door would do)
Old pipe and plumbing fittings to attach to the plughole and draining down to the old plastic container to catch the worm tea
A piece of mesh
a piece of old flyscreen wiring
something to use as a divider (you will see why later)
mushroom compost or coir
worms (I got mine from the worm farm at the school I used to teach at but hardware stores sell boxes of them)

I put a shelf under mine to keep my straw dry for the chooks.

I have glued (with liquid nails) 2 strips of thin timber down both sides at the middle of the bath leaving a channel wide enough for me to run a piece of perspex, cut to fit the shape of the bath to act as a divider as only one side of the bath will be used at any one time. When it is full on that side, the partition can be taken out place a piece of mesh with flywire on top (this stops the worms drowning in worm tea as it drains beneath this, down the plughole), then add bedding (mushroom compost or coir) can be laid in the new side, then food added. The worms will gradually migrate across to the new side leaving the old side ready to harvest. When feeding worms, make sure that there is no meat or citrus as they don't like it. I use a blender to mush the food up with a bit of water as they have tiny mouths. They also like cardboard and shredded newspaper. Make sure your worm farm is in a cool part of the garden and is kept moist inside (not wet). This moisture can be kept in by putting an old wet piece of carpet or cardboard over the top before closing the lid. 

Some of the happy inhabitants.

Of course, if you don't want to make your own, commercial ones are available. Have fun with your worms.