Moist

I guess if I had given it much thought, I'd've realized how moist a vermicomposter can get. Organic waste is full of water -- vegetables and fruits contain a TON of water. But somehow I didn't think I'd put that much moisture into the bin.

Oops.

This is the base of the Can-O, and if you look closely, you can see a lot of moisture beading along the edges.

And this is a view of the base from a little further back. Yup. Those are dead worms.

Hmmmm.

It appears I neglected (or forgot or got lazy about or ignored) opening up the handy spigot to remove the excess liquid (the leachate, if you've been paying attention) to help regulate the moisture levels in the bin. And some of my faithful worms are drowned.

Dang.

Even worse, when I did put a handy Ikea container (formerly used for hairclips and crayons) under the spigot, I found out the worms, which seemed so round and vibrant, were now so... insubstantial... that they slid right out the spigot. Into my Ikea container that formerly held little girls' hairclips and crayons (although not usually at the same time).

Ick.

This could be a problem. Tune in tomorrow, when I discover exactly how many worms were involved in this atrocious wormicide.