Q: Do you ship?
A: I am a tiny local effort and do not ship any products I'm afraid, but am glad to meet you in person and talk about worms and composting!
Q: What kind of bin should I get?
A: For the brand-new vermicomposter, it's usual to recommend a simple inexpensive Rubbermaid-style storage tote with some drainage and ventilation holes added. There are lots of resources for constructing a bin online including my friend Bentley "Compost Guy" Christie's excellent site, and I also recommend reading a good book like Worms Eat My Garbage for bin ideas.
For those who know they are committed to vermicomposting and are willing to make a bit more of an investment, a flow-through system like the VermiBag is easy to recommend. At my request, I have become an affiliate vendor for Vermibags as I've had such great luck with them and service from Tom who makes them. They are convenient, clean, self-ventilating, attractive, make harvesting SO MUCH easier, elevate the worms to a comfortable working height, and can even contain the occasional outbreak of fruit flies so you can vacuum them up. I personally love the Vermibags and sell them here via an affiliate link. Unlike other bag systems these are USA-made, really well designed and constructed (we Coloradans sure love good gear!), and I've had great success with them.
For the DIYer who is ready for a serious system, check out my build video of my current large CFT, the VermBin 96.
Q: Are your castings and tea kits organic?
A: My products comport fully with USDA and OMRI organic standards, but certification is prohibitively expensive. The vermicomposting process can take non-rated feedstock materials and produce USDA-compliant vermicast! No waste is accepted from sources that use any weed or pest treatments.
Supplemental ingredients in my tea kits are also USDA Organic complaint, sourced responsibly, and whenever available are OMRI certified themselves. Note that if you are a certified organic farmer, if you make tea and add anything like molasses to the brew then your tea is NO LONGER ORGANIC and must be applied 90 to 120 days before any harvest is conducted just like unprocessed manure. Their rules, not mine.
Q: What if I have problems?
A: I am glad to be available for assistance, trouble-shooting and worm talk! If for some reason we cannot get your bin on track, you have taken reasonable steps to take care of your worms and are still unsatisfied, I will gladly take the worms back and refund your purchase to make it right.
Q: Can I get bugs in my house from using insect frass?
A: No. My colonies are grown in a system that cultivates adults and larvae separately by age cohort, so any eggs present hatched weeks before any frass is harvested.
Q: Are these worms good for adding worms to my vegetable garden? Can I put them in my compost bin outside?
A: Short answer, not really. With composting worms you'll get much better results using the castings as a supplement and making aerated vermicast teas than you will adding worms directly to your garden, particularly in our alkaline soils. I'm glad to sell you the worms but I want you to be happy and the truth is that composting worms are very, very different than earth worms. Buy me a beer and I would love to discuss epigeic (composting, litter-dwelling) and anecic (burrowing/earth) worm biology... they're both pretty fantastic! There are great ways to compost with worms outdoors in Colorado (I do it myself) and am glad to help set you up if you are interested in learning more! But the only way to get lots of worms in your garden is to ATTRACT earthworms there. Can't cheat Mother Nature on this one I'm afraid! I can certainly recommend strategies for adding earthworms such as Canadian Nightcrawlers to your garden, attracting native earthworms (preferred), and other soil-improvement strategies.
Please note that importing and using Alabama Jumpers (aka Snake Worms, Crazy Worms) is a terrible idea: they are invasive and harmful! Amynthas worms are an Asian species and may be used as bait, may be present in nightcrawler beds (and sold along with them), or introduced through compost or mulch from infested areas. You may see recommendation to use them as garden soil enhancers and they do that very well, but their invasive potential is too great to risk it.