Eggs in the worm bin...sound about right? For those of you new vermicomposters out there, you have probably witnessed bunches of tiny white eggs along the rim of your worm bin, and maybe on some of the material. This is totally common when starting out and none other than a form of mites. Nothing major to freak out about.

Chances are they're showing up because you're overfeeding the worms, which is really easy to do when first starting out. These little guys are nothing more than moochers...they exist separately from your worms, other than when they snack on worm corpses, it seems. Apparently, they are a sign of imbalance in your worm bin. Personally, I don't mind them because critters means you have an active habitat.

To get the bin a little more stable, all you need to do is:

A) Add finely crushed eggshells to increase the calcium levels and stimulate worms into doing the wild thing.

B) Take a break on adding new material for a week or so. They're picking up the excess slack.

Give the power back to the worms. I'm pretty sure they don't snack on the mites, although they should because the mites can hog up the food supply. Another trick is to take your food scraps and bury them deep in the bin where the worms are more likely to process it quicker and easier.

Holding off on feeding the bin is a bummer, and days feel like months. I want to give all my food scraps to the bin...so what's the alternative? I suggest digging a hole out back and bury your scraps for a little while. Not the most efficient, but it will nonetheless keep waste out of the general waste stream while eventually giving you some great dirt. Of course, if you have a compost tumbler you can add to that, too.

Remember virtual pets? Worms are way better and don't require batteries, so get your kids involved.

Keep it dirty!