Compost Continued

My mom, also my director, told some other early childhood professionals about my students and their compost bin. Immediately two of them pointed out that the moisture in the bin had no way to drain and the bugs would drown after a big rain. Oh no.

I brought this predicament to my students. After explaining the problem and why this was a problem (drowning= dead),  I encouraged my students to make suggestions a it how to solve this problem. Many of them had suggestions: It's okay, we will just get new worms if these die. (After some consideration, we decided this was unfair to the worms.) Poke holes in the plastic so the water can drain out of the bottom. (Great idea, but we borrowed the container so it wasn't ours to destroy.) Dump out the water after it rains. (But what if we aren't here to do it, like in the evening or on a weekend?) Fill it to the top so that there is no space for water to get in. (Water can get in very small holes and fill it like a sponge.) Cover the holes with tape.  (Then no air can get in.) I just sat back and let my students consider and debate different choices.
Then one student suggested we make a lid for our lid.  A lid that had lots of space for air and bugs, but blocked almost all of the holes from the rain so only some moisture could get in.  They debated this.  What could we use to make this lid? How can we hold it on? Will it be successful? My students selected a large bucket and thought about string, glue, tape, or zip ties (a material we use a lot in my class).  They chose zip ties and worked together to assemble it.

After the next big rain, we hurried to check it.  All of our bugs were still alive (and more that we didn't even put in...EWWWW!!!) The soil was damp, but not soaking wet.  The lid was successful!

Today we found little bright green bead-like objects inside our compost.  They look like worm egg cases, but are not the same color as the ones we have found in our worm farm previously.  We can't wait to see what they become!