We have a rat problem. I think anyone who has a compost heap WILL have problems2 with mice and rats if they put foodscraps on the compost, but it drives us nuts, and the chickens are fussier than I'd like and don't eat all the foodscraps I'd like them too (useless dinosaurs that they are!). But I refused to put this kind of waste in the bin to go to landfill - that's just ridiculous. Nutritious waste needs to go back into the cycle - worms, soil, manure, food, worms, soil, manure, food.

Enter the worm bucket. Simply drill small holes in the bucket, dig it into the dirt, fill it with scraps and put a lid on it. These holes are too big really but it still works - they had holes from another project and I didn't want to throw them out. Leave it for a month or so and voila - those food scraps just disappear into the soil, the worms doing their wonderful wormy thing. Oh, I know I could have a worm farm, but I've never had any success with them. The extreme heat in the summer here tends to kill them off or they get stinky. This is a good solution for me.

By making the holes in the buckets tiny, just enough for worms, you can lift the bucket out of the soil and sprinkle the worm castings over the garden. I've just been digging new holes, lifting the bucket out of the soil and filliing it in with the soil from the new hole.

Ground eggshells are meant to be a good addition which help worms grind up their food. Sprinkle with a bit of soil and lime - that's meant to keep it nice and sweet.