An in-ground system seems to work for the vermicomposting operation in the link below (browse around and you'll see photos of the wormeries covered by snow). It still requires digging, just not as deep. It looks like you could build it in 4' x 8' sections and add additional sections as you have the energy and funds. I don't think drainage is an issue with in-ground systems. There won't be air circulation, so I assume controlling feedstock will be important.

This article shows a similar system:
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Boxwood+Vermicomposting.html

This link takes you to a download of a small pdf describing how to set up windrows to vermicompost with manure:
http://equineextension.colostate.edu/content/view/171/57/

In any of these systems, the largest cost will be the worms. 48 sq. ft. ideally would be stocked with 24 lbs. to start.

Here is a link that might be useful: outdoor bins

Awesome links plumiebear.

150' covered in snow. Truely amazing stuff.

If that herd ever got out, no council landfill would be safe!
Thanks

Jay, there's actually an amazing amount of info about larger vermi-systems out there. The link below shows some larger aerated systems. These might work in winter if covered with a tarp, but I'm not sure how the aeration would be affected. If you have sufficient manure mass, I'm sure heating it is not a problem.

Andrew

Here is a link that might be useful: very large aerated system

If I had a farm, I wouldn't bother with vermicomposting. I'd have an outdoor 3-bin system like the one described in the link below. Composting will slow down in your cold winters (although it will still go on in the center of the pile, especially if you keep it covered), but as soon as the weather warms up, the worms and other organisms will catch up with the backlog.

Worms participate in outdoor, non-containerized compost systems too. Just put it in the ground and they will come.

Here is a link that might be useful: Choosing a compost system

The three bin system would only be large enough for a large yard or hobby farm as long as there were no animals. Add a animal like a horse and you are talking a hundred to a hundred and twenty five pounds of horse poo a day. That over time becomes one big pile of crap. Over 3000 pounds a month.

With enough worms they can process the daily pile in far less time than conventional composting. A couple hundred pounds of worms will eat a hundred pounds of of poo every day.

Traditionally we used to make a pile of manure and let it sit for a full year before using it in the garden.

If you compost in a three bin system you can use the manure in around 3 months in good weather. But you would have to have shoveled that manure three times before being able to use it. And you would have a very large backlog of manure waiting for its turn through the composting bins.

Far better to make one pile or windrow add worms and top off the pile as needed. To harvest just take from the bottom of the pile or the back end of the windrow.

Thanks to everyone for their insight and input. It seems I started quite a discussion, lol..... yes we live on a ten acre hobby farm... we have a horse, a cow, a llama, 4 sheep, 4 goats, 6 potbelly pigs, two dozen ducks, a dozen pheasant, a pair of peacocks, 80 chickens...... and in the two years I have been here, I have not accumulated tons of poop, lol.... all the animals are turned out daily onto 5 acres... locked up at night so only the overnight is collected and so far, we have stacked and aged..... raked down the pasture a few times a year without collection there...most of the fowl and bird poop is used as is to start new garden beds.... so the amount of poop is minimal compared to some of the 'expectations' mentioned here.... I already use a three bin system for my yard and garden waste but it is a slow process.... I mainly wanted to expand my worm farm to have larger amounts of compost faster... I use the small amounts I get with my bin system for house plants and wanted to spread out and use it for the flower beds too.... and plus it would be a way to raise my own worms to add to the compost bins for quicker results.....I really wanted to know if anyone had used the refrigerator method because I do not wish to use windrows and take up long ditches of area for composting... I guess I will take this back to the drawing board.. .. maybe start with some underground boxes and see how that goes.....thanks to all....

Well I was thinking windrows until I read your last post(:

I think the fridge would be fine use it for target practice first to get some air holes(: I bet if you bank it with straw bales it would hold heat pretty well and some manure should help heat things a little and if all else fails you can add a heat source if you want could be as simple as hanging a light bulb in there

With the amount of organic material you could be processing, if you try to do too much in one shot, you are going to have a lot of heat generated in spring and summer which going to be problematic unless your chickens like to eat toasted worms.

However, I'm sure a fridge size could work. One thought - For aeration, why not use a tropical fish tank bubble maker (its just about the size of your fist, cheap and uses a trivial amount of electricity. In winter you could locate the pump intake in a warm part of your house (or hen coop) bury or wrap the pipe and lead it directly into the bottom of the fridge - hence moderate warmth and lots of air. And the insulation of the fridge should do the rest.

If you really want a tiered system for handling bigger quantities, you could just repeat a number of seperate stacked tyre worm farms (this old fashioned traditional method of worm farming is the cheapest possible and I believe it was often done on farms even in cold areas). The tire rubber gives some insulation but you can also try surrounding the units with straw bales or something more hi-tech for better insulation in winter

Here is a link that might be useful: Traditional Worm Farming

This video might be helpful. There's a bin at the beginning of the video. If I could keep it from freezing in the winter I'd do this.

Here is a link that might be useful: Outdoor bin

I finally decided to GO LARGE and did, but using a system that is 100% guaranteed and proven for millenia: I emtied my Rubermaids full of red wigglers into my huge compost pile. The pile is simple a long rectangle of three haybales layed end to end on one side and nine end to end on the long sides, both of a double thickness with the bales laid out so that the straw is vertical. That makes it about three feet tall. Filled every day with kitchen waste, but also containing plenty of horse and cow,beer wort, hay, leaves and a range of microorganisms. Most of the materials were freely given by the local farmers and cattle auction barns. Also, dug up a half a truck load of cow dirt full of huge night crawlers and added those a couple months ago. The wigglers and night crawlers are ecstatic. Yesterday, when doing some turning they were busily at work and plenty of both varieties. NO more rubbermaids, Bokashi blends, expensive starters, or genuine, guaranteed, bona fide, miracle powders or sprays for me. I did add some fungi from fungi perfecti and a range of myco and other organisms for the soil....when the compost goes into the garden it will be an innoculant in itself. This is NOT rocket science and doen't need to be more complex...OR EXPENSIVE!

Maybe you should consider something like this--->http://www.wormwigwam.com/

They have that small one and ones even larger than that.