RedWormComposting has a Canadian site but they indicate that

** Composting worms are temporarily unavailable. We should be back in action by early-to-mid September **

Here is a link that might be useful: Worm Composting Canada

You may have already seen this but City Farmer, Canada's Office of Urban Agriculture has a page with Worm Suppliers across Canada link

Thank you boreal_wormer for those links.

Yes, I had seen both. Disappointed by the unavailability of RedWormComposting (I'm impatient), and the City Farmer lists two potential sources both of which no longer deal with worms.

A question you may be able to answer: RedWormComposting now sells a mix of red wigglers and european earthworms. I have only had the reds before. Do the european earthworms try to escape more than the reds?

Thank you again for your response, much appreciated.

Just because they are temporarily out of worms does not mean you can not get started. Getting the bin ready three weeks early is perfect and possibly better than building it today and putting worms in it tomorrow. I would get the bin situated. Read the board backwards and open any posts that interest you. Shred up all your bedding. Shred up even more bedding to keep handy right there to always add in a new handful. Give an extra chop to kitchen scraps and put them in the blender or food processor. Put some in the bin and mix it around. If it heats up you have three weeks for it to cool down and balance out. Freeze the rest of the scraps. That works well to get it ready for the bin.

"Do the european earthworms try to escape more than the reds?"

I don't know as I've only ever had red wigglers. Hopefully someone else will be able to answer that question for you. Good luck with your new bin.

Thanks to you too equinoxequinox. I may just do that, sounds like a plan and it may just keep my impatience at bay.

Jane

cjd63

You might take a look at eBay for live red worms...there are several top rated sellers who will guarantee live delivery..There is one in Pennsylvania and that would not be too far from you...I am not into worms but am thinking on it and checked out the sources on eBay a few days ago..

Good luck on your quest for worms..

Thanks jaydigger, I'll take a look.

You could check craigslist in your area to see if anyone is advertising aged horse manure as garden compost. It may be full of red wiggler worms!

You said it sjensen2533.

A pound of worms = $30.

50 pounds of free horse manure = 5 pounds of red wigglers and food and bedding for 3 months.

My big news is, I have a s**tload of worms. At least I think I do! I took sjensen2533's advice and checked on Kijiji for someone giving away aged horse manure. Tried to research to see if it would contain red wigglers given that Nova Scotia tends to have a hard winter, but when I couldn't find the answer decided I'd go give it a try anyway. My first shovelful of aged horse manure showed me that they certainly do survive our winters, at least covered in horse poop they do. Got about 40 lbs of manure, and we will see how many worms I harvest from it. The best thing is I get to spread everything else on my garden. Yay! I had a good day today, got myself some worms and some horse manure for nothing!

Thanks everyone.

Jane

Super! So great to hear you had success!