CG>For $24 I can get a 10-foot length of six-inch diameter PVC
                           It is done.
Hardest part was wrestling the 10' length of pipe back inside the 
Hyundai Excel after each set of streetcar tracks .....
I used the old Vermicomposter bin the city sold me for $10 a 
while back. Cut off 48 inches of pipe (I'm 5'6" tall and wanted 
to be left with some advantage!) and used three short and stubby 
woodscrews to screw through from the outside of the bin, into the 
tube, which I held with a block of wood some three inches above 
the base of the bin. Self-tappers would have been better, but 
then the washing-machine would have fallen apart. 
The whole thing is surprisingly stable. I thought I'd have to 
use a wooden brace, an L-shaped platform under the bin and a 
vertical to anchor the pipe, but at four feet, it doesn't seem 
too bad.
heigh-ho! and don't waste time tidying up the jar of nuts screws 
washers and bolts in the bedroom - there's a continual-feed 
composter in the kitchen waiting to be primed. (headline tonight 
on local TV: "Nut screws washers and bolts in the bedroom!") 
The 13-litre ice-cream pail makes a great pourer of sifted soil, 
as the pail is quite flexible and the rim can be pursed to funnel 
soil + worms into the composter. The worms let out wild shrieks 
the likes of which i haven't heard since I watched those five 
teenage girls playing truant at the roller-coaster at Mission 
Bay, San Diego five years ago. Or was it six? 
Now I have a tallus-slope of sieved soil at the base of the tube, 
starting to spread out across the base of the bin. Into the top 
of the tube goes the composter-pail I started a few days ago 
(phew!) and it gets topped off with today's garbage from the 1-
litre sink-strainer and a few trowels of earth from the base of 
the tube. 
That lot will settle over the next few hours, after which I'll be 
able to load a little more sieved soil from the other six pails - 
although maybe I'll leave them to finish maturing in the laundry 
closet. 
Providing there is as little odour from the tower as there was 
from the pails, it'll be a treat to have the composter right in 
the kitchen. The footprint is so much less than the pail method.
With the pails I had the pail-being-loaded and an ice-cream pail 
of sieved soil to top it off after each batch of garbage was 
emptied.
Now I have just the bin, and I can just scoop a few trowels of 
composted soil from the bin and pop them back into the top of the 
tube. 
Based on my limited experience, it will take about three weeks 
for me to gauge the speed of the tower. I may yet set up a second 
tower (I still have six feet of tube left).
Obtaining soil for potting will be as simple as dragging some 
soil from the base of the tower and giving the worms a head-start 
to retreat to darkness and safety.
christopher.greaves@ablelink.org     www.interlog.com/~cgreaves
 * 1st 2.00b #6263 * Don't Brake!
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