They are the undervalued "work horses" of the garden. The more I read about these little creatures the more amazing they are. There are multiple species of earthworms which I didn't realize until I started doing some research.
six2007, you do need to be careful about overfeeding them in the bins. If you use wet shredded newspaper for bedding you hardly have to add anything at first. You wet the newspaper and then press most of the water out of it, so nothing runs out when you squeeze it.
We're so pleased with the results of this first bin, we're going to start another bin. It normally takes about 6 months to get much in the way of castings. We started this one in Feb and you can see the castings all over the sides.
I'll try to get some decent pictures, it's pretty cool

My 4 year old DGD thinks the worms are neat! LOL I also do a class on worms for a Master Gardener project. It's designed for 1st and 3rd graders and that is always a hoot! The little ones are so funny and it is so much fun. They are fascinated by the idea that I "grow" my own worms.........LOL