As I write this, I can hear the sound of newspaper being ripped in long, thin strips in the next room.

According to the USPS Tracking system, 1000 of my newest pets have already arrived at my local post office and are probably being sorted and loaded on a mail truck right now to arrive at my mailbox very soon.

What do newspaper strips and imminent pets have to do with each other?

Calling them “pets” is a stretch, but red wiggler worms need lots of moist bedding in their bin, and the newspaper should do the trick. The ultimate destination of the worm bin is underneath the rabbit hutch, but until the rabbits arrive and start to do their business, kitchen scraps and leaf mold mixed with cellulose (the newspaper) will get them started.

I’ve always wanted a worm bin, and getting rabbits seemed to be the push I needed to make it happen.

Regular, ground-dwelling earthworms have always done the trick in my garden, but they don’t adapt to above-ground set-ups like bins under hutches, so that’s where the store-bought worms come in. Eisenia fetida, the red wiggler or tiger worm, can live happily in bins, in more crowded conditions, and so it finally made sense to try vermicomposting for real.

We’ll see how it works once the bunnies get here and really get the system moving.

By the way, we have had some terrible problems with this website going cockeyed on us the last couple of weeks, due to some plug-ins, etc. Apparently all that many of you all could see was strange symbols and gunk. We think it’s back to normal now, but you may have been unable to see a couple of the more recent posts (and may be unaware of the rabbit situation altogether).

If you wanted to catch up, here’s where I made the rabbit announcement.

And here’s where I show the beginnings of the hutch I’m building.

And here’s where Deanna reflects on one of her favorite posts from the past.

We’re very sorry about all the weirdness! Thanks to those who alerted us to the strange.