I'll have to stick with being a hobbyist, because I don't have a great place to overwinter a herd. No heated garage, and my house is so old the basement was dug out by hand. But I expect that next winter I could at least keep a couple of buckets of worms for six months.
I'm drawn to this because I need to amend the soil in my flower bed. My dream is to have soil so soft that when I pull a weed out, the entire root comes with it. In the past, I was wondering if it's enough to keep red wrigglers in a compost bin. But since I'm here, if there are any other gardeners, perhaps we can discuss methods of composting directly in the garden with worms. Glad to meet such a worm group of friends. - Rebecca