The quick and dirty method for separating worms from compost of your worm farm.

A quick way to separate worms from their compost is to dump a whole entire layer into a large vessel, like the one pictured.  Then I then fish the worms out (not as hard as you think, you can feel them and grab them from the brew) and pour and use compost water on garden.  I use this method when I don't have time to fuss around, and would like to clear some room in my compost bin fast!  Also, seeds float to the top, so you can remove future sprouters.  

How to fish them out?  Any utensil - they really grab onto any object which passes through the water they will cling to.  Truly, my rubber gloved hand passes through at the end to make sure I have got them all out (or most - as long as you return as many as you can, they can only assist in the garden - dead or alive...)

I deposit them into a separate bucket which I have ready before I start, then when I am done I throw them all back to work in the worm farm.  I had started initially by using colanders, but they get clogged up and are unnecessary.  With worm farming, your rubber gloves are your best friend (and tossing around the layer you are adding to each time - and adding lots of paper!)

I also have a bucket ready to throw all the crap like seeds, and another for uncompostable crimes of humanity - plastic bits.  The seeds and bits can be composted, tossed somewhere to rot, or perhaps planted.  

This method allows you to clear what you are throwing in your garden from rubbish, or unwanted things - and since you are adding the compost with water, the plants can access the rich brew just fine!  A wonderful method.

For the usual method - which I finally realized how to do easily, go here.

How to clear out the vermicompost (worm castings) from your worm farm (otherwise known as "the regular way")

Hey! I just wanted to say that I finally discovered how to remove vermicompost (pure worm castings) from your worm farm"the slow way" (and also the regular way) .

I found worm farming a great "get back to nature" learning curve, as I used to live in a small place where I couldn't compost the regular way (pile or bin of alternating food scraps, lawn clippings, paper out in a shared yard). It seemed to take me ages to get the hang of it - but now I understand soil and therefore gardening so much better. But I didn't understand why everyone said, "open a layer of your worm farm to the sunlight and they will crawl away", as when I did there were still millions of worms crawling in the layer of the worm farm.

So I would dump an the entire layer of the worm farm into a very large container, fill it with water, and bail out the worms (see my post here). It was very quick, true - but also very messy.

The other day I was speaking to my very precise friend Carol, who also has a worm farm. She mentioned to me that they just crawl about a centimeter down in the layer and you have to skim that depth that the worms have left over and over again. It can take all day.

Eureka! Recently I needed some actual worm castings (not fertilizer water) for making seed raising mix. It was a very sunny day, I skimmed and skimmed, depositing the rich worm casting (looks like wet dark mud) into another bucket. Really, it didn't take that long - about an hour (I would suggest doing it on a very sunny day) - and I actually didn't even need to get my gloved hands dirty.

Now I will have to tell the Kohanga Reo that I had encouraged to worm farm, and had educated with only my "lazy method" (dump layer in water and bail out worms) to clear out the castings that they are suffering in vain...

In summary:
I find the very bottom layer (the draining compartment below the bottom layer) to be the richest depository of worm castings - as there is no food, seeds, uncomposted fibers or rubbish remnants. Mine is always full of worms, and pure castings.