We’ve Got Worms!

Lombriculture, or raising earthworms, (California Red worms to be exact), is a project we are experimenting with to help Paraguayans with soil recuperation, and adding high quality organic fertilizer at the same time. Before teaching others, we thought we’d better experiment with these critters and see what this project involved….

Worms seemed like they would be so easy to take care of. They were brought to us by another volunteer, in a nice, neat little plastic bag. Just put them in a box with bedding, (I made it out of a fruit crate, with plastic bags woven through the slats), throw some kitchen scraps in once in a while- we loved our new pets…. And so did the ants…..

So, Mark sifted through the worms/ dirt, removed the ants and brought our worms into the kitchen. The ants also invited themselves inside. We were able to resolve the problem by creating a mini moat, filling a bowl with water, placing a jar inside the bowl, then balancing the box of worms on top of the jar, Ta-dah! No more ants!

Our worms are miniature food processing machines. They eat their body weight in veggie peels and food scraps every day, leaving behind castings rich in nitrogen. To take advantage of this plant “manna from heaven”, I went about the chore of worm picking, or separating the worms from their poo. I followed the directions, made piles from the contents of the box, waited for the worms to migrate to the bottom of the piles, and carefully scraped the castings from the top of the piles, (so as not to collect worms or their cocoons- worms eggs, pretty trippy!).

 

Two hours later, worms safely bedded in their box, on top of the jar, in the kitchen, I held my rich, dark, crumbly, garden-ready 10 pound bag of organic worm castings! I fed it to our veggies- an interesting concept, being fed a digested version of yourself….. hmmm, don’t know how long I want to consider that thought, (does “Soilent Green” ring a bell?)

 

Bottom line, raising worms is an interesting process, definitely not time efficient, but we do have some healthy, vigorous veggies to show for it! I don’t know if we’ll be able to sell this idea to Paraguayans- they seem pretty squeamish about the worms. Even though I made it clear that these are not the same as intestinal worms, the association remains. After all, this is a country that routinely administers an anti-parasitic, (fenbendazol), to kids in the schools every year.

Will we be working with Paraguayans to include lombriculture as a method for soil recuperation? Not quite sure. Until we can come up with a better way to raise ant-free worms outside, the jury’s still out on this method.