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You are here: Home / Kitchen Chronicles / Chronicles of a Postage Stamp Gardener: Embracing the Earthworm

Chronicles of a Postage Stamp Gardener: Embracing the Earthworm

March 17, 2011 by Alison

This digging up the garden thing is a lot of work and quite an interesting experience for me. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done some casual garden digging before, but now I have a completely different outlook.

The earthworm improves the soil by swallowing it and later expelling it in the form of castings. What actually happens is that the earthworm takes in the soil, grinds it up, mixes it with calcium carbonate, pulverizes it, sends it on through the intestine to be digested by enzymes, and then excretes it. Duane Newcombe

Holy moly do I have a lot of worms! Although I am a bit skeeved, I understand this is a good thing. In fact, these slimy little squigglers are causing me to feel optimistic about my soil. With every shovel full I am turning up a half dozen worms. In truth though, I’m somewhat concerned I’ll have a nightmare — Attack of the worms! (I guess my worm phobia hasn’t completely vanished despite my IPS Gardening hat.) As they squiggle and squirm in my spade, and when I see that I’ve chopped a few in half, my stomach starts to churn and I lose whatever appetite I may have had.

I’ve also already ruined my running shoes and suede Merrils and have learned I’ll need to invest in a good pair of gardening boots. (I now understand the need for those silly rubber things.) And while I’m heave-hoeing to turn over the soil, I’m also sweating up a bloody storm.. I imagine I’m burning some calories (I’ll have to Google that!). I wonder if I can count this as a workout? With the worms as my hunger suppressant and all the sweat I’ll be releasing, come bathing suit season I should be in good shape!

Worms used to freak me out, but now that I am beginning to understand their usefulness, I’m looking at them differently!

Off to the garden shop to buy the nutrients to pump up my soil.

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About Alison J. Bermack

It all began when I was a child cooking with my dad, the kitchen a magnet for cooking and camaraderie, a refuge from adolescence. I spent countless hours chopping, sautéing and simmering my way through childhood. And now, with three kids of my own, I’m still chopping, but this time through their childhood and often with friends.

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