"Don't wish me happiness I don't expect to be happy all the time....It's gotten beyond that somehow. Wish me courage and strength and a sense of humor. I will need them all." Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Wednesday 19 April 2017

More on wild red wrigglers

I first posted on our efforts of finding wild red wrigglers and the box I built to house them in on October 2, 2016. I left the box with the worms inside outside by the woodshed for the winter and hoped for the best. It was a cold winter and at times I wondered how the 140 plus worms we had found were doing. I waited until early spring before looking inside. When I lifted off the lid and smelled the rich aroma of earth I knew that the worms were doing fine. I left them with a large bucket of kitchen scraps and a small pail of cut up, soaked recycled paper. Apparently there are 700 - 800 breeding worms in a pound. (Breeding worms are the big ones with bands around them- they are in the picture.) I saw lots of breeding worms in our box - far more than what we had found last fall to put in. To me there is something incredibly beautiful about the sensuous rawness of nature's rhythms.

Sent from my iPhone

9 comments:

  1. That is amazing. What are you going to do with them, Ronda? Are you using them for soil enrichment? That is really interesting and I am glad they survived the winter. xoDiana

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    1. Hi Diana I guess at this point it is more for my daughter than anything else. Apparently though worm castings are excellent for transplanting plants.

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  2. So exciting! Did you find your original worms in the forest? As I understand, they are not the type that occur naturally in my suburban garden soil. If I raise worms (and I would like to), they will not be the kind that I can add to my soil, but their castings can be used as soil enrichment. Is this right?

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    1. Yes the original worms are native to this island. Yes, that is correct - if you raise hybrid worms which are bred to breed fast but are non-native than you should isolate them from your soil. Some people wouldn't - but I would.

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    2. I just thought that the non-native worms would die if you put them in your soil...

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    3. If there isn't anything there for them on the surface of the soul ie compost to eat that is correct they will die. Hope that helps. Thanks for your questions! Ronda

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  3. How awesome that they made it through the winter, plus multiplied! Thank you Lord for blessing Ronda in this way! Hugs to you today :)

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  4. Sturdy little fellows! ;) We have a pond full of goldfish. I always marvel how they make it through the winter, under the ice and snow...just like your red wrigglers!

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  5. My husband can handle worms since he likes to go fishing. I must say that I prefer not to handle them. Of course I see how necessary they are to our ecosystem, to our lives in many ways and thus they are precious to us all. :)

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