Vermiculture and Composting

I have kept a compost pile all my life. My mother had one too. i have never thrown out food scraps in a trashcan. Even when I lived in New Orleans and had 30 square feet out back, I dug a hole and made an underground compost pile.

At the hardware store today I listened to a lady and a guy trying to decide if they wanted worms or crickets for bait. My mind went into its usual detour as I thought about vermiculture as a project for Joey and the Bubbas. We have a lot of worms already due to very rich soil thanks to compost, manure, wood chips, straw and grass clippings but a good gardener can never have enough worms...ever.

Interestingly enough, my blog received a comment from Tony and Lily's teacher, Mrs. Carr, about vermicomposting as it dawned on her today while spreading her own worm castings that it would be a great thing for my kids.

Now to me this is confirmation. Twice in one day for such a pecliar thought. I'd have to split the scraps between the worms, the hens and the mulch bed but we'd have so much fun doing so.

Should I worry about Mrs. Carr...that this is where her mind goes? To Bubbas and worms? Around here we call it getting sucked in. I am constantly getting sucked in to dumb arguments, silly squabbles and ridiculous discussions. Now we've sucked in Mrs. Carr and my kids are delighted. They absolutely adore her. I read it out loud to them and her comment that Tony can write about bats next week in class. Tony has the biggest smile on his face about that.

To my formerly disoriented children this is another reassuring layer in their lives. They love it that their teachers know where they live. They live with the irrational fear that they somehow might not get home after school someday, that there might be a different bus driver or something. They love it that several teachers go to our church. Many of my kids have had the same teacher for two years in a row or at least twice.

Mrs. Carr took four of my kids to Snake day last summer. She took CW and Allen that she'd taught last year plus Lily and Tony that she'd be teaching this year. You can't buy that type of education and commitment by teachers. We have been so blessed in our school system.