worms

I had a weird moment recently where I got quite excited because I noticed a worm in my compost. It now seems like there are a lot of worms in my compost and this is good because it means that there are nutrients there that they like and also that they will leave behind castings, aka worm poo, that will be good for my plants. This is all great, as long as I don't have to touch the worms. I hate any slimy animal. Snails and slugs are among the worst. I can't even pick up snails by the shell, for fear that they will somehow ooze around and slime me. Ugh. I also don't like agapanthus because we used to have some by the walkway to our door (this is way back on Ojibwa), and when they would get trimmed back, they would slowly leak out an oozy, snot-like fluid.

I find composting pretty exciting. What could be better than turning garbage (free) into something useful? The only drawback is, the process is pretty slow. I have a sort of primitive compost bin made out of a storage container that is smaller than the recommended size of cubic yard that would optimize decomposition, so I think this further impedes the process. Vermicompost, or a worm bin, is supposed to be faster. For this reason, I considered it one evening, but the thought of having to sort out the castings and a wriggling, writhing mass of worms was enough to turn my stomach. Ew. No vermicomposting for me. I'm still considering bokashi, a method that allows you to use all kitchen scraps and not just fruit and vegetable waste, but it involves a bacterial innoculant that is not cheap.

Today I was checking my houseplants to see if they needed watering, when I noticed that my Christmas cactus had drained some of its water into the saucer. Upon further examination, I saw that a long, thin worm had started crawling out of the drain hole onto the saucer. It was only after I had already freaked out that I noticed there were actually two worms on the saucer. Ugh!

Worms in the compost bin is one thing. The compost bin is outside!! Worms are not supposed to live inside my home. I had to run outside and dump the saucer there, where it is now outside by the base of a tree. Hopefully, the worms will get smart and crawl off and into the dirt. I had to put the plants that were on that plate onto other plants, since I don't have any more things to put them on. I only hope the worms don't spread to the other plants. It is gross enough already.