The Wiggles....

It is April and we should expect showers. April showers bring May flowers. That said, our weather has not been normal. We are used to a six-week spring. This year it started in early March instead of late April. Trees leafed out earlier than usual and perennial flowers and grass greened up quickly. The only thing missing has been precipitation. We had a snowless March and almost rainless spring. Fire danger is high and the ground moisture needs replenishing.

Three nights running we had nice soaking rains. We have had a little daytime rain but mostly we continue in Camelot mode of rain at night. This morning I walked in our neighborhood and don't recall ever seeing so many earthworms or "angle worms"
before. It was almost impossible to walk without stepping on them and I gave up the dodging and trod on many dead ones.

We lost a dear friend last November to cancer. After he retired, he set up a worm farm to produce compost of worm castings. His operation successfully produced a lot of compost which he sold in a variety of ways. He had dried worm castings packaged in tea bags you would use to make tea to water plants. He sold castings by the bucket or pound. He and his wife have a 25 acre lake on their rural property and Bill harvested weeds from the bay to feed the worms. All this was labor intensive but the process kept Bill active and young. I couldn't help but think of him this morning when I walked.

I had to Google earthworms to see what came up. I never knew there were so many different kinds of worms. Alabama jumpers caught my eye. They are recommended as excellent to put in gardens and compost bins. I just can't get past the word JUMPER. Not sure I want worms around with the ability to jump. That would have made my morning walk today very interesting if the slimy little things were more active.

http://www.earthworms4sale.com/