Take Your Worms to School Day.

Today I took a container of worms to school. I spoke to and took questions from sixty second graders. This made Baby Monkey the star for a day.

The topic was soil. Ever tried to keep sixty eight year old children on topic? We talked about composting and organic and inorganic materials in the soil. We talked about what plants do for us. We talked about the longest Night Crawlers they have ever seen. Eight year old kids tell monster fish stories.

One of the teachers had two containers to plant. We added some worm castings to one. The other was just potting mix. They are going to see if the compost makes a difference in the way the plants grow. These are going to be crazy container gardens. She had seeds for Bachelor’s Buttons, tomatoes, wax beans, and pumpkins. I can’t wait to get a look at these in about four weeks.

They looked at the worms with a mix of awe and disgust. One poor little girl got one on her arm and had a complete melt down. She may be scared for life, but she will live. They caught on pretty quick that worm castings = worm poo. I got lucky and was able to find a worm egg to show them.

They asked some really good questions.

“Where is the worms head?“

“How do worms see?“

“Why are there so many worms in that eggshell?”

“What is the biggest worm you have ever seen?”

Here is what cracked the teachers up.

Little Girl, “Where do you get worms?”
Me, “I got my worms from my friend.”

Me, “Any questions?”
Several children at different times, “One time, in my yard….”

The question I dodged, “Where do worm babies come from?” I was not sure how I would get around the fact that there are not girl and boy worms, well not exactly - Yikes!!!

They kept me talking for a full hour. Children are more fun to talk to about gardening than grownups.