Worm School

When I was a kid, I spent hours every day digging the worms out of my neighbor Ralph’s garden. Day after day I dug them up, put them in a bucket, horrified Neenie with them, and then dumped them back into the garden at the end of the day. This activity never got old, and every time I go home and see Neenie and Ralph’s backyard I remember that garden and wish it were still there for my boys to enjoy. So last week when I saw an article about a worm class at NC State, I jumped at the chance to go…for my boys of course!

Today we attended “worm school” at the JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State. A local extension specialist and worm expert taught the kids (and their parents) all about composting with worms.

The kids learned how to make a worm box and what to feed and not to feed their worms. Isaac took his turn at the front of the class. His item was a hamburger bun which we learned that worms will eat especially if they’re wet and soggy!

Isaac is currently loving taking pictures with our little pocket camera. This is the picture that he took of his ball of worms.

Here he is playing with his worms so he could identify which end was it’s head and which was it’s tail.

Then it was on to decorating our own personal worm bin to take home.

Lucas was obviously a little young for the class, but he had fun tying himself in knots in the cords to the fancy blinds. He also enjoyed the fact that I fed him nearly 2 pounds of goldfish trying to keep him quiet. He was happy to pose with his brother beside our newest addition to the Raynor Farm! (Isaac didn’t get any goldfish, so he was a little past ready for lunch by this time!)

We really enjoyed the class, and we learned a lot. I was thrilled to hear Isaac telling Brian all the things that worms do and don’t eat this afternoon. It’s always nice to know your kids are paying attention!! We don’t have worms yet, but I told Isaac that we could probably order some for our nice new worm bin as soon as the weather cools down a bit! Shhh-don’t tell Daddy we’re bringing home more animals for the farm!