Gippsland Worm

Can you make blub-blub-blub-blub sounds like water gurgling down the drain of a bathtub? You can? Then you might be a giant Gippsland worm. Whenever it hears stomping on the ground above, it goes sloshing deeper into its underground tunnel. The people walking hear loud burbling as the worm slides deeper into its moist home. Stretched out, the Gippsland worm can be 12 feet long. Korumburra in Australia has a festival in honor of this giant earthworm.

Worm Cookies

Erica Jong says, "If you don't risk anything, you risk even more." 

Be an adventurous eater.  Make up a batch of Worm Cookies. Warning: Be sure your wash, cook and rinse the worms. Like most other kinds of meat, worms must be thoroughly cooked to destroy any bacteria that may be present.

1. Collect the main ingredient: the worms. Fifteen to twenty should be enough for one batch of cookies. The small and medium-sized ones are the most tender.

 2. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. While the water is heating, rinse the worms in cold water and drain them in a colander. Watch them closely - they'll probably try to crawl through the holes.

 3. When the water boils, dump the worms into the pan. Cook them for about five minutes. They'll turn white and remind you a little of spaghetti.

 4. Drain the worms and dump them out onto a chopping board. Cut them in small pieces. Since the worms are full of soil (that's what they eat), the board will look rather muddy. Never mind - just keep chopping.

 5. Put another pan of water on to boil. Rinse the worm pieces in the colander under running water. Squeeze the pieces with a spoon to get all the soil out.

 6. When the water dripping out of the colander is no longer muddy, dump the worms into the boiling water. Cook for about 10 minutes or until tender. If the cooking water looks muddy, you might want to repeat this step.

 7. Drain the worms, and prepare your favorite cookie recipe. Add the worm bits to the dough. Bake as usual.

Adapted From: The Kid's Future Whole Earth Catalog (1982)

Are you a worm?

Feel your upper lip. Is it a long flap that covers your mouth? A worm has a hunk of skin like a tongue on its upper lip. It uses the flap like a finger to scrape dirt into its mouth.

Touch your teeth. A worm has no teeth. When its mouth is full, it snaps the long lip closed and squishes the dirt down its throat to its gizzard. A gizzard is like a stomach full of moving sand. It grinds up whatever a worm shoves down its throat.

Do you suck in huge bites of food and seal your mouth with your upper lip? Do you ram the food down your throat so a gizzard can do the chewing? You do? You might be a worm.

(Excerpt from book Ask Me If I'm A Worm)

Worm Revolutionaries

Change the world. Enlist an army of worm revolutionaries. Worms can eat half their weight in garbage every day. A pound of worms (about 1000) is a good amount to start. Naming each is an option, but not a necessity. That many worms can convert a half pound of garbage into good compost in a mere 24 hours, thus solving the world's waste problem a little bit at a time.

You can build your own bin, use an old wooden drawer, or buy a ready-made from the internet. If you make your own worm house, drill air holes so your army doesn't suffocate. 

Bedding can be as simple as shredded paper or as deluxe as coconut fiber. Keep the bedding damp, but not soggy. Worms breathe through their skin and they need to stay moist, but too much water will drown them. While you're drilling put a few holes in the bottom so excess moisture drains. Elevate the bin an inch or so and put something down to catch the drainage unless you're planning to redo the floor in a shade of worm tea brown.  

When you enlist your worm army, get red wrigglers—also known as manure worms or eisenia foedia. They're the garbage eaters. They gobble down veggie scraps, fruit peels, leftover bread, coffee grounds or egg shells and convert it all to rich potting soil. Their motto? Garbage in, good stuff out. Your plants will be the envy of the neighborhood. 

 Got kids? You'll have pets that don't smell, don't require daily feeding and don't bark at the neighborhoods. Plus you'll have dozens of science fair projects at your grubby fingertips. 

Set up barracks full of revolutionaries in your neighborhood today.