Bringing Earthworms Back

I currently live in Central FL where there are virtually no earthworms in our soil. For those of you who do not live in central FL or have ever perhaps visited the beach, just know that it’s one of the most difficult mediums to grow anything on. At the beach, only very specific plants can tolerate the combination of salt, water, heat, humidity and lack of carbon within the sand. As someone who has lived in Florida for well over 40 years, I assure you I’ve never once seen an earthworm at the beach.

I set about discovering why people were so eager to confine earthworms into large Tupperware bins for the purpose of gathering every bit of available black gold. There are some who have a spigot on the side of their bins that allow them to gather the liquid from within the container. Why add yet another unneeded task for you to watch over on your homestead? I’ve always loved the ideas of having low maintenance science experiments on our homestead.

I did a fair amount of research attempting to figure out why we couldn’t just put a composting worm bin down into the soil and allow them to escape from the bucket and start regenerating the soil. No one really seemed to have a reason why you couldn’t do it, nor why you shouldn’t. Most of the videos and “helpful” articles I found were located in states that weren’t Florida. Our soil really is that bad and most people either take the opportunity to build labor intensive Hugel beds or they build the typical square foot beds our of pressure treated lumber.

It’s tragic and not unexpected, due to the reality that it’s much easier to throw on a temporary bandage that allows the homeowner the imagery that they are actually doing something good for the environment and their family. What typically happens with potting soil, is that you have to continuously apply it to beds and dig out root knots so that you can plant next year’s crop.

Well, after having the bucket in the ground successfully for many months, I can say with confidence that we now have baby earth worms that are living happily within the bucket and so far we have no problems. Their parents were fed on a twice per week basis, and it usually would consist of fruit cores, apple peels and lettuce. We kept a covering of torn up newspaper on top to ensure that the temperature inside wasn’t too hot, especially since the Florida summer is in full swing.

Does this mean that they have transformed my entire property? No, they have not. I will say that this is very promising, and I hope to be able to continue my scientific efforts

If you’re interested in hiring me to help guide you on your homestead, please feel free to shoot me an email.