Vermiculture

Find a digging utensil like a trowel. Go outside and being careful not to disturb plants, dig into the ground. Is your soil hard or soft? Did you find any worms? If you do not find worms in one location, try a few other spots. The more worms, the healthier your soil is!

Worms are not just for birds!

Draw and label the main parts of a worm. Did you know that a worm has five hearts? How do worms breathe? Which end is the top, and which end is the bottom? Do worms have eyes? Use the Internet and books as a reference, draw a picture of a worm in your journal and label the different parts of its body.

Composting with worms is the best way to keep your food scraps from ending up in a landfill. To compost you need:

1. A Worm Bin!

Find and clean a plastic storage container, an old box, drawer or barrel. Have air holes drilled into your container at the top and drainage holes at the bottom.

1. Biodegradable Worm Bedding!

Worms need bedding to move around in, eat, rest, and keep moist. Shredded newspaper, cardboard, leaves, sterilized sand and soil make good bedding. Worms like to be warm, but not hot. Try to locate your worms in a room between 55-75 degrees.

1. Worms!

Order your red worms or get them locally at a bait store. Move in your worms and start composting!

1. YUM! Worm food!

Worms love to eat vegetables and fruits. Feed your worms apple scraps, banana peels, orange rinds, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, celery, cucumbers, cabbage, potato peelings, coffee and tea grinds. Do NOT feed them meat, poultry, fish, or oil based foods.

• Worms have three hearts.
  • true
  • false
• Earthworm slime is made of carbon.
  • true
  • false
• Worms in soil are a sign of the health of the soil.
  • true
  • false
• Worms have a head.
  • true
  • false
• Worms eat and digest garbage.
  • true
  • false