On Being a
Farm Wife
(and other
hazards) i
Joyce Bupp
They’re busy plowing.
Earthworms, not farmers.
Though some of them are plowing,
too.
Unlike us human tillers of the
soil, worms don’t hitch up the
horsepower—four-legged or four
wheel-drive —to a series of shiny,
steel moldboards to turn the soil
over. They just sort of chew their
way through, more or less in a
grazing mode.
I noticed the worms’ work one
recent damp morning, on the bare
ground just off the front porch.
Because of our big, old maple trees
around the house, and their agres
sive root systems which prevent
anything else growing beneath
them except for some occasional
weeds, the porch is surrounded
mostly by bare ground.
But the normally flat, bare soil
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had erupted with clusters of bumpy
hills of soil around small holes in
the ground. Worm tracks, if you
will.
As a young child, I HATED
worms. Though I don’t personally
remember the squabbles. Mom has
often related how my sister,
Elaine, whould chase me around
with a worm, while I screamed at
the top of my small—but highly
vocal—lungs. Long ago, I out
grew that terror of wiggly and bug
like critters and now share with my
sister our whole family’s love of
gardening and digging in the
ground where worms live.
Much of my respect and admira
tion for worms came from learning
to appreciate how valuable they
are to that precious resource of all
farmers and gardeners (and every
one who likes to eat, for that mat-
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ter). As they munch their way
through the underground, dining at
microscopic buffet tables piled full
of tasty things worms like to eat,
they leave little tunnels behind
every where they go. Convenient
ly, those little trails help aerate the
soil and open it up. That helps our
April showers that bring May
flowers to more easily trickle
down to their roots, where the
moisture can most readily be used.
Worms also leave behind their
waste material known as “cast
ings.” Scientists praise those little
clumps of rich, recycled soil as
incredibly useful for improving the
soil's organic composition, texture
and workability.
Actually, worms are such valu
able little workaholics that I now
rescue those occasional little wrig
glers that inadvertently crawl tow
ard their own destruction. During
stretches of drippy, damp weather,
we often rind them on the porches,
the garage’s concrete floor, even
the laundry area in the back portion
of our basement. They crawl there
escaping oversaturated ground and
then become stranded as the area
around them dries out If not put
back out on the ground, they will
soon die.
Earthworms serve three other,
extremely useful purposes.
Breakfast Lunch. And dinner.
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Mother Nature conveniently
unearths worms—pardon the
pun—from their winter hiding just
about the same time the robins
return in spring. It’s fascinating to
watch a robin stalk those under
ground crawlers out across the
lawn. These perky, rusty-brcastcd
birds will hop along through the
greening grass, suddenly halt,
heads cocked and then launch a
split-second, sharp-beak attack on
the unseen prey.
E)o they hear the worms? Smell
‘Wild’ License Plates
(Continued from Page B 4)
“We have very little informa
tion on old-growth forest ecosys
tems,” Schaadt explains. “Pen
nsylvania and three other states
have what is likey the largest
stands of virgin timber left in the
eastern United States. If we know
how old-growth systems function,
then we can better manage the
timber that is just now maturing. It
takes about 400 years to make an
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them? Feel the vibrations of their
wiggling underground? How ever
they do it, robins rack up an envi
able success rate snagging those
unseen, high-nutrient tidbits.
Some food extremists claim
worms make great people-food,
too. Nutrition-wise, they may.
Appeal wise no thanks. I’m not
hungry.
So celebrate the season. Take a
worm to lunch.
Or invite it to go fishing.
years before it can be fixed.”
For those interested in getting a
‘Conserve Wild Resources’ plate,
applications are available at Penn-
DOT photo ID centers, state
parks, state police offices and state
liquor stores.
The plate costs $35, in addition
to regular vehicle registration
costs. The Wildlife Resources
Conservation Fund gets $l5 from
the $35 fee and the state Motor
License Fund receives $2O. Those
interested in applying for a wild
life plate should write to: Wildlife
Resources Conservation Fund, PO
Box 8764, Harrisburg, PA 17105.
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