WoRMs

 My son's 5th grade class has a garden plot.  At his parent conference, his teacher asked if there was a science experiment they could do with the empty plot of land.  We talked about it and came up with an idea.

 I ordered two types of worms, European Earth Worms (you should hear their British Accents!) and Red Wigglers.  The kids will divide the plot of land into two sections and spread the worms out over the land.  The first experiment they will do is to time how long it will take for the worms to dig themselves into the ground.  We will do that on Friday afternoon.  I get out early and will go over there to help them.

 Then, I got lots of different types of sunflower seeds.  I got two packages of each type of seed and the kids will plant each half of the garden the same and they will see if the different types of worms will make a difference in sunflower growth.  That's going to take a long time to happen, but they can go out once a week and measure the growth of the plants and keep a chart on how much the plants are growing.

 That's a lot of worms!  I ordered a pound of each type.

 He's not really a kid who likes icky things, so this is a stretch for him.  I'm really proud of how much he's willing to try new things this year.

 Makes me want to start a worm composting bin in the backyard.  I wonder if I could keep it alive.  Probably not over the summer where it gets to be over 100 for weeks at a time.

 I guess if I started by burying my kitchen scraps in the backyard in my little garden that would be a good start.  I heard on the radio today about a lady who lived for two years so eco friendly that at the end of the two years all of the trash she ended up with fit into a quart jar.  I wonder what was not able to be recycled or reused and if she had a family, or if she lived alone.  http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-16168/i-havent-made-any-trash-in-2-years-heres-what-my-life-is-like.html  So I know you will want to read the article yourself.  I just did and it doesn't say how she did it, just that she stopped making trash.  I guess you have to sign up and give her money to find out her secrets since she started a company and now makes money off of not throwing things away :)

I still like my plastic bags for so many things and doubt I will ever go trash free, but do think about ways to reduce the amount of trash we make since I'm the one who has to take the trash out all the time and one less trip to the outdoor can each week is nice.  I'm not doing it for the planet, I'm doing it because I'm lazy!  Whatever it takes right?