“Worms have played an important part in the history of the world than most persons would at first suppose” -Charles Darwin
Dear CSA Members, Since Darwin’s time a lot of research has been done on worms, especially in recent years. Here at Frog Hollow Farm we are paying a lot of attention to worms and investing a lot of resources into “worm production.” Christophe began the worm project three years ago. He started with a green plastic worm bin which can be purchased at some garden stores. We put it into one of the 5 horse stables that came with the home Becky & I purchased in 2012. He liked the stables because they’re cool and shaded, the preferred environment for worms. The early experiments with worm production went well and we gradually built up the operation. Soon, four of the five stable floors were covered with worm beds a foot thick. Behind the stables are 3 one-hundred-foot long worm beds 1’-2’ high and 3” wide. Christophe spied the large Poplar trees that grow just north of our house, planted by the previous owners as a wind break and barrier to the chemical corn farming going on just to the North. This row of trees runs east to west and they are huge, towering some 60’-80’ high. The strip of ground just North of the trees and adjacent to the poplars is in perpetual shade, perfect for 2 more worm beds, each 250’ in length. At the present time, Christophe estimates our worm population to be about 20,000,000. Yes, I myself couldn’t believe it when he told me. TWENTY MILLION WORMS, and that number will double when we get the 2 new Poplar beds into production. Last year, we experimented with using worms in conjunction with planting trees. The process was simple but elegant: about 3 months before planting the trees we staked out (measured) exactly where each tree was to be planted. This was done in 3 out of 11 rows total. We piled up about half a 5-gallon bucket of compost where each tree was to be planted and put about 30 worms in each pile. Three months later, in February, we simply planted the trees into the space which had been populated with worms. By the end of the first year of growth, in October 2014, the results were dramatic. The trees inoculated with worms had almost double the growth of the untreated trees. This amazing outcome has left me inspired me by worms and what they can do. Regards,