Sayula, Mexico: WORM-ocology, aka ´LOMBRICULTURA´

Ive never liked worms...In fact I HATED them. I was (and maybe still am, im not too sure yet) one of those people that feared walking in the rain for the sole reason of having to see them lying there on the sidewalk. I´d jump, shriek, squirm, and do all in my power to avoid stepping on one for fear of having worm guts on my shoes...eooowwww.....AND i never could understand how some kids back in elementary school could pick em up and play with them, yuck!

So when two weeks ago my boss asked me if I was interested in taking a week long course on WORMS, in the big city of Guadalajara I was stumped. Conflicting thoughts ran through my head: A week getting to explore the city sounded awfully tempting, but a week dealing with worms not so much!

My mantra this summer has been: ´I Came here to try new and different things´and so I ended up saying yes. I rationalized to myself that there was just no way I was going to turn down a week in the city due to my lifelong fear of the little crawly things. So off we went me and my boss on a monday morning to Guadalajara City (the main capital of the state of Jalisco in Mexico). I was excited, nervous, and yes even a bit sick to my stomach when I thought of what I was getting myself into.

Let me give you a brief background on what exactly the course was about. In spanish it is called ´Lombricultura´, I had no idea of what the name was in English so for almost two weeks i just kept saying ´wormocology´. The real and proper term (i looked this up in wikipedia) is Vermiculture. This is basically the use of worms to produce soil. In simple terms: you have worms, they eat compost or even manure, and from their own excretions they produce some very fine and usuable soil.

That was the simple explanation I just gave you, but in fact it is ALOT more complicated that what both me and my boss had expected; Especially for me who had always seen worms as just slimy little critters that came out in the rain and didn´t know too much about them and their use. My boss on the other hand had attempted himself to have worms and had some background info. and experience with them. Nevertheless we were both amazed at all the things we learned in one week regarding worms.

Let me tell you it was one intensive week long course. After 3 long days of PURE THEORETICAL lectures (oh my god) we were ready for our Labs. We dissected worms, we had to take a population count of worms and their eggs (this meant literally sitting there and counting worm by worm, and there were about 200 of em!) and we even got a fieldtrip to a ranch in which they have a very well laid out worm farm. This was all so new and quite interesting to me.

By the end of the course, I can proudly say, I held one in my hand! Ok, maybe im still not 100% comfortable with them and I am not ready to be picking them up all the time. BUT, I do have a newfound admiration for these little guys. They are more complex that what I thought and their use is quite fantastic. They are also very good for the environment becausee if more people resorted to using the soil produced by worms for crops, it would eliminate all the bad fertilizers and chemicaly sold soil many farmers resort to. So i took some pictures of the course and of the worms. Don´t get squeamish, they are actually not all that bad.....

My Boss holding the worms before we did the dissection........

You have to Kill the worm by swishing it around the dish in rubbing alcohol and a little bit of H2O. We swished our little guy for a good 20 minutes and it still wouldn´t die......I think it was just getting smashed on the alcohol and enjoying it.

Go figure..Mexican Worms....

SO..We Just Threw the worm in the Big Tub of Alcohol to finally kill it. He died a very drunk worm. RIP.>>>>