Monday, March 16, 2009, 12:26 PM
Rev. Connie Seifert
527 County Route 54
Pennellville, NY 13132
cseifert@twcny.rr.com
March 16, 2009
Spiritually Speaking
There are super streamlined, stripped down, fairly highly
evolved critters who will be appearing on the scene any
moment now. The first one you see is a guarantee
that spring is truly here. Simple and slippery,
they have played a major role in the history of
the world. In fact, the world would not be what
it is today if they were not doing their thing all
over the world. Do you know what silent, almost
unnoticed creature I'm talking about?
There are 23 families, 700 genera and 7000 species.
They range in size from one inch to two yards long.
On one acre of land, they are known to plow up,
ingest and eliminate 16-30 thousand pounds of
soil. There may be as many as eight million of
them in this one acre. Their tunnels prepare
the ground for crop roots, aid in water circulation and keep
the soil supplied with pockets of oxygen. They feed
on the bacteria and fungi in the soil, digest it and then
excrete it as rich topsoil. Their poop is rich in nitrogen,
calcium, magnesium and phosphorous. The grass truly
is greener wherever they are living. They are a blessing to
gardeners, farmers, landscapers and those who do a lot
of fishing.
They have no bones but they do have quite complex muscles.
They hug the ground with one end, pull along the
other end which then hugs the ground so that the
front end can stretch out again, repeating this
process for as long as they live. They can be long
and slender one minute and look like a little grayish
brown super ball the next.
They have no eyes but they have light sensitive cells.
They are also sensitive to touch and chemicals (which
some of us shudder to remember from High School biology
labs.) Their brains control their movements and
their ability to detect light. If their brain is removed
however, their behavior does not visibly change. They have
no lungs. Oxygen passes through their skin.
They have five hearts. I have no idea why.
Between their hearts are glands which process
the excessive amounts of calcium they ingest
with all the dirt they eat. They are both male
and female at the same time. Their reproductive
antics are fully described on this web page:
http://www.backyardnature.net/earthwrm.htm
They are much too x-rated for this column.
Most of us collected them when we were children.
They would come out by the hundreds after a
rainstorm. The biggest and fattest
ones called night crawlers were prized by
people going fishing. They make great bait.
As long as they remain underground, they are
safe from predators but pesticides can do them
in along with killing the weeds. Once they surface,
birds and other small mammals may make a meal
of them. And we, pluck them up to feed to
the fish. The jury is still out as to whether or not
their burrowing enables pollutants to enter into
ground water. Their beneficial disposal of bacteria
and fungi enriching the surface soil is invaluable for
farmers, gardeners and those who prize a lush, green lawn.
You can even buy them for indoor/outdoor composting
all year round. They will eat your garbage and give
you a nutrient rich compost to use in the garden.
I've been toying with the idea of purchasing them for
years. These composting worms are called Red
Wigglers. You can buy 500 of them for about $30.
This spring may be the year I actually order them.
The geese have been hogging the limelight this
past week as a sign of spring's arrival. Spring begins
on Thursday just before you will read this column.
It has been hard to miss the geese. They are noisy
and numerous. The snow geese were in Pennellville
on Saturday the 14th of March. I missed them this year.
But Rich didn't and he shared his sighting with me before church
yesterday. During worship, the pasture next to the
church was filled with Canadian geese. They left before
the last hymn. I don't think they were paying much attention
to the sermon either. But, now that spring is officially here,
instead of looking up to see more flocks of returning geese,
look down at the ground in the hopes of spotting an earthworm or two.
Once they come out into the sun, winter is officially
over and spring is officially sprung. Let the planting begin!
Thank God for earthworms!
Dotty shared during our Joys and Concerns that her
crocuses were already up. Mine are still buried under
five feet of snow. I will be watching for the first robin
to hop across the lawn. I've ordered a basket of pansies
for Easter which will then need to find a permanent home
in my flower bed. And now, I will be watching and waiting
to see my first earthworm of 2009. I'll let you know if
I find the courage to order the Red Wigglers. Happy Spring!
Some of the above facts were also gleaned from:
http://soils.usda.gov/sqi/concepts/soil_biology/earthworms.html
http://www.planetnatural.com/site/red-wiggler-worms.html
With Angels' Whispers,Connie
When the love of power is overcome
by the power of love,
then we will have peace.
Jimi Hendrix (actually he just
sang this - now I can't remember
who actually said it.)
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