Worms

This morning I planted willows along a border for future use as baskets, wattle and daub thingies and firewood. Our Workawayer dug the holes for me (No way I could do that!) and I planted. As I filled in each hole (12 trees) I looked for worms. Not one. Not a single one. Now, I live in Galicia, an abundantly green and productive part of Spain, with the ideal climate - our seasons do what it says on the tin. But clearly, donkey years (or should that be mule years, or even oxen) have taken its toll with constant ploughing and the soil is dead. The only parts of our 5 year tenured-land is where I have mulched with paper and hay and gradually with compost. There we have worms.
Is anyone else as scared as me?

What I read from that Amanda is that where we do the right thing, we bring back the worms. Where we do the wrong thing, we drive them away. It's pretty much like that in every other area of our environment and society as well. Yes it's scary to watch the evidence unfold of the damage being done by conventional farming, building, pharming, banking, planning, transport, landscape management etc. but it's also encouraging to see the many constructive things that we can and are doing as well that can help to rebuild, regenerate, revitalise and enrich ourselves, our land and our society.

Here's to hope for the future :-)

The amount of worms per acre of healthy soil is around the same mass as an elephant. And worms do indeed migrate to where the conditions are more favorable. I expect your underground elephant is somewhere nearby, you'll just need to coax it out

5 years ago I inherited a large garden with not one worm in it. After pumping organic matter into the soil, and not applying any chemicals, I almost always get a worm when I scoop out some soil.

Amanda Launchbury-Rainey wrote:This morning I planted willows along a border for future use as baskets, wattle and daub thingies and firewood. Our Workawayer dug the holes for me (No way I could do that!) and I planted. As I filled in each hole (12 trees) I looked for worms. Not one. Not a single one. Now, I live in Galicia, an abundantly green and productive part of Spain, with the ideal climate - our seasons do what it says on the tin. But clearly, donkey years (or should that be mule years, or even oxen) have taken its toll with constant ploughing and the soil is dead. The only parts of our 5 year tenured-land is where I have mulched with paper and hay and gradually with compost. There we have worms.
Is anyone else as scared as me?

Willow is great for many things, firewood is not really one of those things, willow will burn up fast and it doesn't burn hot like oak or hickory or even ash or aspen.

Compost is always a friend to the soil especially the microorganism world part of soil, the more you can spread the better the soil can become. Compost teas are a great way to get every benefit of compost without needing tons of it.
If the area was farmed, the first thing to think about is de-compacting, this can be done at the same time you are doing the water control structures.
Getting life into the soil by using compost or composted manures is the most efficient method of building your soil back into health, it will just take some time to get to that point.
Fortunately you live in one of the "near perfection" areas of the planet, so all you need to do is make compost and spread it both by using compost as mulch and using compost teas.

Redhawk

Compost is always a friend to the soil especially the microorganism world part of soil, the more you can spread the better the soil can become. Compost teas are a great way to get every benefit of compost without needing tons of it.
If the area was farmed, the first thing to think about is de-compacting, this can be done at the same time you are doing the water control structures.
Getting life into the soil by using compost or composted manures is the most efficient method of building your soil back into health, it will just take some time to get to that point.
Fortunately you live in one of the "near perfection" areas of the planet, so all you need to do is make compost and spread it both by using compost as mulch and using compost teas.

Redhawk

We are making compost and mulching as fast as we can collect the materials! We have a long way to go.