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The Earth Moved, finished

Earthworm as all-good . . . not at all

The worms can eat at the terracing in mountainsides used by rice farmers.  Erode the terraces away, create holes, make it difficult to plant anything but rice.  Closer to home, worms are not natural to many forests.  When introduced, via humans (cars, bait, boots) the worms can pull the undergrowth down into the earth leaving the forest floor bare.  That spongy feeling gone, and the wildflowers, small trees, birds that depend on that spongy earth lose their habitat.  Minnesota forest prime example of earthworm is invasive species.  Redwood forests???? Could they be next.

Australia Giant Worms--two feet long . . . Korumburra hosted a worm festival (Australia) . . . Worms a bit like physics Shrodinger's Cat--there is no way to count them without harming them

"Chemical fertilizers may feed the plant, but organic fertilizers feed the soil."

"More and more, I was starting to believe that earthworms may, in fact, be the most important crop I grow."

She loves the trial and error aspect of plant science.

Some have claimed that worms are responsible for the great civilizations . . . here is how:  Civilizations need fertile soil to free artists to do something other than eke out a living.  Therefore, great civilizations are found in areas (Nile, Tigris & Euphrates) where earthworms have prepared the earth for agriculture.

Earthworms, to Darwin, weren't horrible eaters of flesh of dead.  Instead, he saw them (as does A.S.) as "redeemers.  They move through waste and decay . . . sifting, turning it into something else, something that is better."

Calera Creek Water Recycling plant in Pacifica and nearby wetlands -- worth a look!

Darwin, as an old man:  "I have not the heart or strength to begin any investigation lasting years, which is the only thing which I enjoy; and I have no little jobs which I can do.  So I must look forward to Down graveyard as the sweetest place on earth."  When he died, he was not buried at Down but was taken to Westminster Abbey . . . too bad.

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