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Dear Friends
Welcome to The Urban Worm newsletter, and thank you so much for joining us, for believing in the humble but mighty worm!
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Our newsletter content is 100% human & worm-generated, and always will be!
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As we enter the Year of the Fire Horse in the Chinese calendar we must also wish you another happy new year - last month we said goodbye to the Year of the Snake, while the Fire Horse is associated with sudden change, rapid development, and deep transformation: that sounds like quite wild the ride.
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The Marmalade Master Joins Pulp Friction
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We love bringing people together to share skills and from next month we will be hosting members of Pulp Friction for a 12-week composting programme at the farm, made possible with thanks to the National Lottery Community Fund Awards for All and the JN Derbyshire Trust. A charity with a special place in our hearts, Pulp Friction provides workplace skills for people with autism and learning disabilities and we are super excited to share all things compost and worms with the members - it is going to be a lot of fun...
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Members will also enjoy a farm forage guided by master jam maker and forager Jamie of Rigsby’s Seasonal Food CIC. Jamie is now officially the marmalade champion of the world, winning Gold with his Surplus Pink Grapefruit Marmalade in the World Marmalade Awards! 1st place out of 3500 entries from 33 countries is the quite the achievement - well done Jamie!
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Worms & Wine
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The worms are steadily making their way into industries that need them, and this makes us incredibly happy. A huge thank you to the lovely team at Laurel Vines who last year purchased one of our industrial wheelie bin worm farm conversion kits. The worms have settled into their new home nicely, and the team are doing a stellar job in the worm nurture department. Laurel Vines is an award winning family run vineyard in East Yorkshire with a sustainable heart. And if you’re looking for special day out Laurel Vines are ready to host you - please do check out their events (and wine) and support local businesses doing the right things to thrive.
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Team Worms
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Our worm farming community may be bijou but we have an enormous place in our hearts for the humble but mighty worm. We understand the potential worm farming offers to solve a plethora of ecological problems throughout the world, without the need for costly high-tech inputs. We are forever grateful to those who continue to advocate tirelessly for worm farming, and if you’re reading this it is very likely to be you! One very special worm advocate we would like to shine a light on is Dr Robert Blakemore, with 40 years experience in ‘VermEcology’ he is one of the most prominent in the field and a scientist with integrity and conviction: in a world where science too often comes with a price tag paid to prop up policy and false narratives, Dr Blakemore is a rare breed.
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Currently based in Japan he is a seasoned reader of New Worm Order News and often shares his thoughts and papers with us; and we would now like to share one with you. Robert's paper on the African Nightcrawler (Eudrilus eugeniae) is fascinating - not only are they master composters, they hold ant-ageing and anti-cancer properties, and they also make silk. We were doubly to see tissue samples were taken from Kahariam Farms, Batangas, Phillipines which we visited ourselves in 2019 as part of a research project funded by the Department of International Trade.
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Composting Royalty
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Last month we sent a call out to see if any of our 1000 Worm Farmers, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, were still going strong, and, we were beyond delighted to hear from Zoe Cox who is now an absolute composting queen! Thank you so much Zoe for sharing your journey, and for embracing the microbes too!
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Hi Urban Worm Team
I was sent some worms in 1000 worm farmers project. I still have wormery and I am just about to buy an in-ground wormery. I did expand into a wheelie bin wormery but decided the stacked system works best for me. The project got me more into composting to the point that I no longer use the garden waste bin collection as I compost everything. I also started bokashi composting so all my food waste goes to compost. Last year I had the best year of vegetables in my garden and allotment. I may be more experienced but I am sure all the organic matter is contributing to the results. Keep up the good work.
Zoe Cox
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Compostropolis - "starting the wormery helped me stay motivated to compost all my garden waste. So I have a big composting area as well as a slow heap in the garden."
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"You can see my bokashi waste being buried. This is something I came to directly as a result of having worms because I wanted to compost the food the worms couldn’t use."
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Photo of the month
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As regular readers will know, thanks to the humble yet mighty worm we have made dear friends all over the world - united by our humanity, our love of the earth, the soil & the worm, and our simple desire to get along with each other, to make the best of our time together on the planet. With this in mind, we think this image from the worm farm at Laurel Vines conveys an important message for the times. Perhaps if there were more worm farmers there would be more peace - we can only try.
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Dr. Elaine Ingham
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We are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Dr Elaine Ingham, pioneer and founder of the Soil Food Web. The magnitude of her work is immeasurable, spanning across borders and cultures. Thank you Elaine, forever the Soil Queen. Rest in peace, with the worms.
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That is your monthly fix of New Worm Order News. As always, thank you for reading, for your support, and your kind messages. We love to hear from you please do keep in touch. And keep an eye out for the full Worm Moon on the 3rd March as we welcome in the Spring, finally! Bring on the light!
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Anna & The Urban Worm team
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