Worm Men

During our G.A.T.E. journey in Venezuela, Lisa, our guide, kept saying that I needed to meet the “worm man” in her rural community. Finally at a dinner at her house I did. It turns out that the ‘worm guy’ of Venezuela was into this way of organic gardening long before any of us worm guys in Milwaukee, including Will Allen of Growing Power were. He has been a farmer for over 25 years. About 16 years ago he, his wife and child started to feel sick and were tested for chemicals in their bodies. They all had bad levels of chemicals because of the fertilizers and insecticides they were using for farming. It was then that he decided that he needed to make a change. He went back to the ancient method of farming using worms to enrich compost and soil and to produce a liquid, we call tea, to fertilize the soil. Now after the socialist revolution his way of growing organic, affordable food is gaining status in Venezuela and people from all over the country visit his organic farm to seek out the “worm” man. He, like Will and many others around the world, is doing on a large scale what I am trying to do on a very small home-gardening scale. We are using one of the least and greatest of creatures, the lowly worm, as livestock, to produce abundant and healthy food.

Today working in my small home garden I felt connection through the earth with all persons who seek to grow and eat healthy and delicious food. We all need to grow and eat good food, be it in rural or urban areas, in order to grow physically, spiritually and in awareness. Mother Earth makes all one.

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