Worms make appearance at Royal Wedding

We have a new favourite Royal. Royal bridesmaid Eliza Lopes, 3, holds a bright pink wiggle worm in the official royal family wedding photograph.

It stands out in stark contrast to her white silk dress but, according to her grandmother, Duchess of Cornwall (Camilla Parker Bowles), No one noticed until it was too late to do the photos over.

The toy was a gift from her step-uncle, Prince Harry, who gave it to her when she was startled by the roar of the crowd during the carriage ride after the wedding. The scared toddler saw it and started to laugh—and then refused to give it back.

"I was so worried about Eliza. She is such a lovely little thing and looked so gorgeous in her dress, but it was a very big occasion for a child of her age," Camilla said of Eliza, whose mom is Camilla's daughter, Laura Lopes. "Harry pulled this wiggly worm out of his pocket in the carriage to keep them amused. Eliza loved it so much that she wouldn’t let go."

From article by Lylah Alphonse | Shine

Editor note: I don't know who the bigger worm hero is, Eliza for showing her Wiggly Worm in the photo or Prince Harry for bringing the little Wiggler to the party in the first place!

The Great Canadian Worm Charming
Festival and Championship

On June 4, 2011 The Great Canadian Worm Charming Festival and Championship was held in Shelburne, Ontario. Although rains swept through for most of the morning, by afternoon the fields had dried and were ready for over fifty participants eager to charm the wiggly denisens of the world below the grass.

While the Worm Charmers and their Gillies (assistants) registered and selected thier plots, the crowds were entertained by the music stylings of Washboard Hank. With an eclectic selection of instruments including bells, whistles, horns all attached to his namesake washboard, Hank and his band played a selection of upbeat bluegrass, rockabilly and country songs to the delight of spectators.

At precisely 2:15 the Town Cryer called all participants to order and called for all Worm Charmers and Gillies to go to their assigned plots. At 2:30 A bell sounded and the competition was under way.

Over 50 participants utilized a variety of different techniques and utensils including pitch-forks, saws, hammers, steel and wooden rods, plumbing supplies. Almost every implement was put to use including the kitchen sink.

In the end, the competition was very close, but by the margin of one worm, the winner and new Canadian Worm Charming Champion is ... none other than our own Cathy Nesbitt and her Gillies; Gloria and Jesse.

Date: June 23, 2011
Event: Worm Harvest Party
Location: Surry Place
2 Surrey Place, Toronto, ON

Date: July 16, 2011
Event: Live Green Toronto Festival
Location: Yonge - Dundas Square
Yonge & Dundas, Toronto, ON

Date: July 23, 2011
Event: Farm Fest - Where city meets farm
Location: The Junction
Dundas St. W. and Keele St.

Date: August 13, 2011
Event: Food from Small Spaces Fair: Urban Backyard, Balcony, and Rooftop Food-Growing
Location: Eastminster United Church
310 Danforth Ave. (Lower Level) Toronto, ON

Date: September 28, 2011
Event: Etobicoke Master Gardeners
Presents: Organic Magic With Worms
Location: Royal York United Church
851 Royal York Road, Toronto, ON

Did you Know?

There are 4,000 - 6,000 different species of worms on Earth.

• One type are the Ice Worms. A species of worm (genus: Mesenchytraeus) that live in glacial ice. First discovered in Alaska in 1887, these worms have been found in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. Ice Worms can be several centimeters long and can be Black, Blue or White in colour. Population counts indicated over 7 billion Ice Worms on the Suiattle Glacier (Washington) alone.

• Another species of worm are the giant Gippsland Earthworm (Megascolides australis) from down-under. These gentle giants average around 100 centimeters long but can reach 3 metres in length. They have been heard making gurgling sounds as the move underground.

• A "devil worm" has been discovered miles under the Earth—the deepest-living animal ever found, a new study says.
  Recently discovered, the 0.5-millimeter-long Halicephalobus mephisto or "devil worm" living deep in the Earth's surface. This new species was found living at depths of 2.2 miles (3.6 kilometers) in a mine in South Africa. Prior to their discovery, scientists believed only single-cell microbes, not multicellular organisms could live that far down. This suggests that there is a richer microscopic environment down there to continue to explore.

In the News

Print

• Compost Week: Angels of the Earth
  Cathy Nesbitt, founder of Cathy’s Crawly Composters and the woman who has single-handedly raised awareness of worms and vermicomposting in Ontario was at Botanix garden centre in Barrie on April 22.
  Read more ...

• Dirt, The Movie
  Cathy's Crawly Composters and Transition York Region brought in the movie DIRT to the York Region Administration Building on May 14th. The movie took you inside the wonders of the soil and told the story of Earth's most valuable and under appreciated source of fertility-from its miraculous beginning to its crippling degradation.
  Read more ...

Podcasts

• Wormilicious (Life with worms is delicious.)
  "Cathy’s worm business started with the 'what a waste' concept, as in what a waste that we’re throwing away all this good stuff that could be used otherwise. A few fortunate and unfortunate events spurred on her fledgling business and here she is today to tell us about it. Cathy’s Crawly Composters definitely has a mission, and I’m sure you’ll love hearing about it." - Wormilicious Podcast 8
  Listen to the interview.

The Blog-O-Sphere

• Dizzy Lemonade's Balcony Garden: Compost
  ... The compost I've been using on my plants from Cathy's Crawly Composters has had amazing results. Though I picked up a bunch of compost, I still plan on buying some from her next week - I simply love her stuff, I suggest you get some compost for yourself!
  Read more ...
• Ecofest Barrie - Why We Think Worms Are Vermi-licious! The word Vermi comes from the latin ‘vermis’ meaning worm. Quite possibly no one knows more about worms and their amazing talents than Cathy Nesbitt at Cathy’s Crawly Composters. Here is what her website describes as Vermicomposting:
  Read on ...

For all the wormy news please visit our website.

Bev was the winner of a copy of Squirm at the Living Waters Presbyterial meeting in Newmaket and Laurette was the lucky winner at the Raw Food Festival in Toronto.

Hello Cathy,

I have looked at your excellent video (Squirm: The Cathy's Crawly Composters Story) which I won at the Living Waters Presbyterial meeting in Newmarket and will pass it on to the program committee of our UCW here at St Andrew's United Church in Markham. I'm sure it will be of interest to them. I seldom win anything useful but this is a keeper.

Bev Davis

Life Safari – Moments That Change Your Life

From the Inside Out blog by Karen Armstrong

In January of this year, I received an e-mail that completely changed the course of my life for 2011! How many of you reading this automatically had your thoughts go to a challenge? This was a fabulous opportunity inviting my husband and I to accompany my dad and step mom on a trip to South Africa in May/June. After many conversations between Munro and I, we decided that this could be the trip of a lifetime and let’s go for it! How moments like these can change your life!

Once decisions like this are made, I continue to marvel at the unfolding of the universe bringing forth connections, people and stories that actually have the journey start in sync with that decision. Let me explain. I was so excited about this trip that I began to tell friends and acquaintances about it. I then learned how many people in my life have had a personal experience with South Africa and they are most willing to share these stories. I started learning about the country and culture from each person’s perspective and got more excited with each one. TV programs suddenly came on based in Africa, our church music director taught a children’s hymn from Africa – I even found a Kleenex box for my truck with giraffe’s on it!! You see – my field of awareness changed and I suddenly had new eyes and conversations that brought more of what I was focusing on into my experience. We do this all the time in life – whatever we focus on brings more of that to us. Have you ever been in the market for a new car? Once you narrow down what you may be looking for, that model all of a sudden starts to show up more than ever. We may start to think, wow – I never realized how many of this vehicles were around, they seem to be very popular! Now, depending on your personality type, you will either take that information in as a good thing that supports your decision to purchase or a not so good thing, if you like to be different!

Getting back to Africa – one of my girlfriends, upon hearing of our trip offered me a book to read. It was called Life Safari by John P. Strelecky. It was an easy read and I was soon enraptured by the messages presented through the story. In essence, it is the story of a young man, Jack, who is seeking inner happiness in his life and somehow his heart brought him to Africa where he meets a very old, very wise African woman named Ma Ma Gombe who is on a journey of her own. Many people go to Africa in search of the Big Five of the animal kingdom named for the danger they pose for hunters to obtain. They are the Lion, Leopard, Elephant, Rhinoceros and Cape Buffalo. Ma Ma Gombe teaches Jack that life can only have meaning if you are in pursuit of your “Big Five for Life”; those 5 things that if you do, see or experience them, you will have said that your life was a success in your own heart. As I continued through the story, the Big Five for Life was another way of bringing forth our deepest dreams and desires, to have a vision, to bring forth goals and focus for our journey in life. There are countless books that speak of the power of our dreams and just as many true stories that bring forth the power of the human spirit when we are awakened to a purpose deep within.

I hadn’t even finished the book when I realized that this was one I wanted for my library so I ordered my own copy. I began to allow my dreams to surface again and think about which of my personal Big Five for Life have been completed, which are in the process of being fulfilled and those that have been hidden from my awareness because I haven’t been giving them any space in my life. A new tingle of excitement and purpose was awakening and it felt so good. We have all heard the saying that “It’s not the destination that is important but the journey that counts”, well – the journey from January to our departure date on May 17th had magic unfold the whole way. We just returned from this trip of a lifetime and it was more than I could have ever imagined. I will share more with you in future posts however let me leave you with one of my Big Five for Life that gained clarity on this adventure. I would like to travel to each of the seven continents with my husband in this lifetime. We have made it to four together so far…and I am excited to welcome the journey that brings us to the remaining three!!

How about you? What are your Big Five for Life?

Until next time,
Karen

Visit Karen's Blog at: www.in-side-out.com