Last night I got an excited phone call from my little sister/roommate,

"Your worms are here!"

"YES!" said I.

I walked in the door, there, on the floor was a box.

A box labelled, "WORMS".

I gently carried the box into the kitchen. Three pounds of worms is suprisingly heavy. Felt like, well, like three pounds. I had all the ingredients for a horror movie. What next?

I had to clear out a dark, cool, slightly damp corner of the kitchen by moving everything else around,

"It's to keep you on your toes Melissa, it's good for you, it's not like I ENJOY moving everything around! Oooo, that looks so much better there..."

According to the instructions on my new "worm tower", I must first make a bed for my worms.

An hour and a half of damp newspaper, dead leaves, a little dirt, and rotten apples later, I was ready. I opened the box with shaking fingers. Inside, cushioned by newspaper, was a cloth bag full of dirt and WORMS. Millions of little red buggers. I tenderly laid them on their new bed. They seemed slightly groggy (jet lag I think ), but definitly happy to be there. We introduced ourselves, and began the arduous naming process,

"This is Slimy, and Slimy the First, and Slimy Junior...that's Slimy the 15th..."

I didn't want to stop watching them frolic in their new home, but every good mother knows when their babes need some shut eye. So I tucked some more soggy newsprint around them, left a night light on, and shut the door. Good night kids.

Why do I have three pounds of writhing worms in my kitchen you ask? Once they get over their jet lag and fully settle in (about a month) they will be consuming all our fruit and vegetable waste, as well as newspaper, cardboard, and tissue (cold season is a comin') That is going to be about a quarter of our garbage that is not going to a landfill. Instead it will be consumed slowly but steadily, and will create amazing odor free all natural organic fertilizer for my house plants and/or garden and/or my parent's farm.

It was my Christmas present to myself. It takes me back to grade school science class. There is suddenly a bit of natural magic happening in the dark cool corners of my kitchen.

More info on the fabulous world of vermiculture at www.composters.com.