Earth, Worm (2020)

With thanks to Dr. Ed Landa (Co-Director of USI’s Art Extension Service) who brought acclaimed puppet theater company Alex and Olmsted to this year’s symposium, sit back and be gently pulled into the underground burrows of celebrity decomposers, detritivores and diggers of the of the soil community—earthworms (estimated 7,620 species).

As it plows through the soil, often as deep as seven or eight feet (two meters) and occasionally as deep as 10 feet (three meters), an earthworm swallows mineral particles and plant matter, partially pushing its way through the soil and partially eating its way through.

Inside the earthworm, mineral particles and plant debris are mixed together and pass out as “castings” or “casts” on the surface of the soil.

As it passes through earthworms, soil takes on new properties. Along its long gut each earthworm has three pairs of glands that secrete calcium carbonate (CaCO3), the same compound that farmers add to soil to lower its acidity…depending on particular circumstances, earthworms can contribute either positively or negatively to the fertility of soils…

— Life in the Soil: A Guide for Naturalists and Gardeners by James Nardi (2007:74-75,77)