January 10, 2025
I think, given a choice, I would not like to come back in my next life as an earthworm. Worms have a lot of fine qualities and a truly amazing work ethic, but their ability to survive New England winters depends on encasing themselves in a blanket of slime and not eating for several months. I’d quit immediately.
Perhaps, I could learn to migrate to avoid the cold, but I’d have to figure out an alternate means of transportation and honestly, leaving isn’t really in my nature. After spending all summer working the farmer’s land, by winter I’d be pretty invested in seeing things through, and I’m sure despite the weather, there’d still be a lot of work to get done.
All the worms that were once native to New England were wiped out during the last ice age and the worms that are here today are considered “non-native invasives”. Despite this, organic minded farmers appreciate all that worms provide, and work hard to keep the worm crew happy. Foresters, on the other hand, would prefer it if all of New England’s earthworm population migrated back to Europe or Asia - or wherever they came from.
Worms help build healthy soil by consuming crop residue, leaf litter, and animal manure - and turning that “waste” into worm castings. The castings fertilize the soil, and as the worms burrow underground, they create channels which help with water retention, air exchange, and soil structure. However, when worms in the forest consume the leaf litter, they expose the soil, which invites invasive plants and that in turn displaces native species.
I’d do my very best to be a well-behaved earthworm and stay out of the forest - and after my 10-year life span was done, I’d happily offer myself up as robin food on the farmer’s front lawn. Because maybe the old saying had it backwards – maybe instead of “we are what we eat” it’s actually “we become what consumes us.” In which case, I’d get to spend a few years as a robin! Oh! I’d make a very good robin! I’d perch in the winterberry bush outside the farmer’s kitchen window and sing about spring. I’d start singing right at the break of day and keep singing until the sun went down again. In fact, I would never, ever, get tired of singing – especially about the coming of spring.