Full Worm Moon

My lovely wife pointed out that March 3rd is the Full Worm Moon. This is described by the Old Farmers Almanac as

• Full Worm - March Moon As the temperature begins to warm and the ground begins to thaw, earthworm casts appear, heralding the return of the robins. The more northern tribes knew this Moon as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signaled the end of winter; or the Full Crust Moon, because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night. The Full Sap Moon, marking the time of tapping maple trees, is another variation. To the settlers, it was also known as the Lenten Moon, and was considered to be the last full Moon of winter.

Hear that people! "the end of winter" Yipppeeeee.

It is fitting then that my daughters and I put the worms in the worm bin last night.

I ran about 3/4 of the Sunday Philadelphia Inquirer through the paper shredded and put it in a bucket of water and let it soak. Then the wet shredded newspaper, 2 cups of sand, the rinds from 1/4 of a water melon, some coffee grounds, and an egg shell went in the bin. The red worms (Eisenia foetida) went in next.

Finally a wet brown paper bag and the lid of the worm bin.

I checked the bin this morning and almost all of the worms had disappeared into the wet newspaper. I'm anxious to see how long it takes them to break down whats in the bin.