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From Nicole in New Jersey:

I was in my garden yesterday and the worms were fat and happy in the compost pile. One of the smells that I remember from my childhood was "worm bedding". My dad had a styrofoam cooler in the garage with grey mossy mats in it. We would go out and pick night crawlers for fishing trips with my mom's sister. I was always squeamish about baiting the hook because I was convinced it hurt the worms. The smell was damp and earthy, the musty smell of new dirt from vegetation decay. Side note: For anyone who composts, your pile should not smell bad or attract vermin. It needs a mix of green and brown to cook. Too much green and you get that rotten smell. It should smell like the scent of a forest floor.

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I will forever think of the worm flying through the air, and wonder what its experience was really like as it flew high then plummeted back to earth.

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Damn, Darwin always stealing my book titles. (The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms, With Observations on Their Habits.) Now what am I going to call mine!!!!!

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