€555,- for worm castings
In her boots, Anne van Leeuwen of Bodemzicht led us to her regenerative field in Malden. She crouched down by a clump of tall grass to push away some grass with one hand and point with the other: “Look, worm poop!”
We leaned down to the ground and looked at the piece of tender earth that was shown to us. Flung thin, strings of what indeed appeared to be poo piled up. “And here,” Anne pointed out to us a few centimeters away. “And here.” Everywhere she pushed the grass away and showed the bottom, we saw mounds of wisps of poop. Of worms, in other words.
Worm castings are organic matter that has been completely digested by worms. It is a fine, dry grain that smells like forest soil and does not stick to the hand. It adds life to the soil in the form of all kinds of microorganisms and fungus. And these, in turn, ensure higher yields from food cultivation.
Climate farmers ‘for life’
Worm Droppings summarizes in a nutshell what Anne and her boyfriend Ricardo want to achieve at Bodemzicht through ‘climate farmers’: farmers for life. Not only focused on food for humans or as little damage to nature as possible. But farmers focused on adding as much life as possible to the entire ecology of which humans are a part. By not stirring in the soil, but allowing the fungal networks to flourish. By growing grass and thus storing a lot of CO2, which is digested by the worms and stored in the soil, where it feeds those fungal networks.
We were very impressed and are happy that there is such an inspiring initiative 200 meters from the Walk of Wisdom . And that in an area where there are another four food forests within a radius of 750. This is pioneering for the future of our planet!
“All flourishing is mutual.” “Every bloom is communal”. Robin Wall Kimmerer
Landscape contribution
We therefore gave €555 to the Bodemzicht foundation from our piggy bank of the “landscape contribution”. We fill this jar with €1 every time we register for a starter package as a pilgrim. Bodemzicht conveys the values of the Walk of Wisdom fantastically in deed and vision: people, animals, plants, soil and fungi are deeply connected. Long live worm poop!
More about Bodemzicht in Malden
Would you like to take a look at Bodemzicht? Unfortunately, due to the great interest in the project, you can’t just walk onto the site to look around. You can, however, book a guided tour or participate in open days via the website. For example, during the Easter market on 8 April, where you can buy climate eggs.
If you live in the Nijmegen/Malden area: Bodemzicht also has weekly vegetable packages for solidarity payment. And you can take a course or even training to become a regenerative farmer:
https://www.facebook.com/Bodemzicht?locale=nl_NL
Or watch this beautiful video:
Photos by Bodemzicht Malden
