Man, I'm beat today -- the perfect mental and physical condition for a fun yard project like harvesting worm "doo."

As explained here previously, worms eat my garbage. Our compost bin is populated by thousands of redworms (the little guy on the left, not the larger nightcrawler on the right), who consume all our unwanted vegetable matter. There's about four years' worth of peels, eggshells, coffee filters, etc. in our bin right now, most of it reduced to a beautiful, odorless black compost by the digestive systems of our little buddies.

Some friends of ours recently bought their own compost bin, and I asked them if they wanted some worms to help them keep it going right. They said yes, and so was born today's project.

I opened up the little door at the bottom of the front side of our bin, scooped out a couple of buckets full of the contents, and sat down on a plastic yard chair to pull out the worms for our friends' bin. I dropped them, one or two at a time, into a plastic box lined with straw. The "castings" (there's a lovely euphemism) went onto a screen to dry out a little. That's the good part, and it's staying in our yard.

Nearly everything I worked through was useful. Just a few peach pits (they take a long time to break down) and a few bananas labels (they're forever) went into the trash. All the rest was either worms or doo.

It's not as ugly as it sounds. The rich, earthy stuff is easy to handle and seemingly neutral. Though one's hands get an evil-looking black in the process, the stuff washes right off. I used a garden hose and got it right down onto the rose bed.

There are neater ways to "harvest" the compost, but I actually enjoy pulling the little guys out by hand.

I can't wait to get that wonderful compost into our soil, and I can't wait to see our friends join the Worm Compost Movement.

And now it's time to put this barely functioning brain into siesta mode. Have a magical midsummer's weekend, everybody.