What did the salad say on its honeymoon?

Lettuce alone!

Heh, it was too tempting to share my childhood joke. I thought it was pretty funny back then mostly because I didn't know what it really meant but the adults laughed. Now, it's just lame. This is a pic of my lettuce, just shortly before I harvested the leaves. They were lovely! Very tender and fragile and pure loveliness. It's a variety developed at the University of Hawaii. It was supposed to form a head like Manoa lettuce but it decided to grow a long stalk instead. I think my front porch was a little too shaded for this variety.

Perionyx excavatus, anyone?

In Hawaii, these Indian Blue earthworms (Perionyx excavatus) are pretty common vermicomposting worms and are much more active than the *ordinary* red wrigglers (Eisenia foetida). I don't think you'd ever find red wrigglers hanging out on the insides of your worm bin. They grow faster, they reproduce faster, and zip around and are so much more fun to watch! My friend Jennifer gave me a bunch of red wrigglers and they are pretty sluggish compared to these that have, I dare say, personality! And yes, that is castings on the side. Poop all over the place!