It is such a thrill for me to be involved in education activities in the Parkes and Forbes Shires.

Last week I was thrilled to be part of the Reading Day in Nelson Park in Forbes, with activities also provided by Forbes North Public School and SaCC, Forbes Public School, Forbes Preschool, CatholicCare, Central West Libraries, Thump Jump Rhyme, Forbes Shire Council, and with assistance from Forbes High School students.

After a hiatus of several years, it was fantastic to meet little people in Forbes who were keen to learn about worms! Well, worm farms, to be specific.

Worms are the quiet achievers, some would say, the little treasures of the soil, I was happy to share about the amazing things that these little lovelies can achieve and they don’t ask for much!

We had an opportunity to talk about what worms love….and what makes them sick. I was very impressed with the knowledge that many students had about how we can use our three bins to help us recycle even further, but not everything that you put in your green bin can go into the worm farm.

Probably about 60% of students had visited the Forbes tip at some stage. Even though the tip, or Waste Depot is not the sweetest place to visit, it provides insight into the waste issue for children.

It is easy for us to not think beyond putting the bin on the street and being woken up by clashing and banging and getting irritated because we could have slept those few minutes more if it weren’t for the truck collecting our rubbish!

A visit to the tip for some is a chance to discover that new bike, TV unit or something fabulous that can be re-purposed. Hopefully it also makes us appreciate that we have the option to have our bins taken away and we don’t have to struggle over piles of smelling rubbish every day.

If you have the opportunity, make sure that you take your kids, or grandkids with you on your next trip to the tip. It is important for kids to understand where part of our waste goes.

It did take the opportunity to ask children who would be asking for a worm farm for Christmas? Not a lot of enthusiasm unsurprisingly!

For further information on this article, please go to www.centralwestlachlanlandcare.org, twitter, facebook or Instagram @cwllandcare or contact Marg Applebee on 0418 611 053.