Yeast Is Yeast, and Homemade Is Best!

Our ongoing study of the monochromatic kingdom of non-flowering plants allows us to chalk up baking as science. I'm talking yeast here, peeps. (I love homeschooling!)

To get us primed we read through the lower book, Molds and Fungi, in one sitting (a very UN-Charlotte Mason thing to do. whoops.) Lots of facts in an easy-to-read format. I learned plenty myself.
The other book, Molds, Mushrooms, and Other Fungi, is more Dorling-Kindersley style with lots of pics and stuff. Darling daughter Mei freaked at both of them at times. Therefore, boys will love them.

Our science curriculum, Considering God's Creation, is neatly lining up with the monthly Outdoor Hour Challenges at Handbook of Nature Study where they're currently focusing on Lichens, Mushrooms, and Moss. (You can see our other entries on lichens here and fungus here.)Yeast, being a type of fungus like mushrooms, I figure it fits right in.

Fungi, we learned, grow by sending out hyphae, which are like little tentacles looking for food, usually in the form of something dead. Get enough hyphae, and you've got yourself a registered, incorporated mycelium. When these hyphae want to start a new colony, they shoot some spores into the atmosphere (e.g. your breathing space) and hope to colonize in the great beyond. But the work is done in the dark, mostly underground. It's happening everywhere and we should be glad of it cuz' if it weren't, well, in a nutshell, we wouldn't be here to tell about it.

Want to see a mycelium at work? You won't have to go far. Got a rotting woodpile? Matted dead leaves you forgot to rake? How about well-seasoned shredded mulch? That's where we found this:

My-oh-mycelium

The white stuff is not some sort of messed-up spider web. It's the mycelium full of hyphae. And it's eating away at that mulch. Which is why we have to keep replacing it every year.

Another place we were able to observe fungi was on the bread that we purposely let go for the sake of science. After over a week in a Baggie with a piece of old brie, we got this:

Calling Alexander Fleming

 Not like you've never seen that before (deliberately). But it makes for cool microscope study. We're also comparing the french bread with a piece of cinnamon bread (not shown) to see if cinnamon indeed retards spoilage. It seems it does!

Notebook page from Considering God's Creation

So back to that yeast. It does not do the hyphae thing. But is IS a fungus. I'm so glad we know how to use it. It makes some of my favorite things possible. Like bread. I recently got my second bread machine and have gotten back into this fun, healthy, delicious hobby. And the timing was PERFECT because we were going into this yeast study.

Yeast makes the bread rise simply by---well---burping. You feed it, it eats, it digests, and it burps. And the burps make the bubbles that make the bread rise. Doesn't sound so appetizing when I put it that way, but...

Now to coalesce science with baking even more, we had to grow some starter. A starter is a happy little town of live yeast that live in a jar, and that you feed and take care of.  (You can name yours. Ours is Fi-dough.) If you do a good job, the yeast will reward you by rising your next batch of dough. But this will be a different flavor because THIS yeast is SOURDOUGH! And it happens when those spores that a yeast fungus releases are caught and given a nice home of flour and water.

Baker's yeast. britannica.com

Want to try it? There are many, MANY places on the web that will teach you how to grow a starter. We ordered a fresh one for our purposes to ensure success. You can get some here. Did you know that they will taste different depending on where they are from? Because each region has a different yeast floating around in it! That's why a San Francisco Sourdough Bread can only call itself  S.F if the starter was actually grown IN San Fran!

Here, Mei is doing another experiment with some yeast to show how much it "burps." 
Mix a 1/2 cup lukewarm water with 2 teaspoons of sugar and 1 tablespoon of dry yeast (doesn't matter what kind.) Set it aside for 15-30 minutes.
If you do it in the ziploc bag, like we did, keep a close eye on it or you will get to experiment with cleaning starter off the walls.

Left: Mixing up the ingredients to grow yeast. Right, the proof! Ka-BOOM!

Before: cold from the frig

Here's another example of just how fast yeast can grow. We took some of our sourdough starter out of the frig and warmed it for just 30 seconds in the microwave. It increased in volume by at least 2 tablespoons just from being warmed up!

After 30 seconds in MW: frothy yeast.

 But here's the best experiment of all: a piping hot loaf of homemade sourdough bread. If only we had some taste-testers! Any volunteers?

Got yeast? Got comments? Tell Mother All About It!

OHC: We Like Lichens and Most Mosses!

Dead?...or alive?

It's so nice to see that there really is something alive in the woods during this endlessly gray time of year. I can't remember the last time I posted any pics on this blog that had a blue sky in it. In a Mid-Atlantic winter, we get mid-tones and almost nothing else.

So you can understand our delight to be directed by the Outdoor Hour Challenge to go find the little guys that are doing their work no matter the weather: lichens and mosses.

The March Challenge newsletter informed us that there are three groups of lichens: foliose, fruticose, and crustose. It's really pretty easy to remember what they mean. Foliose looks like foliage, specifically funky lettuce.Crustose are found encrusting rocks  Fruticose looks like fine threads, which doesn't look like the word fruit, but whatever.

Cool lichen facts:

Lichens can delay global warming by consuming significant amounts of CO2, can prevent soil from drying out, help release important nutrients into the soil, and even provide food and, in some cases nesting material, for animals.

I gave an incentive.  For every example  found there would be a prize (Hershey Kisses always work). There would be a bonus if all three types were identified.

Lacking in natural formations in our area, for crustose we needed to expand our definition of rock. The neighbor's cement gatepost had some discoloration. Before, I would have assumed that to be some mold or dirt. But with our new knowledge, we could see that in fact it was the early stage of some crustose  lichen growth. Yeah! One down!

Trusting in the handy, dandy Magi-scope to confirm a lichen sighting

 
Into the woods, we went for more!

Beautiful array of lichens on gneiss

A lone rock peeking from under the dense layer of decomposing leaves revealed  crustose lichen on a more natural host.

Foliose was easy. Our mixed hardwood forest has taken a lot of hits in recent years from severe winds and storms, so there were stacks of fallen timber succumbing to decay. Even up and down dying trunks, we saw ample samples. :-)

(left) Foliose, like lettuce leaves, on branch; (right) fruticose found growing from leaf matter

Only one more to go, fruticose.  The day before I had scouted the area for quarry and nearly stepped on a tiny patch of this, the only one I saw in the entire walk. Maybe ever. I hoped Mei might be eagle-eyed enough to find it herself, but--my bad--I didn't make enough mental note to narrow the search. I did bring home a bit of my personal find so at least she could see it.

On the way back we opened our eyes to the only green in the monochromatic landscape: moss.

Cool Moss info:

Mosses play their part by holding back moisture and preventing erosion, and by being a "pioneer" species, breaking down acidic soil at the base of trees and paving the way for other plants to take root. But I bet you didn't know this:

"The value of Sphagnum [moss] for covering wounds has been known for centuries.  But it was not until the early 20th century that there was widespread commercial production, reaching its peak in the First World War, when some one million Sphagnum dressings per month [emphasis mine] were used by the British forces.  Sphagnum was harvested, cleaned and dried and sent off in bales to factories where it was sewn up in fine muslin and sterilised. " Uses of Mosses and Liverworts

(left) Moss with sporophytes, red spore-baring spikes;  (right top): moss and lichens together; (middle) spores on my finger; (bottom) a bit of sphagnum

 
Paying closer attention than usual, we realized how many different types surrounded us. I gave Mei the camera and she shot these. We took some bits home to draw in our nature journals, but the one with the fascinating spores wasn't happy in the baggie with its mates, and died before we could get around to the illustrations. At least, Mei could see the black spot on my finger where I had brushed against the moss capsules that held the spores.

In all it was a new way for us to enjoy a well-trod path, especially in what we once thought was a dead landscape. 
And yes, she earned her Kisses. 

Got Moss? Got Anything Green? Tell Mother All About It!

Then hop over to The Handbook of Nature Study Blog Carnival to see what other nature nerdies found! 

Bird's-Eye View of the Week: TGINF (Thank Goodness It's NOT February)

I hate February. 
(so glad it's over.)

By this, the middle of the school year and the middle of another cold, dreary, perpetually cloudy, neither-snow-nor-sun, Mid-Atlantic winter, I always feel our school is stale, lifeless, and boring.  (I even develop a comma addiction.)

What, not you? You live in California, I bet.

Typical weather, but at least we're outside.

Sometimes what it takes is some new curriculum. For instance, try as I might to get Simply Charlotte Mason's "Spelling Wisdom" to work for us, I just can't. Don't get me wrong. It is a wonderful book. We both love the rich quotes. Mei has even run across some a couple of years later in their original works and remembered them. 
 
But it's just too much "me" work--dictating, discussing, dictating again. I find it slipping through the cracks too often to the point that we are on the first book after three years. (There are six.) 

I'm also still not convinced that she is learning to spell. (Sorry, Charlotte.) It does not rely on spelling rules or phonetics, so it becomes just a shot-in-the-dark approach. It presupposes that Mei will remember the words simply by having studied them for a couple of days. Maybe ALL spelling curricula more-or-less end up that way, but I'm not sure. Mei wants to continue to use it for copywork though, her idea. Intriguing since we don't do copywork anymore.

So I have ordered Evan Moor's "Building Spelling Skills Grade 6+". It works along the same 5-day format as their Daily Geography that has been very successful here. Open the book. Do. (It's nice to a have an occasional workbook to rely on. A CM curric does demand a lot of "me." ) If you've got any other ideas, I'm listening.


The Handbook of Nature Study blog's monthly Outdoor Hour Challenge nature study themes have been another Febreeze-for-school that I highly recommend. The focus in February has been birds, my fav topic. (I'm Mother Robin for a reason!)
It's gotten us outdoors, or at least LOOKING outdoors! You can read more of our birding adventures here and here. And you can find info about outfitting YOUR yard for birding here. You can probably guess I take  this subject seriously!! :-)  

She makes braces look good, doesn't she?

And how I could I forget that Mei got new chrome bumpers top and bottom? She's taking it like a trooper. The morning after she casually mentioned that some wire might need trimming as it had cut her finger during the donning of the rubber bands. Now That's Fortitude.

There has been an unexpected sign of spring though. Can you guess what it is? Hint: this is NOT a rose by any other name cuz it will NEVER smell sweet.

Guess what's NOT coming up roses?

Got cabin fever? Got a cure? Tell Mother All About It!

Linking up with Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and Homeschool Mother's Journal.

OHC: Birding by Ear: a Whole New World

We took a much-needed break today after the dreariest, grayest, rainiest day I can remember in a long while. I knew the window of opportunity was short--cold returning this weekend--so I suggested that after the quick tune-up at the orthodontist (braces went on two days ago), we could grab the dog and the GPS and head for the little park near the doctor's office for some fresh air, exercise, and geo-caching.

Font Hill Park, a wetland conservation area

    No decent homeschooling parent misses a chance to turn any event into a teachable moment, even a walk. A Charlotte Mason-style educator would be kicked out of the club if she didn't! So knowing that one of our Outdoor Hour Challenges for February was birding by ear, I realized that I had a perfect God-given opportunity to attempt the challenge and gain some nature study points.

 (NOTE: I credit an old friend and birding expert in Pennsylvania, Skip Conant, for teaching the importance of birding by ear. He said it was more important than identifying by sight because so often you CAN'T see them. And I can recommend the Android app, iBird, for the added dimension of audio clips of every bird, something no book can give you. )

  The park is one we have visited before, but not for a while. It is a wetland park with a boardwalk and asphalt path meandering around the perimeter of a pond and along the stream that it feeds through the woods. It is blessed with several types of environments perfect for attracting a variety of birds in a relatively small area.
   Besides looking for the geocache, I further sweetened the deal by offering a reward--"Will work for Chocolate"-- for identifying at least six species of birds by ear.

     It didn't take long.

Canada Geese annoyed by our intrusion

   A pair of Canada Geese voiced their annoyance at our arrival immediately. Then a Song Sparrow welcomed spring. A love-sick Northern Cardinal wooed its mate in the trees to the left. A bereaved Mourning Dove sighed.

   Four down and our walk had only begun.
 
   Into the wooded stream area, and new species who prefer a secluded habitat welcomed us. A Blue Jay screeched, Chickadees dee-deed, and Tufted Titmice called for Peter-Peter-Peter! A Carolina Wren wanted his Tea-Kettle, Tea-Kettle, Tea! A Red-winged Blackbird preferred jer-KEEEY!
  A Flicker teased us with a few Keew's, but never showed. And a White-breasted Nuthatch 'nyacked' about us to his neighbors.

The stick horse gets a needed drink.

 
   Then, without a sound, a huge flap of wings grabbed our attention as a disturbed Red-shouldered Hawk rose up out of the swamp where it was planning its next meal not thirty feet from us and soared up to a gigantic tulip poplar to await our departure.
 
   We didn't find the cache, but I was personally rewarded by the twelve species that Mei had identified by ear alone!

   Here is her notebook page in which she listed her birds and then made notes of their songs to refer back to. We had fun interpreting the musical sounds phonetically and that will help them stick in her head in the future.

 Gotten an earful from the birds? How would YOU interpret a Red-winged Blackbird?  Tell Mother All About It!

OHC: The Great Backyard Bird Count

   For all the years I've been a birder (my whole life) and all the years I've homeschooled , I've never had us participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count! But thanks to the Outdoor Hour Challenge, we finally got the nudge.
 
  We got all those feeders up and filled, (see my post about our backyard bird paradise here!), then created our account, got out our binoculars, and made up a chart for counting. (which I can't find right now).
 
   Our wonderful three-sided sunroom provided optimal conditions for keeping track. On the website it seemed confusing, but by actually participating, we soon got into the swing. Mei had to learn to be very still and PATIENT for the birds to arrive. But after about five minutes they started returning to the feeders that our presence had startled them from. The bold little chickadees led the way. Then it was the juncos who resumed their pecking.
 
   "Hey! What's that?" "A sparrow." "But what KIND of sparrow?" (white-throated) "Did we count that bird?" and so on. We had recently attracted a Red-breasted Nuthatch. I so hoped we could include it in our first submission. But it was a no-show.

Mei attempting a most challenging feat: photographing birds.

   We thought that the counting would be the best part, but found that entering our data was even more exciting. We found that our submission was timed to approach the 5000th of the day on Friday, the first day of counting,  and watched with fascination as the interactive world-wide map (the first year ever for international tabulation) popped up locations one-by-one around the globe as the counter moved quite quickly to the 5000 mark.
 
    I continued the challenge three more times over the weekend under varying conditions and settings. Around a wetland near Mei's ballet studio, I heard my first Red-winged Blackbirds of the season. I was glad that birds HEARD were countable as well as birds SEEN. On another occasion, while walking the dog, I encountered some bluebirds. Back home on Sunday near sunset, the Red-breasted Nuthatch  made his appearance (yeah!), followed by a Downy Woodpecker and our newest member of the suet gang, the not-at-all-creepie Brown Creeper. I guess everyone wanted to be part of the game!

    All in all, we observed over twenty species of birds, putting us at the middle mark for species entered in our state. It was a great feeling knowing, as I explained to Mei, that we "citizen scientists" helped accumulate data that can determine species migrations, movements, rises and declines. And it was a lot of FUN too!
 

Our Backyard Bird Paradise

It's February! And in our homeschool, we are gearing up for the Great Backyard Bird Count! We've recently stocked up on some new feeders, both to replace some that died as well as some that have specialty features.I thought it might be useful to give you a tour. Maybe it will provide some inspiration.

Letting the garden go until spring provides more food and protection.

We have a large, open backyard that leads to a pond in the next field. Our garden was already planted with a variety of shrubs and trees that provide shelter and some natural food. The openness though can be a drawback because of the threat of dive-bombing hawks. Over the last few seasons I've learned to take some precautions.

For one thing,I have situated our feeders much closer to our windows now. I've also persuaded Father R to let us place our old Christmas tree at the base of two feeders to give instant cover from predators and snowfall. He's okay with it now as long as our yard doesn't look like a junk heap. :-D

That the feeders are close to the windows (and we have lots of them), means I need to protect the birds from colliding with the glass. (Incidentally, keeping them close also PROTECTS the birds by preventing them from hitting those windows at top speed should they bolt.)  I have applied these window stickers to the windows to alert them of the invisible plane.On the right is the commonly-found diving predator window cling sticker. It's lasted for years. See how it dissuades a bird from thinking that reflection is more yard? On the left is a less obtrusive invention. The hummingbird is infused with an ultra-violet light substance that only the birds can see. We lowly humans merely see a pretty, frosty sticker. The down-side is they have to be replaced seasonally.

Window stickers protect flying birds.

 Now for the feeders. Knowing that the most popular seed is black oil sunflower I choose feeders that are designed for that especially. The big cylinder feeder on the right is an eight-year-old, tried-and-true all-metal design made of a stiff, heavy screen. The lid lifts up for filling. It holds a  whopping 10 pounds of seed! I won't be needing to re-fill it more than every two weeks! Yes some seed spills through when I fill it, but the ground feeders eat it, so it's not going to waste. The perforated tray allows drainage and a place for larger birds like cardinals to perch. The little birds can cling all over it. 

Only three feet from the window ! What a view and safer for flying birds.

On the left is a new replacement called a No-No feeder, referring to the fact that there is no plastic, and no wood, so it will be long-lasting and stand up to squirrels. We don't have a squirrel problem fortunately. We really only have one who we've named Scugg after the pet that Ben Franklin carried in his pocket to Continental Congress meetings! Scugg does give our feeders a go, however, so I do keep feeder materials and placement in mind. The No-No, which comes in all different sizes and shapes, is unique. While it also is made of  mesh, this one collapses on itself. When you receive it, you just lift the handle and VOILA!, like magic, a feeder! If stored, it will take up No-No space (haha!). A locking lid keeps out the squirrels. The only tricky part is filling it, since you can't just set it on the ground. It would collapse again. Instead I hung it low for filling and used a milk jug that I cut a whole out of. I poured seed into the hole of the jug, and then poured the seed into the feeder from the spout. This one holds about six pounds.

Needless to say, those two  feeders need a STRONG support. I bought this one at a The Wildlife Authority store. It was about $40 USD and has held up well for many years. It is designed for you to custom design the length arms that best serve you. Pretty neat. A good investment.

Additional designs for select feeds increase the variety of birds to the yard

 My Droll Yankee feeder on the top left is a staple. It can hold sunflower or other medium size seed. It's almost indestructable. This one is over ten years old.If you can only afford one feeder, start here. Add a dome at the top and hang it from a light branch, or a baffle on the bottom and affix it to a pole, and you have a virtually squirrel-proof feeder. (I say "virtual" because squirrels are better problem-solvers than MIT professors.) 

He and his buds can eat that whole cake.

The suet feeder on the top right attracts chickadees, nuthatches, and downy woodpeckers. It will also bring on your starlings. We've already had those greedy European devils arrive, a full month early. I've moved it to the tree that grows up through the deck very close to the house. I'm hoping this might foil the gluttons. (Scugg will appreciate the move though.) They make more expensive types that protect the suet, but I'll stick to this for a while.

I'm adding a new type tube thistle feeder this year. This design places the holes BELOW the perches. Some observant birding genius discovered that that other invasive species,  the house finch, can't eat upside down like the beautiful goldfinch, so another problem solved! I'm not real impressed with the quality of this particular one that I ordered, so we'll see how long it lasts. Thistle seed seems to have jumped in price and I only needed a small quantity. My Wild Bird Authority store had 5 pounds in an easy-pour jug for $7.99. I'll get at least three fillings which means more than one season!

Finally, I'm putting up 2 new peanut feeders to give the precious downy woodpeckers and the elegant flickers something new to try. The one feeder is pictured above. The second one is made by C&S of large-holed metal mesh and designed to work with their suet pellets. I found them at Home Depot and the feeder and food came to only $9! I also visited my local Southern States store which has the best prices on a variety of seed, especially bulk items like black-oil sunflower. I picked up a yummy-looking "woodpecker blend" full of peanuts, pistachios, dried fruit and other tasties to fill the one above.

The neighboring pond attracts lots of geese year-round.

Finally, a garden feature everyone should have, especially in winter, is WATER! I mistakenly thought that: 1) with a pond nearby that their liquid needs were met, and 2) that snow on seed would provide an alternative source. Bad idea on both counts. The flight to the pond (or any other distant source) uses up vital fuel that would be better reserved for keeping warm. The snow also burns fuel by cooling the body-the exact opposite thing the birds need in a snowstorm.

Enter the bird bath heater!

Water is much-appreciated!

It keeps a melted area around it in all temps. Birds don't drink mass quantities, so even a fringe of exposed water will suffice. In the pic above, I had just refilled the bath, so don't think that the heater was keeping the whole thing melted. But soon after this, our resident mockingbird (who we named Mr. Stubby after something trying to catch him pulled all his tail feathers out) made an appearance and drank several beakfuls. It was great to see him. They don't spend time at feeders, so this was our opp to bring him in.

So that's how we outfit our backyard sanctuary! 
Hope it helped you get some ideas. Don't feel you have to get all this at once! Just start with a decent  tube feeder and black-oil sunflower and watch the show begin!

Sweet, little Red-Breasted Nuthatch

UPDATE: Only a day ago I received my Cornell  Lab of Ornithology newsletter describing a "superflight" of birds across the country (birds well outside their normal ranges) that included Red-Breasted Nuthatches in Maryland. Would you believe the very next morning after hanging those peanut feeders, we had our first Red-Breasted Nuthatch?! So excited to be including that in our results for the Great Backyard Bird Count.
   And thanks to the Outdoor Hour Challenge for getting us motivated to finally participate!



Got birdfeeders? Got comments? Tell Mother All About It!

It's Gneiss to Meet You!

Quartz and Granite. Now really. Between the two which sounds like something you want to hold and admire? "Quartz" has this lovely rolling feel in the mouth ending with a little elegant buzz. It starts and ends with rare letters making it a valuable word in Scrabble (24 points!!) .

"Granite" on the other hand sounds hard, irritating, and just plain undesirable. GRR. GRRan-ITe. The only time I remember the word "granite" being associated with anything good was in the Flintstones cartoons when "Gary Granite" came to town. That and granite countertops. I'm dating myself of course.

This week's Outdoor Hour Challenge had us focusing on these two specific rocks. Once again I had to smile with gritted teeth at the idea of rock study. (The grit was from the rocks I bet.) But Mei's enthusiasm was infectious and so we gathered up our supplies. 

Finding samples of these two should be no problem in our area. The Appalachians are chock-full. Quartz I knew. It's everywhere. We also could cheat because I had purchased a beautiful pink quartz at the Penn's Cave gift shop last summer. But not so sure about the other. Free to gather whatever she found, Mei picked up several interesting-looking samples right from the rock-paved farm road near home, delivered from a near-by quarry.  

But first some general knowledge.

Interactive Rock Cycle: thorough and fun!

Mei spent a LOT of time on the Interactive Rock Cycle site the Outdoor Challenge directed us to. It was great and there was even a test at the end that I could print out and include in a portfolio of her work (we're not textbook peeps).We were beginning to draw conclusions about our mystery rocks.

Our fav lenses especially the Carson Microbrite (right)

Now for the hands-on stuff. Using the printable from Barb's site, we recorded the various aspects of our rocks and compared with the field guides we had. I really like the simplicity of the DK Pocket Guide to Rocks and Minerals as a starting point. Another guide that I love is the National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Mid-Atlantic. It covers EVERYTHING in our neck-of-the-woods from skies, to rocks,  to plants, animals, insects, even weather. They publish similar guides for many other regions in the U.S.

Field Guides to rock on with.

Other areas available too!

Well, in the end the beautiful--did I say BEAUTIFUL?--black-and-white stripey ones were Gneiss. (pronounced Nice) They were very nice Gneisses too, don't you think? According to my Audubon guide, "gneiss is a metamorphic rock common in the Appalachians; forms from granites and other rocks rich in quartz and feldspars."

Gneiss. And a little moss.

Since we have taken up the hobby of geo-caching, we have discovered that we are in the middle of several interesting geological formations. One of them is the Baltimore Gneiss formation in Patapsco State Park. The other is at Fox Rock Quarry in (ta-da) Granite, MD. An interesting story tells of the Smithsonian Institution in the mid-1800's sending a Dr. Owen on an inspection of building material sources. On arriving he wrote of the granite

 "For about a mile square at this locality is an outburst of quartzose, granite of magnificent quality, both as regards beauty of appearance, compactness of structure and uniformity of color, texture and composition. I have never seen anything superior in this country. Indeed, I doubt whether it can be excelled in any country. It cannot be surpassed for strength and durability by any building material in the world."

Well, don't we feel special!  As soon as my foot is finished healing, we intend to find both caches and see the examples first-hand. Go to GeoCaching.com to learn more about this fun, educational hobby!
However we WERE able to meander over to a neighboring quarry, Vinci Stone, to talk with their friendly saleswoman and learn a lot about what goes into the business of beautifying our properties with Nature's mineral reserves. 

Landscape and building stone from across the country
 and around the world

 
We were especially captivated by the beauty and variety of materials, especially when it came to the granite that was displayed for countertops. (See?? Pale green and peach! It can be gorgeous.)
And then lo and behold, we were pointed to the mammoth block of LAVA! It had been shipped from California, and is looking for a good home if anyone on the East Coast has use for a black rock the size of a Volkswagen. 

Granite counters and a lava boulder just her size

 

So we have another nice page in our nature journals and a lot of new knowledge. And I have a better attitude toward rocks. (But I'd still rather paint clouds. ;-)  )
Thanks, Outdoor Hour Challenge! To see what others are learning about rocks visit the Outdoor Hour Blog Carnival at Handbook of Nature Study!


Got rocks in YOUR socks? Tell Mother All About It!