Mike’s hidden talent

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Every herbalist has their own spin on how to make tinctures, infuse oils and dry herbs. It is very personal. Where you do this is just as important as how. For me, our upstairs office is the ideal room for making medicine and drying herbs for me. The window has southern exposure and there is limited temperature variation during the day and night. Up until now, I could get away with putting my tinctures and oils on the windowsill and dry herbs on a sheet, but not anymore. I am making too many tinctures and oils, and only plan to make even more.

bookshelfSo, I asked Mike to make me a shelf while he was making himself a bookshelf. I didn’t need anything special, just a wider ledge to put my jars on. Well, Mike outdid himself! He made me a beautiful, very sturdy bookshelf with two shelves. I had no idea Mike was so talented, he really has kept this skill hidden from me. Yet, I guess I should have known that he could not simply make a ledge, Mike never simply does anything, whenever he has done something in the past, it has always been over the top. Why should this be anything different?

drying flowersSo now, I have this amazing bookshelf to make medicine on and two shelves to dry herbs out of the sun. I found two old window screens and put them on the shelves for drying herbs. It works so well and fast.  I used to put the herbs on a sheet to dry, which can take up to a week. Then put the herbs into a paper bag for a couple of weeks, to make sure all the moisture was gone before I put them into a glass jar. After all that work, who wants moldy herbs? Now the herbs dry on the screen within 3 days. I still put them into a paper bag; just to make sure all the moisture is gone.

I can’t wait to try the herbs out this winter! Since the herbs are drying faster, I am capturing more of their medicinal qualities. The old way worked too, all the herbs retained their beautiful colors and scents, but I am sure this way is much better.

All information is shared for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any condition.

Going on a fossil hunt

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Entrance to the Salt Mine

Entrance to the Fossil Pit

In June, Mathew’s class went fossil hunting at the Cargill Salt Mines. Unfortunately, Mathew wasn’t feeling well and stayed home from school. I have to admit that I was rather disappointed since I was chaperoning and heard great stories about the fossils that can be found there. Since we live rather close, we decided that we’d take a trip out there during summer break.

Salt that has been mined

Salt that has been mined

Apparently, we live in an ideal location for fossil hunting, as it has some of the best Devonian aged rocks in the United States. That means the rocks in the area are between 416 and 359 million years old. The gorges and erosive waterfalls do an excellent job exposing the rocks, along with the salt mining that goes on. The rocks contain loads of fossils, which are among the most important in the world for studying events that occur during Devonian time. Since there is exceptional exposure of the rocks in this region, much of the basic work on defining geology in North America in the nineteenth century was done right here.

fossil pit

Fossil Pit

One of the best local dig sites is the Cargill Salt Mines in Lansing, NY along Cayuga Lake. It’s a very easy site to find; they even marked it with a sign. We met a paleontologist from the Museum of the Earth and a family from California at the site. Everyone was better equipped for fossil hunting than we were. For some reason, I forgot to pack a hammer; we just had a couple of garden tools: 2 spades, 2 hand cultivators and a small bucket. I am sure you are thinking – “What were you thinking?!” The truth is, I wasn’t. No worries, the shale in the fossil pit broke apart very easily in our hands; sometimes too easily because we lost quite a few beauties.

After an hour or so of sifting through the shale we were done. Just about every time we found something: a piece of brachiopod, trilobite, or clusters known as “life assemblages,” along with some that looked like fossilized plants. It was quite exciting and very satisfying.

While fossil hunting Mathew said that brachiopods were very common and that trilobites were more valuable, so we concentrated on trilobites. When we got home to examine our finds, we collected more trilobites than anything else. Therefore, trilobites are common in our home. In the world, brachiopods are more common because it is much easier to preserve shelled animals than it is to preserve fleshy animals.

Trilobites became extinct 255 million years ago, and were part of the largest mass extinction ever (so far). We found trilobites with their soft appendages preserved. However, once we released them from the rocks, they became very fragile and fell apart. We also found enrolled trilobites, similar to a pill bug, the trilobite is thought to roll itself up for defensive purposes, to protect its soft parts.

Here are some pictures of what we found. fossils fossils 1 fossil 4 fossil 3 fossil 2

If you plan to go fossil hunting, be prepared and remember to bring:

  • hammer
  • chisel
  • pail/backpack to carry treasures home
  • paper to wrap treasures
  • hand lens
  • hat
  • sun block
  • water

Remember if you find something unusual; bring it to a science museum for further identification. You never know, you might have uncovered the next new ground breaking discovery that will contribute to the ever unraveling body of knowledge about our earth.

Happy fossil hunting!