We had so much snow this month! It started at the beginning of the
month and the last week it was constant everyday. The Groundhog was
really making us suffer! In between snow storms though, we had some
beautiful days.
Phil and I took the Monday homeschool group out to view the erratics
left by the retreat of the Wisconsin Ice Sheet 10,000 years ago. In New
Jersey, this was about as far south as the glacier extended, so we have
some great evidence of terminal moraine.
These erratics are located all over the place around here, and we went
to view the ones in Jenny Jump State Park, because of this example. All
the surrounding rock is grey granite, so the contrast is striking.
This area of New Jersey has some of the oldest rocks in the world. As
the tectonic plates have drifted across the surface of the earth, the
geological evidence indicates that have been part of several continents
over the millenia.
From the above vantage point, we also viewed the Great Meadows, which
were a former glacial lake. We have a friend who runs the observatory in the park and he let us
in that afternoon.
The Monday Group children are studying farms in our township and Lorna
felt it was very important that they learn about soils first. The
natural geology, combined with the ice ages, have created what we see
today in terms of soil. We are also learning about the gardens that the
native peoples of this area planted and have ordered heirloom seeds, so
they can create their own garden. More recently Lorna has also been
teaching about soil management and the issues of soil erosion. We set
up some neat experiments which showed them very effectively how having
a vegetation cover or even a temporary cover such as hay makes such a
difference to how much soil you lose in a rain event.
Starting to think about holidays; we have just registered to attend the
Association of Gravestone Studies Summer Conference in Ohio! Phil and
Jack are going to take a gravestone-carving workshop, while Lorna will
be attending a gravestone rubbing workshop. We are all going to take a
class taking foil impressions of stones, or images on stones. Despite
the topic, the conference looks like a lot of fun and we are excited
about going. The other great thing is they will cater for our gluten
free diet, which makes it a real vacation for Lorna! You can check out
the details here-
