Happy New Year, September 2009
The New Yorker's Susan Orlean & Her Chickens

Flipped Rocks + Wormy Books + Nature Blogs

Sunday, September 20th, was International Rock Flipping Day, a sort-of-goofy, sort-of-serious way to appreciate nature.

Here in southern New England, we know what to do with rocks.

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Make a stone wall!

Near the stone wall, I flipped a rock and found...

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an earthworm! See it right there in the middle? There are 2700 kinds of earthworms. I'm guessing that this one is a night crawler, or common earthworm.

I was reminded, naturally, of a few children's books. 

Wiggling Worms at Work, by Wendy Pfeffer (illustrated by Steve Jenkins)

Diary of a Worm, by Doreen Cronin (illustrated by Harry Bliss) Funny!

Compost Critters, by Bianca Lavies (She is a fabulous photographer who used to work for National Geographic.)

Many others participated in International Rock Flipping Day, and looking through the list is a great way to find nature blogs. The big roundup of rock flippers, compiled by Wanderin' Weeta, a British Columbia-based blog, is as follows:

The Natural Capital Fertanish Chatter Roundrock Journal Just Playin' Around What It's like on the Inside KrisAbel BugSafari Sofia_Alexandra Growing with Science ChickenSpaghetti NaturalNotes Yips and Howls Rock, Paper, Lizard Outside My Window The dog geek Dave Ingram's Natural History Blog Via Negativa Unplug Your Kids ORCA: Observar, Recordar, Crecer y Aprender Will Rees Fine Woodworking ... The Marvelous in Nature Pohangina Pete Ontario Wanderer Bare Baby Feet The Homefront Lines Crazy Maize World Dr. Omed's Tent Show Revival Wanderin' Weeta And don't forget to check the Flickr group, too.

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Comments

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Don't forget HOW TO EAT FRIED WORMS. I never actually saw the movie, but I definitely remember the book. :)

Oh, yeah. That's a good addition, AF!

Lucas turned over a rock in front of my porch last week and found three little toads, so this has become a daily ritual. The toads don't seem to particularly enjoy it, but they aren't moving, either. (The bug pickings on my front porch at night are particularly good.)

Adrienne, did y'all take any pictures? I love the idea of checking in on the toads. Very Arnold Lobel-ish of Lucas.

Well, today we remembered to bring the camera outside, but when we looked, they were GONE. Lucas was a bit concerned about it. It was raining, though, so they may just have been staying out longer than usual or maybe moved somewhere drier temporarily? I don't know. We'll look again tomorrow.

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