| Discovery Notes | When I took the original soil sample from the environment I collected the following data:
The collected environmental soil sample was relatively dry to the touch. The surrounding land features near the site in which I collected my environmental soil sample are as follows:
- The sample was taken on a slope that lead to a road on the property. The road was primarily made from granite gravel. The road was approximately 15 feet away. Between the road and the site of the sample there appeared to be little foot traffic.
The entire farm was surrounded by forest. Approximately 5 feet away from the site where the environmental soil sample was taken were apple trees. Rotten apples covered a large portion of the ground. Their were no large bodies of water in close proximity to the Salty Dog Farm; the only body of water was a puddle approximately 14 feet away at the base of the slope along the side of the road. On the surface of the water was what appeared to be oil from a vehicle because whatever was floating on the waters surface was very colorful and looked metallic. I also noted that the land was sloped in a way so that if it were to rain, water would be channeled alongside the apple trees and down towards the road. The "channel" didn't appear to be man-made, instead it appeared that it was formed as a result of rain causing soil erosion.
I took the soil sample after I moved rotting apples, a decaying log, grass, and leaves off of the surface of the soil. I did this by using my bare hands and an all purpose shovel. The soil sample was taken at approximately 3 centimeters from the soils surface.
Approximately 2 feet from where I took the soil sample were a couple of snails. The snails shells were yellow in color and each individual snail was a little smaller than a store bought grape. At the top of the slope their was an old animal pen, this year there wasn't any animals in it but the owner of the property said that there had been animals kept in the pen a couple years before the present. About 8 to 10 feet in front of the animal pen were 2 large compost piles. They were both greater than or equal to 10 feet long but less than 20 feet long. The compost piles were greater than or equal to 5 feet wide but less than 10 feet wide. The piles were greater than or equal to 2 feet tall but less than 5 feet tall. In those compost piles there was: corn, grass, dirt, horse manure, chicken manure, dog manure, egg shells, garlic, tomatoes, and apples composted into the piles; that was all that was visible on the surface of the soil.
The soil sample was taken at approximately 4:20 pm on September 16th 2013. According to friendlyforecast.com, the outside temperature was 48.2 degrees Fahrenheit and the sky was cloudy. There was wind blowing from the North at 11.5 miles per hour and gusting up to 21.9 miles per hour. At that hour there was 77% humidity. Earlier that day it rained in Machias Maine, and it rained on our way back to campus from the Salty Dog Farm. |
