(Day 67) What used to be here ?

One of my first tasks when we moved to our current home was to develop a vegetable garden; it's in the genes I think - I'm descended from gardeners. I figured it wouldn't be too difficult as I had the necessary tools and equipment, including a rototiller and large tractor. So I staked out an area, fired up the rototiller, and started tilling. It was quite difficult going and I initially thought it was due to the fact it was virgin soil and was likely compacted. Ha - no such luck! What soon became all too clear to me was that the land consisted of about 10cm (4") of dirt sitting on top of rock. I don't mean rocks, although it turned out there were lots of those too, but rock!

Well, I used the bucket on my tractor to scrape off what little soil there was into a pile, and then used a pick to remove as much of the rock as I could. I built a 3m by 3m (10' x 10') sieve and bucket by bucket sifted all the dirt through it to remove even more rocks. After bringing in a few truckloads of soil and adding compost, it started to resemble a garden. Today that formerly barren patch of ground produces more veggies than we can eat.

I had little interest in the remaining pile of rocks at the time. What turned out to be interesting later as I started to remove the rather large pile, was the number of fossils they contained. I'm no fossil expert, but it looks to me that perhaps this area used to be covered by a sea, and as it disappeared, small sea creatures were covered by silt, and as the silt eventually hardened into rock, these creatures were left behind as the fossils I uncovered.

If anyone can tell what they might be from these photos, please leave a comment.

(completely off-topic, but if you'd like to contribute a photo to help fight Alzheimers, read this: http://threadsoflight.blogspot.com/2010/02/41-shots.html )

(60mm  f11  1/10 sec  ISO200)

(60mm  f16  1/15 sec  ISO200)

 

(60mm  f16  1/15 sec  ISO200)