u/Disastrous_Switch616

Very old Oak. Damn near engulfing the entire boulder at this point😂

I have one Red Mulberry tree that I already knew about and a few saplings from that same tree, but this one is about the same age as the other that has matured enough to grow berries. Sadly a heatwave shocked them at a bad time this year and won't be producing, but next year will hopefully be more tolerable. Keep the invasive Mulberries away y'all. If you have any make sure to never let them spread, I don't want to see these hybridize whatsoever and have found enough invasives this year already to keep me quite busy. Some I've never seen before and are just now appearing on my property like yellow dock and Chinese bushclover creeping in. Just another reminder to conserve and protect the native plants you have on your property and surrounding areas. Don't let invasives win.

I ran 16 eggs in the incubator. These eggs were from a hen we have only one of, trying to get her genes in and got some unexpected results!! Both the chicks themselves are pretty unique being from the same French Maran(not 100% sure on her breed) mother we call "Missy", and the fertility/hatch rate was impeccable. Achieved through 48-55% humidity first 18 days, and then 65-75% humidity for an extra 6 days this time! At first most were consistent with the pip n' zip and followed closely hatching, but around the last 7 eggs it was fairly spaced out. At the start of my incubation period I even went as far as to not just put fresh or 1 week old eggs, but also about four 3-week old eggs, and 2 newer eggs from the 2 days Missy stayed consistent on laying after the fact that I had already started incubation. On the 5th day I had what I thought was the last chick hatch about 10 AM with one last egg in the incubator. I was thinking that surely it would be the outlier and finally explode but I had remembered that I put one in a total of 2 days late so I kept it going.. and sure enough later that evening at roughly 7 PM we were gifted another pip. It took 'til the next day at about 3 PM for that last one to push on through :)

This was definitely more of an experiment to see how much lenience may work with hens in our flock who aren't prolific layers, in which Missy is very much a sassy gal with other priorities. We've had her since about 3 generations ago in the flock and so she is the oldest living hen but still super healthy and strong. Her last few babies unfortunately hadn't lasted with the last 2 gens, lost to an owl who seems to really not like the gold and black feathers that her babies tend to get. The difference this time is that I paired her with a buff orp leghorn mix rooster and not just buff orp, so hopefully something changes but I still am not really sure what's up with her other babies being targeted and beheaded.

Missy is the least prolific out of the rest but always has been due to her breed, and compared to the rest which are buff orps, and leghorns, but mostly buffcracks now. (our buff orp + "crackhead" leghorn mix) So overall very lucky with the fertility rate this time on top of a consistent hatch rate and got a good number of eggs from her within the appropriate period; first time we've ever had every single egg hatch!

Hey y'all! I used to collect these all the time when I was little and in my childhood home in NC. Either found at the beach or the lake I had lived beside, can't actually remember but pretty sure the Myrtle Beach would make more sense. Was always stunned at how the purple would pop out in the sand or in shallow water, and some have a sheen that follows the fine "lines" that make up the shell which you can see in specific lighting, not in these pics. What causes that if anyone knows? Besides wanting to know what these are called, what type of shells they are and such, Id like to know how they turn out this way. Lmk if I need to post to a different sub.

He's cute but in a weird disturbing way, is his head missing? What is happening. I know he can see me though so has he achieved clairvoyance?

As the title suggests, just looking for an ID on this or a general consensus on what everyone thinks this is. The almost red material in these pictures is not actually that vibrant, it has more of a muted purple to it in person but with some of this red as well. Idk how to turn the slight AI color enhancing off on my phone lol, it makes all my pics exaggerate certain colors(except for the 4th pic, that one captures the color and sheen closely for that side). Anyway on the outer side following that convex curve, 1st pic good example, I believe the same material may have oxidized to green(if it's like a copper sheath?) or.. something similar and the whole thing is porous, not as smoothed as I would expect despite being found in a river. Reminds me of some traditional clay-sediment material on the inside from older potteries. please help me gather my thoughts on this piece. all insights are welcome, I hear that you guys are remarkebly knowledgeable/informative here!

As the title suggests, I'm looking for an ID on these pieces. Not sure if the green shards are from different makers or different dates, thickness and wear is different between the three. I have one dark blue shard which feels brand new but tumbled, and may have been piece of a decorative dinner plate or something, with what looks to be a Celtic design; fairly new I presume. Then I have a lighter, turquoise colored shard with some smoothed ridges, pretty color, and the look of that one is exactly the same on the opposite side with the colorless ridges; maybe a piece of a bowl? I would love to know if anybody recognizes these and the possible craftsman. The last piece is sort of confusing because it's very old and porous, with a copper sheen on the inside and Im guessing some oxidated copper on the outside giving that green hue. Also I think the copper sheen has begun breaking down into whatever that black-sheen layer is. I appreciate all the insights :)

Found in the eastern Appalachia, VA. All tumbled pieces were found near a river and I can't remember if I found that big corroded chunk in water as well but I'm thinking I did

Tried to get the best pictures I could and with most of everything I see BUT its got so many structures, most if not all of the loose crystals came out while cleaning, and now most is what seems to be growth on slag or "infused" with and there are strange black structures inside some holes.. also there is a concentrated, mysterious "druze" covering a slag bubble which I'm sure others will spot, black crystals, green crystals(both light green and very dark green), and other crystalline structures that are even smaller. it has indeed been cleaned apart from the obvious red clay "matrix", which is not much of anything anymore given the cleaning was a HCI and citric acid cycle. It was mostly covered when first found but I noticed it was like paperweight but hard so I thought "hmm, interesting material" and after cleaning it seems like I have more than one interesting material to think about here🤣

Have fun, excited to catch everyone's observations! And pls do let me know if this is that (natural) slag that I've seen folks mention at times. if it is what I think, then is there anyway to know what exactly caused it to form? Obviously heat was necessary but I suppose I'd like to know of any possible events that took place here where I found it.. hopefully *documented* ones. I live in the Eastern Appalachia, VA. Rockbridge. OH and I found this in the pit-mouth of our cave, had to dig for it to find it, maybe 5-7 ft deep under the top-rock shelf if that helps