Loose soil falls Friable chunk Firm chunk breaks Extremely Firm – – – – apart before you breaks with small with large amount can’t break chunk handle it amount of pressure of pressure with your fingers Easier for water to move More difficult for water to move Poor quality Great Good OK Soil Color Compare the soil color to the chart and record which color it is most close to. – Black lots of Brown some Reddish contains Gray light color – – – – organic (living) organic material minerals like iron means dryer soil material and more and some water water More water Less water Great for crops Good quality Poor quality Very poor quality Did you know that there are many organisms that live all their lives underground? This is a five step process. (wow) Pick a location where you think you might find a living organism in the soil. Using the shovel, dig no more than 6 inches into the soil. Scoop up a few shovels full of soil, if the soil is not too hard. Now sift through the soil with your fingers or a stick to find out if anything big enough for you to see is living in the soil.
Loose – soil falls apart before you handle it Friable – chunk breaks with small amount of pressure Firm – chunk breaks with large amount of pressure Extremely Firm – can’t break chunk with your fingers Easier for water to move More difficult for water to move Great Good OK Poor quality Soil Color – Compare the soil color to the chart and record which color it is most close to. Black – lots of organic (living) material and more water Brown – some organic material and some water Reddish – contains minerals like iron Gray – light color means dryer soil More water Less water Great for crops Good quality Poor quality Very poor quality Did you know that there are many organisms that live all their lives underground? This is a five step process. (wow) Pick a location where you think you might find a living organism in the soil. Using the shovel, dig no more than 6 inches into the soil. Scoop up a few shovels full of soil, if the soil is not too hard. Now sift through the soil with your fingers or a stick to find out if anything big enough for you to see is living in the soil.
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