Check out the link Karen Edmisten just posted on her blog! Hmm, this one might have to go on the Christmas list…(Grandparents, are you listening?) And yet, ewwwww….

MacBeth Derham, homeschooling naturalist extraordinaire, has posted a recommendation of Betsey Dexter Dyer’s book, A Field Guide to Bacteria, over at the Real Learning boards, complete with instructions for setting up your own windowsill bacteria farm. As if I needed help raising bacteria—ha! Isn’t that what kitchen floors are for?

But for you bacteria-deprived types, MacBeth’s post includes a link to a nifty animated demonstration of all the chemical changes and Other Scientific Stuff that happens inside a winogradsky column, which is the fancy technical name for windowsill bacteria farm. Icky, but cool.