Crystal Springs Preserve

We had a pretty cool day today at the Crystal Springs Preserve with our fellow homeschoolers.

We learned about...

SNAKES:

• Red touch yellow is a deadly fellow
• Poisonous snake bites look like a puncture
• Non-poisonous snake bites look like a V shape
• Rattle snake bites = 2 hr survival rate
• other snake bites = 20 min or longer survival rate

WATER:

• the shallower the water, the cleaner it is (good to know)
• put a plastic bag over the leaves on the plants to get water from them

Limestone is very porous - it's why we have sink holes in Florida :(

FOOD (you can eat):

• Saw Palmetto bark = protein
• Spanish Moss = no nutritional value

SHELTER:

• Saw Palmettos are awesome for shelter

SURVIVAL (you can only survive):

• 3 weeks with no food
• 3 days with no water

Here are some pics from today...

Their collection of live and dead animals was extensive. There was so much to see in their building.

Here began the lesson about snakes and limestone.

All of the kids were taken to a wooded area and given a pile of different sized branches and palm leaves to choose from. The task was to build a fort to protect them from the elements. Here's Claudia trying to build her fort with one of our other homeschool group members.

After the field trip, some of us decided to go shopping in downtown Dade City. What a quaint little town.