Looking at soil with a microscope
I recently came across a delightful zine called a Short Guide to Soil Microscopy that explains how to look at soil under an OpenFlexure microscope:
I remember being inspired to look at soil after reading the first chapter of George Monbiot's book Regenesis, which describes in exquisite detail what you can find in the top six inches of earth.
So what did I find? Well, my first sample from the lawn behind our house showed that everything was mostly, well, dead. I guess that's what you can expect from a lawn. I then took a sample from the compost in a pot on our patio, which was much more interesting:
You can't clearly see them in the image above as they're not moving, but I was able to identify ciliates swimming around very fast with their cilia (little hairs). They're single-celled organisms that feed mainly on bacteria and algae, and are about 0.01 – 1 mm in size. Have a look at the zine above for images of all the creatures you can expect to find, and have a look at your own soil!
If you need a microscope, we sell OpenFlexure microscope kits over at LabCrafter!