When playing outside we are most often playing in, on and around soil. Often called dirt but it is by definition different. Turns out soil is far more complex than usually credited and more fragile than previously recognized.
One aspect of soil is the existence of microscopic Archaea organisms. First identified and named in 1977 Archaea are found all through the Biosphere from the boiling geysers of Yellowstone to the human gut and in soils everywhere. Archaea were previously considered bacteria but it turns out they are substantially different. To date it's estimated only about 20% of existing Archaea in soil have been classified.
Not a Biology lesson by any means just a recognition that camping, trekking or sitting under a tree enjoying ourselves theres a lot more going on all around than we may realize, even if we don't understand all of it.
Kind of humbling in a good way it seems.
Happy trails
