Author Archives: Colby

The Soil Orders – Histosols

This is the second of a series of blog posts where I will describe some of the interesting features of each of the 12 soil orders in Soil Taxonomy – the soil classification system developed for the US by the United States Department of Agriculture. Each order will be “profiled” (forgive the bad soils pun)Continue reading “The Soil Orders – Histosols”

Earth Day 2012 – Activity Ideas & I Heart Soil Campaign

Happy Earth Day everyone. Earth Day is a holiday celebrated by people of all walks of life in a variety of ways. In the past I’ve celebrated it by doing trash clean-ups, educating the public about water quality using an ISU SWCC groundwater flow model, and more. I’m not planning any environment-related activity for todayContinue reading “Earth Day 2012 – Activity Ideas & I Heart Soil Campaign”

Stand Up for Ag!

A few months ago, a “writer” by the name of Terrance Loose wrote a piece for Yahoo Education entitled College Majors That Are Useless, and in that article listed several majors that are anything but useless. On that list agriculture, animal science, and horticulture were listed as three of the top five most worthless collegeContinue reading “Stand Up for Ag!”

The Worst Hard Time

I recently finished a book entitled The Worst Hard Time, by Timothy Eagan. It is a book about the dust bowl, an epic environmental event that occurred during the great depression. A long term drought had settled on the great plains, the southern great plains especially, which in combination with plowing over of the prairieContinue reading “The Worst Hard Time”

The Soil Orders – Gelisols

This is the first of a series of blog posts where I will describe some of the interesting features of each of the 12 soil orders in Soil Taxonomy – the soil classification system developed for the US by the United States Department of Agriculture. Each order will be “profiled” (forgive the bad soils pun)Continue reading “The Soil Orders – Gelisols”

Colby Featured on Soilduck’s Sunday Soil Scientist

Fellow soil scientist Jess Drake runs a blog called soilduck. Jess has a weekly feature called the Sunday Soil Scientist which focuses on the bio of a soil scientist from around the world. She was nice enough to do this week’s feature on me which you can read at this link. Soilduck is a greatContinue reading “Colby Featured on Soilduck’s Sunday Soil Scientist”

The Art of Soil Color

Soils from around the world differ greatly. One reason for that is color, as evidenced in the header of this website. Colors were first standardized by Professor Albert H. Munsell on a system with three components: hue, value, and chroma. It was standardized primarily for industry. As an example, the orange thread used in theContinue reading “The Art of Soil Color”

Envirothon Training – 2012

Since I arrived at NC State for my graduate studies, I’ve helped out every spring with teaching a “crash course” on soil science to local Envirothon competitors. Envirothon is an academic competition for middle and high school students. They take five exams, one each on soil science and land use, forestry, wildlife, aquatic ecology, andContinue reading “Envirothon Training – 2012”

A Spade is a Spade… or Sharp Shooter

I’ve been in grad school at NC State for almost 4 straight years now. Ever since I’ve arrived in North Carolina, I’ve thought that the use of the word “sharp shooter” to describe a tile spade (what I’ve always refferred to as a spade; see picture on right) has been kind of weird. I neverContinue reading “A Spade is a Spade… or Sharp Shooter”