A Bone Trekking Adventure

An evening hike through a cow graveyard is certainly a once in a lifetime opportunity. So I simply couldn’t pass up the invitation to visit Woven Roots Farm from the extremely generous Salinetti Family.

Guided by fifth grader, Diego, I ventured into the woods where cows have been put to rest for over 30 years.  Our first stop, however, was to investigate the porcupine remains that the family found earlier. To my surprise, there was a completely intact, and mostly clean, porcupine skull nestled right in the center of a pile of quills. 

We followed Diego further into the woods, battling mosquitos and hopping over mud puddles, until we arrived to our destination.

Imagine being a coyote, hungry and following the scent of something that smells like it could make a great dinner. Imagine, then, following that scent directly to a giant decaying cow. For a coyote, this is a buffet sent from the heavens. 

For us, thankfully, the cows we found had decayed long ago. Strewn all over the forest floor, in between roots and leaves, were shoulder blades, ribs, vertebrae, pelvic bones....and, a skull!

A dream come true! 

We gathered various bones (and of course the skull) and carried them out of the woods to my car. After a good cleaning I look forward to using these bones in the classroom and as reference for my own artwork. 


A huge thanks to the Salinetti family for inviting me on such a lovely adventure. The day ended with a golf cart ride through the Woven Roots Farm crops and a delicious cucumber; couldn't have been better!

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