Lichens licked at rural Clay County cemetery

The Clay Raiders 4-H Club on Sunday 'lynched the lichens' at Swedish Lutheran Cemetery located two miles east of Royal on B-40. Members spent a beautiful evening cleaning headstones in the township cemetery while viewing lichens under portable microscopes, which connected to their cell phones.

The 4-H'ers used a variety of tools to remove the fast-growing and stubborn fungi from tombstones, washing monuments with a diluted hydrogen peroxide solution and a mild dish soap solution, then rinsing them with clean water.

It was a fun community service project and learning experience for club members, who also had good discussion about the headstones and the people buried in the cemetery. Several 4-H'ers selected a family name buried within the Swedish Lutheran Cemetery and plan to research details of who they were within the Royal community years ago, and locate remaining ancestors in the area today. Members will share what they've learned at the next 4-H meeting after the Clay County Fair this fall.