Pam McCorduck, a botanist who has written extensively on the andrology of peat moss, recounts her experience of a weekend working in Irvine, CA with Dr. Lexman and his team. After many months of preparation, they were finally able to conduct the first in-depth examination of the compressed peat moss ecosystem at the site of an old mud pond. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, the experiment was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish.