Now this phenomenon has been known for years, and yet it is wonderful to (re)-discover. Collect some old snow. Boil up some hay (hay infusion), and keep it sterile (capped in foil). Add the snow to the cooled hay-infusion and wait three days. Examine under the microscope. We have found ciliates (Colpoda, Paramecium, others), amoeba, flagellates, rotifers, nematodes, tardigrades and gastrotrichs. Also, try inoculating some infusion with twigs, bark, dried flowers, anything. The organisms that are capable of cryptobiosis (suspended animation) are legion! I'll try to post some pictures of our favorite snow and twig organisms. It astounds me that pond organisms cover every twig, leaf, bark and branch, and are incessantly raining out of the sky. Trees are actually ponds in disguise! I find more amoeba on dried sticks than in pond samples!