Support Kaelyn Harding's Dream Rock Shop

Welcome! My name is Kaelyn Harding, and my family has been involved in the study and finding of fossils and minerals long before I was even born. My Papa was a paleontologist with a passion for invertebrates, especially the ones found around a little town in West Texas called Iraan. Since I was old enough to hold a handpick, my summers were spent gleefully chipping away at buried ammonites and heart-urchins in the plains and plateaus of oil-fields and ranches. My adult life has lost a lot of that glamor (and a lot of mistaking the hiss of oil rigs for snakes), but the wonders of the earth have continued to be a fascination and a connection to my family for me -- especially Papa.

After a rough health diagnosis at the start of this year, I realized that this little dream of mine, of opening one of those rock shops that I absolutely begged my family to stop at anywhere we went, was something I had to grab. No amount of waiting and sighing over how nice it would be was going to get me there.

I am deeply fortunate that the people around me are not only experienced in the industries of online marketing, but have been willing to guide me through the process. I now have a proper site, my wholesaler's license, and everything set up and ready for inventory.

And that is where I need a little help.

I have a small number of specimens I am willing to part with to get me running, but gaining initial inventory without going into risky debt is difficult without help. Even a $1 donation will make such a difference. So, I turn to the kindness of people who want to see the kind of product I want to provide: that being gems, minerals, and fossils that have been shaped and changed by human hands as little as possible.

My philosophy is that the earth is the ultimate sculptor, and its beauty should be appreciated for what it is and not what we make it. That said, art has its place in gem and mineral products, but coating something in titanium and dyeing agates in egregiously obnoxious colors is not it. There is beauty in flaws, in inclusions, in the way a geometric crystal juts from a sandy matrix. There is magic in being the first person to crack open a geode and understand you are the first living being to witness what's inside it in millions of years.

I am also fascinated by the stories, myths, and legends that make gemstones and minerals valuable to us in the present, and these stories from around the world help inform not only our fantasies, but our realities of what true value and beauty are.

So, if you have the drive or the ability to donate to this fundraiser, your contributions will go straight to helping me purchase products. Thank you for making my life more sustainable and also honoring my family and the work they have done over decades.

Blessings for your time, and consideration,

Kaelyn Harding