Who remembers what a food chain is? A food chain is a series of nutrients and energy moving through a chain of organisms. Can you trace a food chain of the vegetables, fruit, cheese, eggs or meat that you had for breakfast or will have for dinner? Who can give us an example of a food chain? (Examples: Sun --> grass --> cows [hamburger, milk, butter, cheese], Sun --> soybeans [tofu, soymilk], and Sun --> wheat plants --> wheat grain [bread].) Where do all of these food chains start? That's right, the sun! All food chains start with the sun, which provides energy to producers (organisms that are capable of making their own food, such as plants) that use photosynthesis to grow and become food for consumers like us (any organism that gets its food by eating producers or other organisms). Decomposers (such as bacteria, molds, mushrooms and mildew) break down discarded plant and animal (organic) materials into simpler substances, which returns nutrients to the soil and atmosphere for new plants to use to grow.