Hot Spot is and... well... it's Tuesday and I haven't even begun! Hot Spot #2 is overwhelming me at the moment, and where to begin is my issue, well one of my issues!} The there is Project Stroller Strides which as just hit the 1 year mark with no updates in 6 months and some news to share. Stroller Strides is about to become a hot topic on my blog again!! Ay-Ay-Ay.... So much, so little time!!
Let's start with our Spring Science Project...
We finished our planting; at least for the moment. There is still some debate as the weather or not we add a 5th item to our "garden"... But the garden is coming along nicely and the girls are excited to see what, if any progression has been made from day to day. I must admit that I, um....cheated a little. Let me justify my cheating if I may and tell you that...if I had simply waited one more day I would have seen that my "cheat" was unnecessary and maybe I should have had a little more faith... and frankly if it's a lesson I want to teach my girls, then a 'failure' as in a failure to produce crops would have been a truer lesson in agriculture and photosynthesis, than lying to them!
My "cheat" was with the carrots, and NO I did not stick baby or store bought carrots in the ground and say "Look what you grew!!" Lula very much wanted to grow carrots, but in our region of the country, carrots are a fall crop. Afraid that we may never even get the seeds to sprout through the soil I put a handful of carrot seeds on a wet paper towel, in a ziploc bag and taped it to a window in the hopes that they would sprout. Then when the did I would plant the sprouts in the soil and show the girls the tiny carrot sprouts popping up from where the planted seeds in the soil.
Yesterday I took a peek at the carrot box and nothing, but the seeds on the window were sprouted and ready to be stuck in the spoil. So I snuck out to the yard, planted a row of carrot sprouts, watered them well, said a Hail Mary and showed the girls their "success". They were so excited to see the carrots they planted !! Well today, all of the seeds that the girls actually planted have come sprouting up out of the ground. I have no idea if they will, in the end mature into carrots, but I didn't need to trick the girls or pad their results, they did just fine on their own! Lesson learned mom.... Let the experiment unfold organically.
So where are we to date.... We have one small green strawberry and a handful of strawberry flowers that with fingers crossed and breath held, will turn into the berries they are supposed to!
The clusters of Carrot sprouts that will, if they mature as hoped need to be thinned out so that select carrots will have room to grow...
Our cherry tomatoes are beginning to show a few blossoms. More than anything I think I am excited for tomatoes!!
And the "Mommy and Daddy" tomato or Beefsteak tomato plant is starting to get big. I've already secured it to the temporary steak but will have to get something more substantial for it soon. There are teeny-tiny buds forming on the plant, but I am not sure if they are the beginning of new growth or of they will be tomatoes. Time will tell and that has been the exciting and fun part of this project. Seeing what happens and what the different stages are. I enjoy these little projects as much {sometimes more} than the kids do!!
Stay Tuned........
Our other "Science Project", we started this weekend. On Friday our caterpillars and butterfly habitat arrived. We gave our best little neighborhood buddy Ladybug Larvae and a Ladybug Playground for his birthday and I was so excited about all the fun he was going to have watching little lobster like larvae turn into Ladybugs that I decided to pull the trigger a bit early on our butterfly experiment!
In just 4 days our caterpillars have grown quite a bit! Honestly if I had realized how much and how quickly they were going to grow I would have been photographing them daily!!
Friday March 12, 2011
Tuesday March 15, 2011
The end result - Hopefully!
I'm telling you.... It's a lot of fun to have these little projects with the girl, more fun that I had even anticipated. They may only be 2 and 3 {almost 4} years old but I know that my days are numbered. It will not be long before my roll goes from partner in crime to chauffeur; That my time with them will be reduced to "Can you drive me to soccer; swimming; dance; the mall?" ... So for now I am embracing spring {even though it's already in the 90's} and youth and digging in the dirt, chasing bugs, examining the bees in our garden with magnifying glass, tasting honey and watching caterpillars grow with my girls... and I am loving, truly loving every second of it!
If you want to join us in some fun critter adventures.... and believe you me, we will be "growing" ladybugs and raising tadpoles up into frogs and likely getting a worm farm....If you want to join in the fun and have a little "Science Project" of your own check out Nature Gifts
2 comments:
All of that looks like so much fun. We're only just getting to the point where we can take off our winter jackets here never mind do some planting. Should definitely try to think about this weekend.
I keep re-reading this in disbelief that there are berries hangin' off that plant, but then I remember the scorpions and the heat index and what my hair would look like for two extra months out of the year and I relax a little and love New England again! HAve fun! Can't wait to see how it all unfolds :-)
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