Children are naturally curious creatures and with so many under one roof coupled with the fact that we homeschool, we are frequently looking things up to answer the various questions that arise. For instance, the children found that one of the chickens had laid an egg the size of a cherry tomato. We looked it up and found out that such an egg occurs on occasion, that there is no yolk inside and that they are called – by some – fairy eggs.
Here are some other fairy eggs we found this week:
- While doing yard cleanup, the kids kept getting distracted with all the roly-polies they kept uncovering. Roly-polies are such a family favorite and the kids look them up so often that our Garden Insect book just opens to their page. Though, they’re not insects. They’re crustaceans that have adapted to life on land. They’re more closely related to shrimp and lobsters than to insects. They even breathe with gills and need a lot of moisture in the air to survive, which is why they’re always found in moist environments like under rotting logs. Another cool thing is they molt in two stages instead of all at once. First they molt their front half and then in a couple three days, they molt the back half. They can also be kept as pets, which my middle son has done with great success.
If you’re thinking of keeping one as a pet, this link had great information:
https://animals.mom.com/how-to-take-care-of-roly-polies-6507831.html
- We’re trying to grow potatoes this year. My Vegetable Gardener’s Bible said to successfully get a plant, it takes a bit more than just burying a potato. You’ve got to prepare the potatoes first. You have to cut them into 2-inch sections with at least two eyes in each section and then cure them for a week in a cool, dry place before planting them. I didn’t see anything pop up after a month so I watched a Youtube video to make sure I’d prepared them correctly. I didn’t chit them or paint them with honey (goals for next year), but when I went out the next day, I found they were finally erupting through the surface. They can take 3-4 weeks to reach the surface. Still, the video had a lot of good information and we might try the high school potato experiment he spoke of.
- My daughter is reading Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, so I’m reading it along with her. I was amused to see the origin of the word Havoc. Especially since we use it so flippantly now-a-days.
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