It is not too late to plant some chamomile and lavender in your garden! Chamomile is easy to start by seed. Lavender, on the other hand, is particularly hard to start from seed, so I would suggest purchasing a small plant from your local garden …
Have you started seeing ladybugs in your garden yet? I hope so!! I have always felt that seeing ladybugs in your garden meant nothing but good luck! Locryn learned today that they are technically beetles and not bugs. He also learned that they consume almost …
We have had almost 4 days straight of rain in Mid-State South Carolina. Fungi and mold are popping up everywhere! Today, Locryn and I found some slim mold.
Slim mold is a group of unrelated eukaryotic organisms that can live freely as single cells, or they can group together to form a multicellular structure. Universally, there are over 900 species of slim mold!
Slim mold feeds on microorganisms that live in dead plant material. Tbey assist in the decomposition of dead vegetation and feed on bacteria, yeast, and fungi. They can be commonly found in soil, lawns, mulch, rain gutters, on the forest floor, or on deciduous logs.
ENJOY!
With our family home a lot more, I am finding that I need to stay more on top of the house cleaning. As we are constantly in the garden, we are always tracking dirt (and who knows what else) in on our shoes. Cleaning is …
This morning, Dada found an interesting creature for “Locryn’s Biology Lesson.” Have you ever seen a hammerhead worm?
Hammerhead worms are from the genus Bipalium. They are also sometimes called broadhead planarians (flatworms) due to their distinct shovel-like head shape. Depending on the species, they can grow between 5 and 20 cm long! They are invasive and thought to have been introduced to the United States and Europe through horticulture plants from tropical and subtropical areas. They prefer areas with high humidity and prey on earthworms, slugs, and insect larvae.
Side fact that was not explained to our toddler: The hammerhead worm wraps around it’s prey and secretes neurotoxins to immobilize it. The specific neurotoxin used is tetrodotoxin which is also found in pufferfish, blue-ringed octopus, and rough-skinned newts. Tetrodoxin was not thought to occur in any terrestrial invertebrate prior to discovery of the hammerhead worm.
ENJOY!
We have had a lot of rain lately in mid-State South Carolina due to Tropical Storm Arthur. Due to this extra rain, mushrooms have been popping up everywhere. Fungi require a lot of moisture which is why you tend to see them after a good …
As States are slowly reopening, I am starting to realize that I will have to rejoin the general public again soon. I have hardly left my house in over 2 months. My family has found it’s new routine with teleworking and chasing an almost three …
The sciences could not exist without each other. There is no biology without physics, no chemistry without biology, no biology without geology, etc. Today for Locryn’s “biology” lesson, we leaned toward the geology realm. While playing in his sandbox, we discussed sand!
Sand is formed when rocks are broken down (toddler speak: smushed!) over thousands to millions of years! Sand can be made of many different grain sizes and many different colors! The most common sand colors found are white, brown, tan, cream, red, grey or black. Sand feels gritty in our hands. It ends up everywhere (like in our shoes)!
ENJOY!
Looks far out, doesn’t it? Today, Locryn and I found an ootheca for his biology lesson! We get a fair number of them in our yard. Ootheca?? What in the world are you teaching your toddler?? It looks like an alien! An ootheca is an …
