While tending to his vegetable garden today, Locryn found a bird’s nest in one of the potted plants! It was the perfect topic for our daily “Locryn’s Biology/Nature Lesson”! We spoke about how nests are built to provide a safe, warm place for bird eggs …
Was another entertaining day in the Kitchen household and neighborhood. As I am sitting here with a lovely vodka cocktail, I will promise you that there were no cocktails involved in the story that I am about to tell you. However, the homemade ginger beer …
For those of you new to this blog, WELCOME! I will be honest that sometimes I feel that the original goal of this blog shifted slightly as we have been quarantined due to COVID19. But in reality, it hasn’t. The primary goal of Kitchen Weekend was to show the supposed crazy and unique things the Kitchen family is up to regularly (we find it all quite normal). A segment of Kitchen Weekend named “Locryn’s Biology Lessons” was definitely a new development, but probably one of the most important ones to us.
Locryn is our almost three year old son. We are always trying to teach him about the world around him. Do bananas grow on a tree or in the ground? What do birds eat? Is that a moth or a butterfly? Why do the clouds turn black before the rain comes? “Locryn’s Biology Lessons” are some of those discussions.
Today we discussed hardiness, plant hardiness. Hardiness of plants refers to their ability to survive adverse growing conditions. A plant’s ability to tolerate wind, cold, heat, drought, flooding, etc. You usually hear two major groupings: tender and hardy. Tender plants usually cannot handle freezing temperatures; while, hardy plants can.
Tonight in the mid-state of South Carolina, the temperatures are going to drop to 39F. This is obviously not freezing, but I have some very tender plants that prefer not to go below 50F. Locryn’s biology (and manual labor) lesson today was to help identify which of Mom’s potted and hanging plants do not like to be cold. Once identified, some were carried to the side of the house; while, others were carried into our Sunroom for a night indoors. Some of the plants included orchids, staghorn ferns, and air plants.
ENJOY!
Today, Locryn spotted a common snail in our vegetable garden. To be honest, snails are pretty cool to watch. Slowly and meticulously moving along, they can consume rotting plant material like leaf litter. They are a good food source for snakes, birds, lizards, and mammals. …
Locryn’s biology lesson today was a bit less cheerful than some of our past lessons. Today, he learned about the Southern Pine Beetle (Dendroctonus frontalis). The Kitchen home is surrounded by pine trees. We are blessed with space and few neighbors (the ones we have …
I am proud to say that our toddler is incredibly observant. He notices if anything is out of place. We took a stroll (him on my back) this afternoon to check on all the plants. As we were walking, he pointed to a spot on the fence and asked what something was.
“Great job Locryn! It’s a moth!”
His reply “A moth? You mean a butterfly?” You can guess what our discussion was on by this comment.
Some of the simple differences between a moth and a butterfly are:
1. Moths tend to be stout and fuzzy; while butterflies are usually slender and smooth.
2. Butterflies tend to have more vibrant color patterns; while moths tend to prefer simpler colors.
3. Butterflies usually come out to find food during the day; while moths are seen more at nighttime.
You cannot be a true outdoorsman/woman without knowing a bit about scat! Besides, what potty training toddler doesn’t want to learn about POOPY! Once Locryn realized what he saw was animal POOPY, his first response was quite normal – YUCKY! He probably didn’t realize that …
Besides the pride of being able to grow your own food (we would love to have our own little Kitchen farm one day), we love teaching our son where his food comes from. Apples are not just bought at the store. They grow on trees …
Lichens are a truly a unique organism. They are a symbiotic relationship between fungus and algae. The fungus grows on the tree (or rock, wall, etc) and traps moisture which the algae need to survive. The algae photosynthesize and create food which feeds the fungus. They need each other to survive. Now this was a bit of fun background for you, but I did not get into that much detail with our near-three year old for this daily biology/nature lesson. We spoke more on coexistence.
The concept of coexistence didn’t seem to phase our toddler. Why should it? Multiple living things should be able to share a space together peacefully. Hey, there are currently 2 adults, 1 toddler, 1 dog, and 8 baby chicks coexisting in our house at the moment. The idea that this strange lichen ‘plant‘ that my mom is pointing to coexisting peacefully on the side of the tree is not a strange phenomenon to him.
To peacefully coexistence, we communicate our feelings or needs, we are polite in what we say and our actions, we share, and we help others when they are in need.
ENJOY!
Locryn’s biology/nature adventure today was on clouds!! For those who are new to this blog, Locryn is our near three year old. While the Kitchen family remains quarantined at home for the COVID19 pandemic, we are enjoying the time and space to slow down and …