Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Science. Show all posts

Sep 5, 2011

Vermicomposting (AKA Worms)

These pics were taken last spring after visiting the NOFA NH winter conference. There we found a vendor selling "red wigglers" as composting worms. After reading of the value of worm castings (ie. poop) as a natural fertilizer in our gardens and how they can turn your kitchen waste into something of value I knew we wanted to try it for ourselves.

First we researched online and watched some You Tube videos about the subject (there are lots!). Then we found a spare storage tote and went to work. Here James is drilling the holes in the bottom of the tote for drainage. The lid also needs to be done for air flow.

Next we shredded lots of newspaper and added that to the bin... or the floor :-)
Emmy is now adding water to moisten the shredded paper.
Next, in go our red wigglers!

On top of that a little more paper some garden soil and some kitchen scraps. The worms like to stay warm so they spent most of the spring in our kitchen then moved to the shed for the summer and now reside in our basement.
So far our worm bin has multiplied into three bins and we have a big bucket of pure vermicompost to use in our gardening this year! We are thinking of selling our excess worms at our farm stand this summer either as composing worms or as fishing worms???

Jun 2, 2010

Snakes and More!

The Snake Guy came to visit the homeschool group the other day and it was such a great experience for the kids to see some of God's more creepy crawly creatures up close! These are pythons! The kids got to pass one of them around and really check it out up close!!

This is one of the smaller pythons, Ethan was a little unsure at first!

He soon warms up! I love the expression on his face in this pic!
Ethan got to hold one of the larger ones around his neck! An experience I am sure he won't forget!! I remember being in a pet shop as a kid and holding a big boa around me! Such a neat experience!
Mollie liked the snakes too! She didn't hold one but enjoyed checking it out and touching it! As you can see James and Emmy are no where to be found... Emmy stayed home with Dad (absolutly not snakes for him) and James was in the back keeping his distance for most of the time! He finally warmed up to them at the end of the show when the battery died!

Mrs. Jette's new name is now "The Snake Lady"! I think he just wanted her sunglasses!!

The Snake Guy didn't just have snakes! There were lizards too!! This is an iguana, I love the color!

A leopard gecko! His color was really neat too, it was much more blue than the camera shows.


Fruitcake was a big hit (no that was not our snack but the name of this big snake!). Fruitcake is an albino boa constrictor.

He was able to show us the snakes teeth and the breathing tube by opening his mouth with this tool.
The kids got to hold the snake by stretching it out and everyone taking a section! Ethan go the tail!


He had two turtles that the kids were able to pass around and check out!

He even brought two scorpions with him! I actually got to have one crawl all over my shirt!! Of course I didn't get a pic of that because I was paralyzed (and didn't have my camera:)

He told us all about how in the desert the search for scorpions at night using a black light. This pic only shows a little bit of the blue color we were seeing! They turn bright blue under the light!!

A very cool show! Thanks to the Snake Guy for sharing and to Sheila for setting this up!

You can also check out more photo's on our homeschool blog.

Jan 21, 2010

Fun with Bubbles

We had a great time playing with a science kit the other day that the boy's got from Mimi and Papa! It includes an experiment with bubbles which was a ton of fun! When are bubbles not fun though??? The kids spent a long time playing with them after the experiment was done so I snapped some pics!

These were SUPER bubbles so after waiting a few seconds the membrane would harden a little and you could catch and stack the bubbles! How cool!!

This little green wand came with the kit, it mostly made tiny little bubbles but here James is using it for super size ones!

There were tiny little bubbles everywhere! I even found them around the kitchen later on that night!

Sometimes it was harder than others to get the bubble wand to work!

Emmy giving it her best!

You can just barely see the little bubble in this one, good job Em!