•7:02 AM
We've had several projects going. A few weeks ago, the Handbook of Nature Study blog offered a challenge to find the extraordinary. We searched our own yard for this challenge. That's a place that we're so familiar with that we don't notice the extraordinary things in what we ordinarily see.
Here's what we found:
Wandering Jew
Here's what we found:
Wandering JewI love how the leaves form a cup that save the water from a recent rain. The flowers are such a pleasant surprise to find when they bloom. How about a close-up of that flower? See the pink and yellow stamen? I love the color in nature.
Did you ever wonder why this plant has that name? Well, if you're familiar with it's ability to survive and grow just about anywhere.... and if you're familiar with the Christian folktale regarding the Wandering Jew, you may have figured it out. Here's an interesting article.
The Wandering Jew is a figure from medieval Christian folklore whose legend began to spread in Europe in the thirteenth century. The original legend concerns a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion and was then cursed to walk the earth until the Second Coming. The exact nature of the wanderer's indiscretion varies in different versions of the tale, as do aspects of his character; sometimes he is said to be a shoemaker or other tradesman, sometimes he is the doorman at Pontius Pilate's estate. (from Wikipedia)
Our front bed if quickly filling with Wandering Jew. The plant is so hardy. We found it in an unwanted location in our neighbors yard. We broke the plants off at the base and jammed the end of it into the soil in our garden. How easy is that? There are several other species of Wandering Jew. Look out for some and get a snipping of it for your garden.
Here's another flowering plant that we have in our garden and another of our favorites.
Blue Plumbago
This plant also used to go by the name of leadwort. I think I like plumbago better. :-) The word plumbago is derived from the Latin word plumbum meaning lead. It either refers to the lead-blue color of this particular flower or because at one time the plant was a supposed cure for lead poisoning. I've seen it in several other colors, but the blue is my favorite.
How ordinary are tadpoles? Taylor collected these at Grandpa Strick's house. Grandma Bobbie was trying to get them out of her pond because they were pigs... eating all of the goldfish food and the lily pads. Of course, Taylor had to save them. So, here we are.
We think they might be bull frogs. Since this picture was taken, several little frogs have developed. We've been feeding them pinhead crickets until they loose their tails. If we keep them in the tank, they eventually drown. So, we're releasing those guys into our garden, which has been nice and wet thanks to the rain.
Ah, one more thing that I can't finish without sharing... have you ever looked at a water lily close up? There are so many different kinds and most of them have an exotic flair to them. We found these growing wild in our little town lake.
And the boys really got into it, too. These kids aren't real familiar with nature study. For a while, they couldn't understand what the big deal was with nature walks. They were bored and just wanted to go home. It was interesting to see how they took to such a discovery. 
And the boys got into it too!
Here's my favorite part. We had to carefully walk through boggy, sticky mud to get to these. Some of you might argue that we have destroyed nature by picking the lily pads and flowers, but lily pads are intrusive plants that are not native to the area... at least most of them. In other words, they'll flourish almost no matter what. So, we took the opportunity to investigate these up close.
Look at that gorgeous unusual looking pistil and the delicate, bright colored stamen. What a creative creator we have. We discovered that the tall pistil there would grow very large, about four times this size, dry, drop it's petals and release it's pea sized (or larger) seeds. You can see the large pods in this picture. One is still green and the other is pretty dry. The holes get a lot larger than the tiny holes in the last picture.
Nature discoveries are so wonderful. There's never an end to it. Joy can always be found in creation.
The Wandering Jew is a figure from medieval Christian folklore whose legend began to spread in Europe in the thirteenth century. The original legend concerns a Jew who taunted Jesus on the way to the Crucifixion and was then cursed to walk the earth until the Second Coming. The exact nature of the wanderer's indiscretion varies in different versions of the tale, as do aspects of his character; sometimes he is said to be a shoemaker or other tradesman, sometimes he is the doorman at Pontius Pilate's estate. (from Wikipedia)
Our front bed if quickly filling with Wandering Jew. The plant is so hardy. We found it in an unwanted location in our neighbors yard. We broke the plants off at the base and jammed the end of it into the soil in our garden. How easy is that? There are several other species of Wandering Jew. Look out for some and get a snipping of it for your garden.Here's another flowering plant that we have in our garden and another of our favorites.
Blue PlumbagoThis plant also used to go by the name of leadwort. I think I like plumbago better. :-) The word plumbago is derived from the Latin word plumbum meaning lead. It either refers to the lead-blue color of this particular flower or because at one time the plant was a supposed cure for lead poisoning. I've seen it in several other colors, but the blue is my favorite.
How ordinary are tadpoles? Taylor collected these at Grandpa Strick's house. Grandma Bobbie was trying to get them out of her pond because they were pigs... eating all of the goldfish food and the lily pads. Of course, Taylor had to save them. So, here we are.
We think they might be bull frogs. Since this picture was taken, several little frogs have developed. We've been feeding them pinhead crickets until they loose their tails. If we keep them in the tank, they eventually drown. So, we're releasing those guys into our garden, which has been nice and wet thanks to the rain.Ah, one more thing that I can't finish without sharing... have you ever looked at a water lily close up? There are so many different kinds and most of them have an exotic flair to them. We found these growing wild in our little town lake.
And the boys really got into it, too. These kids aren't real familiar with nature study. For a while, they couldn't understand what the big deal was with nature walks. They were bored and just wanted to go home. It was interesting to see how they took to such a discovery. 
And the boys got into it too!
Here's my favorite part. We had to carefully walk through boggy, sticky mud to get to these. Some of you might argue that we have destroyed nature by picking the lily pads and flowers, but lily pads are intrusive plants that are not native to the area... at least most of them. In other words, they'll flourish almost no matter what. So, we took the opportunity to investigate these up close.Look at that gorgeous unusual looking pistil and the delicate, bright colored stamen. What a creative creator we have. We discovered that the tall pistil there would grow very large, about four times this size, dry, drop it's petals and release it's pea sized (or larger) seeds. You can see the large pods in this picture. One is still green and the other is pretty dry. The holes get a lot larger than the tiny holes in the last picture.
Nature discoveries are so wonderful. There's never an end to it. Joy can always be found in creation. 
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