Children in the Garden - Violet (pH Indicator) Jelly

While violas come in a plethora of colors, I always think purple are the prettiest.

It turns out it's anthocyanin, that gives violas (or violets as they're sometimes called) their vibrant colors. Anthocyanin is also the pigment adding some of the color to fall leaves, red cabbage, and poinsettias at Christmastime.  And, anthocyanin just happens to be a pretty good pH indicator.

Which means, if you pull the petals off the flowers (after you wash them), and place them in a cup...

...of boiling water...

...so that the pigment seeps out of the petals and into the water...

...a really cool process to watch in and of itself...

...after a couple of hours, you will have a very pretty blue green liquid.  And, if you add an acid to it...

...like say, lemon juice...

...it will turn pink - or bright violet if you used about quadruple the number of petals we did...

...and then you might consider adding it to sugar - a lot of sugar - as in 2 cups of sugar to one cup of viola water mixed with 1/8 cup of lemon juice...

...because then, you can bring it to a rolling boil, add half a package of liquid pectin (about 1.5 oz), and continue boiling for another couple of minutes...

...turning your viola water into violet jelly (you can find a real recipe, here).  We didn't have enough violas on hand, so to keep our jelly from being an almost clear, pale pink, we added one drop of red and one drop of blue food coloring, as we brought the liquid to a boil.  It's a little less "natural" that way...

...but with all the sugar already in there, I figured a drop or two of food coloring wouldn't matter much.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Children in the Garden - Investigating Sprouting Seeds

While we were investigating and planting seeds this last week...

...we also placed one of each of those that we had looked at through our pocket microscopes, onto a plate lined with a wet paper towel, and covered with plastic wrap.

Then, we placed the plate into a dark cupboard (just like we did with our peanuts earlier in the year), checking them each day to see if they had sprouted.  In case you're wondering too, the third peanut plant is still alive and flourishing, but has yet to blossom.

Yesterday we noticed one of our seeds had sprouted.  It just figures the dandelion would be the first seed to sprout, doesn't it?

Dandelion Seed

Dandelion Seed Sprouting

The children were interested in the way the seed split open for the plant to burst out.  They thought it looked like a dragon throwing up.

Naturally, we had to make another quick trip to the library for a few more gardening themed books.

We, meaning my youngest two and I. My mother informs me there has been some confusion among my older siblings, wondering why I have been doing such elementary projects with all the children. Generally, if I say the younger children, I'm referring to my 6 and 7 year olds, and not my 13 or 14 year olds.  T, would like me to be clear, that he has not been chasing ladybugs, planting fairy gardens, or reading any of the books below - not that he couldn't learn a thing or two from the illustrations in Jack's Garden, they are very detailed and informative, and even I spent quite a bit of time looking them over.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Linked with Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

Children in the Garden - Waiting for the Seeds to Sprout

While we had the seeds and planter boxes out, the children insisted on planting a fairy, or Lego man, or Poly Pocket garden (depending on who was negotiating).  And, although I have to think starting a garden like this from seed is probably a futile exercise, I understand their desire to plant something - and get spring growing.

So, I sent them out to gather rocks for a path...

...and helped them map out their planting, trying to ignore the fact they planted too many seeds for one planter, or that the height of several of the plants probably won't work for a window box.  I think all the fairies, Lego men, and Polly Pockets (not the mention the children) want to see is a few small plants sprouting above the dirt...

...the well watered...

...and protected dirt.

Of course, most of the seeds won't germinate for two or three weeks, and won't grow into big beautiful plants until some time after that.  So now we wait - just like the young gardener in Julie Fogliano's and then it's spring.

He plants his seeds while the world around is still all brown.  He feeds the birds, and watches over his garden, and waits, and waits, and waits.  He begins to wonder if the birds might have snacked on his seeds.  He worries that bears, who can't read his garden markers, might have trampled his seeds.  He watches for green, and listens with an ear to the ground for any sounds of life.

And all the while, the world is slowly changing - though he doesn't seem to notice.  He plants his garden wearing a hat and scarf, feeds the birds in a light jacket, worries about bears in long sleeves, hangs a tire swing in short sleeves, and waits impatiently in shorts and rain boots for the world to change from brown to green - and then it's spring.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Children in the Garden - Dandelions Indoors

We discovered, by accident last summer when the girls left a bouquet of dandelions in their playhouse, that even cut dandelions, in a vase of water, will still go to seed.  This year, I thought it might be fun to watch the entire process taking place, with the flowers the girls picked for our kitchen window.

Right away we observed that dandelions close up at night...

...and open again in the morning sunlight.  This process is called a nyctinastic response (nycto- having to do with night and -nastic referring to plant movements that depend on stimuli).

After a few days of opening and closing, one morning the flowers stayed closed.  The yellow parts dried up..

...and fell off...

...leaving behind fuzzy white tops, sticking out of the closed flowers.  The flowers sat that way for a couple more days, and then opened again...

...into perfect, white, fluffy, "seed balls".

We turned to Mia Posada's Dandelions Stars in the Grass to see what happens next, as the seeds escape the plant, with the help of the slightest breeze, and find their way to soil.

Oh, and just in case that doesn't clear up any doubts you might still have about yesterday's mystery seed - ta da!

Dandelion Seed

The girls were very interested in the fact that the seeds sprout right down into the soil without having to be buried.

That's something they want to see for themselves.  The Man of the House, who has declared an all out war on dandelions in the yard (a yearly declaration), reluctantly agreed to fill a window box with a layer of pea gravel, and then potting soil for the girls to plant with seeds...

...water...

...and place into a sunny windowsill (or at least as sunny as it gets between spring rain showers).

Brown thumbs or not, I think we might actually succeed with this one.

It's great to be a homeschooler.

Children in the Garden - Investigating Seeds

The beautiful weather we had last week left us all restless, and ready to plant something.  Sadly, we're still a couple of weeks from our planting season, or at least that's what I make of the snow mixed in with this morning's rain.

Still, I couldn't resist picking up a few packets of seeds, placed temptingly at the front of the grocery store.  It might be too early to plant them outside (as the grocer knows full well), but there's no reason we can't make something of them in the way of a rainy day science activity.

Especially, with our trusty handheld microscopes at the ready.

Viola Seed

Lavender Seed

Thyme Seed

Rosemary Seed

Oregano Seed

Sage Seed

Mystery Seed

Curious about the mystery seed?  Come back tomorrow, and I'll tell you all about it, and a couple more projects these seeds inspired, as well.

It's great to be a homeschooler.