The rat race

This is a parable of two rats. The first rat was good at the race. Every day the door opened and he ran the maze as fast as he could and enjoyed his reward at the end of the maze. The second rat was also good at the race but quickly tired of it. He knew he was capable of much more than a silly maze. One day he climbed the wall of the maze and danced and flipped and cartwheeled on the top of the maze wall. He was captured by the researchers and never seen again.

Thank you Lindsey

We had lots of fun at your house for the 4th of July!

Goji Greens - Update 3

There are 3 starts in the vermicompost but none in the crosslinked polymer.







The control group is doing well - a few more seeds decided to sprout. I think maybe it has been too hot recently to germinate many seeds.

Goji Greens - Update 2

There are 20 little starts in the control group.








No starts in the other 2 groups.

Germination in 9 days

Experiment 2925C - Update 1 - 17 JUNE 2009

Control Group 9 Days to germination: The control group started germinating today. About 1/3 of the seeds have sprouted.

Goji berry starts

Experiment 2925C
Subject: Goji Berry Seeds
Variables: Normal potting soil, Crosslinked Polymer, Vermicompost

Inquiry: How much does the initial planting medium affect germination and growth of Goji berry seeds?
Study duration: 10 weeks
Measures of Success: Seedlings will be measured for height, width and number of leaves
Method: Goji berry seeds were purchased from a local vendor. Germination rate is unknown. The control group was planted in normal potting soil about 1 week ago. Today I planted the rest of the seeds either in either agricultural grade crosslinked polymer or vermicompost harvested from my european nightcrawler bin.
Here is the crosslinked polymer. I added approximately 1 cup polymer to 1 quart water but quickly found out I need about twice that much water.






Adding the polymer to seed starting trays









Vermicompost on the left, polymer on the right

Garage gardening

I've seriously scaled back my greenhouse plans. Kylee bought a decent self for the garage for starting plants. I do have a nice vermicomposting system. Right now I'm growing worms and their castings in two tubs but I committed to scale back to one tub soon. I harvested a full bucket of worm castings yesterday. Ok I did have help from my unbelievably loving wife who helped sift through the dirt and put the worms in the new buckets. I really did marry the right woman. Alyson and Camille befriended the 12 year old adoptee, Yuliya, in the neighborhood. She is from the Ukraine and is really a sweet child. We had a really fun time for our anniversary. Thanks again Jensen's for watching the kids for 3 nights :) We love you guys! Here's a picture from the adventure.

From 256 Shades of Grey