The Sprouting Sweater

You know how you get those sticky burs caught on your sweater when gardening or hiking? Well, I get A LOT of them and it takes a really long time to get them off of my wooly sweaters, so I just keep wearing them, burs and all. But, last week I decided to wash this blue sweater of mine with all the burs still on it, hoping some of them would fall off in the wash. Yes, I admit I am domestically impaired! I was in a rush when I took the sweater out of the washer and just threw it on the laundry table for a few days. When I checked back in on my sweater it was none too happy with me and its moldy smell was ummm, you know, prominent. So I washed it again and this time hung it up to dry in my dark garage.

Several hours later I went back into the garage, turned on the lights and whoa! There were little wiggly whitish looking things all over it! Upon closer inspection, I could see that those pesky burs, which are actually seeds, had sprouted all over my sweater. What a sight!
- from Annie at Annie's Annuals

The Adventures of the Traveling Socks

Can't help myself...check out this project: PBS Kids Seeded Socks

Seed Gathering Fun

We're getting close to harvest season, and after that it's seed gathering time. For some plants, that time is already here, but it's especially a fun fall activity. See how many kinds you can collect, from the ground, from the park, from your groceries. Display them in muffin tins and then save them in little seed envelopes (see "Cool Things:).

Arthur's Project

This spring I had the pleasure of doing a seed project with Arthur. We looked around his house and his yard and found a variety of seeds, including:

• lemon
• basil
• liquidamber (otherwise known as pokey balls)
• corn (from his popcorn supply)
• weeds
• rose

We mixed up some potting soil and made some labels and planted our seeds. We found the warmest place in his house and put our seed pots on a cookie sheet and covered it all with plastic. Stay tuned for Arthur's story!