Wasp Life Cycle, Chickens, Raccoons, and More

Chickens...

One of the most important things in the kids' life now are the chickens.  Jaden especially loves chickens, and Liv loves holding them, too.  We're waiting to see any day now whether some eggs Jade has in his incubator hatch.  Our friends Paul and Lisa gave him an incubator that they were given and didn't want, so he didn't have to build or buy one.  The only problem is that there is no thermometer on there, so I'm really not sure whether he will have success with this first batch.  And the eggs he got?  Well, one of our chickens was already laying on them for a few days before he took (stole) them. 

I was lying down with the baby and Liv one day last week and did not realize that Jaden was taking a shower with one of the chickens (Little Rooster), until after he got out and came to inform me.  He even shampooed the poor thing!  He said he was fine with it.  Now this is after he called a woman on an online video we watched several weeks ago and idiot for swimming in her pool with her chicken that she described as her soulmate.  Nathan says he thinks she rather inspired him.  Ha!  Jade protested and said that if the chicken pooped in the shower, at least it would go down the drain.  He carries chickens around all the time, though, and he says they will let you know when they need to go.

Jade with Little Rooster eating muffin crumbs; Jade's egg incubator in background

Jaden with Little Hen, their favorite chicken of all

Wasps...

One of the really cool highlights for us last week was when Jaden uncovered all stages of a wasp's life cycle:

Left: larval beginnings; Right: The in-between state

Almost mature

Not quite ready, but Jade interfered with nature

Science Kit...

Another peak at Jade's science kit activities, something which I forgot to post last time:

It's amazing how big those little specks get after adding water!  A good lesson in hydration/dehydration/rehydration

Gifts from Kenya...

We got a gift package from our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ with whom we're spiritually close, from Kenya, and along with it Jaden's latest letter from his friend Young. Sadly some of the things were broken, despite their careful packaging, but that's where a lesson in gluing came in, and I fixed the broken things as well as I could, and we still very much love and enjoy the gifts.  Some of the gifts were for me and some for Jaden.

The things at left were in perfect condition.  The things at right show the before and after the gluing (but before the marking touchups).  We thought it was neat that the one gift is in the shape of Kenya.  It and the two cats are Jaden's, and he proudly displays them on his dresser.

Arkansas...

We did our Arkansas study using the same three books I listed in my previous post.  I also made them gelatin treats in the shape of Arkansas, as I did before for Missouri. 

Arkansas gelatin treat. The kids think these are good.

Reading and More...

We read about raccoons.  We read Raccoons by the National Geographic Society and the chapter on raccoons in Alive in the Wild by Cahalane, et al. We have also read and talked a lot more lately about the human body. 

Jade is doing all right in math.  There are some things he does really well, and the other things I help him through it all, until he gets it down by himself.  Trusten is still doing well with reading, though we've missed a few days lately.  He's finished with the Get Ready for the Code workbook.  The next one to start is Get Set.... 

My old iPhone now functions as an iPod for Trust and Liv for educational games (and picture-taking and voice-recording).  Liv loves taking pictures.  Hmmm...wonder from whom she gets that.

We have all really enjoyed reading A Street Through Time.  Trusten didn't think he'd like it, but he does, and Jaden really loves it, too.  I think it's so neat!  This is definitely a high recommendation!  We've only read three spreads so far:  Stone Age, First Farmers, and Iron Age. 

I love that we have a good copy of Clorinda now, and I've read that a few times now.  I also received Clorinda Takes Flight, which I read, and we enjoyed.  Today we finally received Clorinda Plays Baseball, and we look forward to reading it.

Awesome books!  Clorinda was first enjoyed by Jaden and me several years ago, but it was a cereal box copy that is now not in good shape.

  Youtube Videos Watched...

 Raccoons observed and as pets  
 

 Chicken Anatomy  (missing middle part, unfortunately)
 

Some Random Pictures...

Spearmint on the bank of our front yard with some brown-eyed Susan (growing beside each other, just like the stuff near the river I posted last time)

Some random pictures of Jade, and Liv in our creek, on our road, and across the road

A small family grave site and historical marker telling about the homestead.  This is in front of one of our favorite spots to swim on Roaring River

A Sabbath afternoon swim in Roaring River (different location than one mentioned above)

L: Nathan, Will, Trust, and Liv; R: Liz and I.  I swam after Nathan swam for awhile, and then he took Liz.

Jaden William had his first-ever dental visit, and the above pictures show the fun part.  He had one small cavity, and his x-ray showed that he's missing a permanent tooth.

L: Will, Trust, and Liv showing off their plants....uh, I don't know what it is, yet, but I DID find out what a different plant is called now (not pictured).

Wild potato vine with ants crawling on it.  I talked to Liv about the ants upon her questioning what they were doing there.  I told her they probably would like to get inside the flowers to get to the sweet nectar.

Trusten's wheelbarrow that Jaden borrowed (with permission, as he was kind that day) full of mud and dry grass for making bricks. 

Jaden William showing off his new hairstyle, modeled after his favorite fictional book character, Tintin

Until next time...

Missouri Study and New Plant Ids

The week before last we read a lot about the state in which we live, Missouri.  We learned about many of the cities, Missouri history, folklore, fun facts, well-known plants and animals (flora and fauna), and more.  I also made fruit-juice-sweetened gelatin for the kids.  It was the first time I have ever done this for them.  I do not buy Jell-O or other similar brands, because they contain pork gelatin and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives, as well as GM corn syrup.  I used my Missouri-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the gelatin into Missouri shapes, which the kids really loved.

Missouri-shaped gelatin treat and the boys' fabric U.S. map

Up-to-date information about Missouri

Missouri legends and lore, including the story about Jesse James

Some Missouri flora and fauna

Missouri farming

St. Louis history and facts

More about Missouri

Trusten placing the arch sticker on the state of Missouri

We used American Heritage New Pictorial Encyclopedic Guide to the United States, Vol. 8, which is outdated but still had much useful information.  We also used the up-to-date The Young People's Atlas of the United States. And for Trusten's better participation, I used Sticker Atlas of the United States.

Youtube videos watched:

MO Conservation Playlist: Wildlife of Missouri

Our Playlist: History of Mark Twain and History of St. Louis Arch

Our Playlist:  History of Jesse James

We also read some about the caves and springs in Missouri. Missouri is known as "the cave state" and has more caves than any other U.S. state, except for Tennessee.  I'm currently planning our week for the Feast of Tabernacles, which we'll be keeping here, and we're planning to visit at least one cave around here (not yet chosen) that we've not yet visited.  Jaden still remembers the caves we visited during the FOT in the year of 2009 when we visited the Lake of the Ozarks area in Missouri.  We'll also be doing some fun things in Arkansas during the FOT this year, and I'll talk about our Arkansas study in my next blog post.

We id'ed two more plants that grow around here.  One morning I went out to see our garden (which is now non-existent), and I noticed some vines and white flowers on the ground adjacent to the garden spot.  The flowers instantly reminded me of morning glories.  I picked one and went inside to see whether I could get a positive identification on it.  Sure enough, it is in the morning glory family.  It's called wild potato vine, and it's an edible.  I've since seen a lot of it around here, and it seems to be flourishing despite the drought conditions.  This plant has not been so abundant around our property and the surrounding area in the past few years, as I would have surely noticed it.  I've noticed this same thing about a lot of species.  Some so scarce, some so abundant.

To the right is the flower I picked that morning when I came inside to research it on my iPad; to the left is Trusten in front of another wild potato vine plant along the roadside during one of our walks.

Wild potato vine (Ipomoea pandurata):

In dry soils, in fields or on roadsides, look for the large white morning-glory (up to three inches long and about as wide) with a reddish-purple “eye” in the center. Arising from a deep vertical root, this perennial vine with alternate leaves, entwines itself over other vegetation.
The leaf-blades are thin, heart-shaped, occasionally fiddle-shaped (pandurate), three to six inches long. The sepals are ridged, which distinguishes it from other morning-glories.
Another distinguishing characteristic is its root. Sometimes called Man-of-the-Earth, this morning-glory has an enlarged starchy root that can be several feet long and weigh up to thirty pounds. It is said that American Indians roasted pieces of the root for food–but be wary about trying that, because the fresh root is a purgative.
Wild Potato Vine is widely distributed and blooms from May through September. It is a host for the sweet potato weevil, and can be a troublesome weed. It is a member of the Morning-glory Family, Convolvulaceae.

Edible Parts

    • Root

Uses
The root can be cooked. The young ones are best, they become very acrid as they get old.
The roots can be up to 75cm long and 12cm in diameter and can weigh 7 kilos.
Roots weighing 10 kilos or more are not unknown. They are best if given a long roasting. Roasted roots taste like sweet potato but with some bitterness.
The tuber can be baked or boiled like a potato. The taste can be described as a sweet potato that is somewhat bitter. Caution should be taken as some roots have more of a bitter taste than others and ought to be boiled in “several changes of water.”

Native Uses
American Indians poulticed root for rheumatism, “hard tumors”. Root tea used as a diuretic, laxative, and expectorant, for coughs, asthma, beginning stages of tuberculosis; “blood purifier”; powdered plant used in tea for headaches, indigestion.

Warning: The roots when left uncooked have purgative (laxative) properties

Bug Repellant
An infusion of the plant has been used for soaking sweet potatoes in order to keep away bugs and moles.

(Source: Emergency Outdoors: http://blog.emergencyoutdoors.com/edible-wild-plants-wild-potato-vine-ipomoea-pandurata/)

Another plant we id'ed is spearmint, which grows wild all over the place in this area:

Brown-eyed Susan on the left; spearmint in middle and on right

That was a gorgeous brown-eyed Susan plant that was near all spearmint I photographed, so I just had to share it, too!  We have both black-eyed Susan and brown-eyed Susan around here.  The latter has smaller flowers but is much taller in stature.  These plants were photographed near the bank of Roaring River near Eagle Rock, MO.

Spearmint (Mentha spicata):

Spearmint is an aromatic herb found in European cuisine since Roman times. It is native to Central Europe but it is now found throughout North America, where it was introduced by North America's earliest immigrants in the late 1500's. In those dangerous times it was used to prevent and treat scurvy, due to its high vitamin C content.
Mint has an interesting history in Europe. Roman legend has it that the wife of Pluto was jealous of a young nymph named Minthes and so turned her into a plant. Although Pluto was unable to transform her back, he gave her a delightful aroma that we now recognize as Mint.

Medicinal uses:
 
When made into a tea or infusion, Spearmint can relieve a wide range of ailments, including nausea, hiccups, flatulence and motion sickness. It has also been found to help with the more severe symptoms of IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and to act as a diuretic for sufferers of urinary complaints.
Spearmint has long been used for a variety of stomach and bowel complaints, as it tends to increase bile production in the stomach and aid digestion. This is the historical reason for the after-dinner mint!
Another popular use for Spearmint is for expectant mothers, as a mild remedy for nausea and vomiting during pregnancy. It has also been used to treat hirsutism in women – an imbalance of testosterone that manifests in an abnormal, masculine hair growth.

[Food flavoring:]

Spearmint is a very popular world wide flavor of chewing gum, across all brands. The flavor is extracted directly from the spearmint plants. It is also used as a flavoring in all sorts of toothpaste, candy, and shaving creams.
Spearmint appears in cuisine all around the world. Various types of mint are found in Asian and European cuisine, as well as a host of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks.


The leaves of the spearmint plant are where the flavor and the herbal ingredients reside. They must be cut before the plant flowers, at which point they will lose their flavor. For medicinal purposes an oil is made from the leaves, but many herbologists also recommend making a tea.

(Source: Herbal Remedies:  http://www.herbalremedypro.com/spearmint.htm)

In my next post I'll talk about our Arkansas study, chickens, and raccoons.

Until next time...