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We used American Heritage New Pictorial Encyclopedic Guide to the United States, Vol. 8, which is outdated but still had much useful information.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...

General Update--Fun in July

I have two more blog posts to do--one on new plant ids and another on our Missouri study--but first a general update on the four children, and pictures will be last:

Jaden:  The only regular workbook work he's doing right now is math, because he's still only on "Grade 3" level.  I only intend to take him through all the basic arthimetic and basic algebra and geometry, and beyond that, if he's interested in more math (which I seriously doubt), he can enroll in online classes.  If in the end he can do everything I can do in math, then he'll make it just fine.  If he somehow transforms into a math genius, then he can choose to take it to the next level.  Getting him to do his math and advance in it is a true task. Some of it he's very good at, though, thankfully.

He used some of his saved up money to buy an iPod.  He's downloaded many apps, including several games, but some of the games are educational (and interactive so that we and other friends and family members can play with him).  He has also downloaded things like a level, a dictionary, a language translator, and other educational and useful tools.  He is able to send iMessages and use Facetime, which thrills him to end.    This has also led to working more seriously on teaching him discipline, especially when it comes to the topic of the previous paragraph (and his household/outside duties).

He and I have started at the beginning of the bible again, and we just finished Genesis yesterday and started on Exodus today.  Trust and Liv kind of hang around while we read (outside).  I still read a chapter of Proverbs to all of them, but I haven't been strictly doing it daily, though I should again.  The younger two have mostly been getting bible stories and activities done with them on Sabbath, though as far as spiritual training and scripture-quoting goes, that is done every day, all throughout the day, and I am always using events that happen as opportunities to teach them spiritually.

Jaden loves chickens and is so happy that we have some again.  His latest big plan is to build or buy an incubator for eggs.  The inexpensive ones he found on Amazon are cheap junk, so he has watched some Youtube videos on how he can make his own better-constructed one and still keep the price down:  Incubator Playlist

He's still writing his friend Young in Kenya and recently sent some pictures of himself with one of our chickens and awaiting his newest letter that is in transit.

Jade is also making extra money by taking the fan blowers from the furnaces to the front yard where our neighbor Kenneth picks them up.  Kenneth sells them, and Jade earns a portion of the profit.  This is in addition to what his daddy pays him for scrapping out the copper and other metal.  His weekly allowance has also been raised, because he's got a new job:  spraying out the chicken house daily and giving them fresh water, as well as collecting the eggs.

Trusten:  He's a little rhymer if I've ever met one.  He goes around making up rhymes, and he's very quick-witted.  He also has been one of those to easily remember movie lines or lyrics to songs, and he likes to throw them into his conversation, and at other times he likes to change song lyrics up a bit.  He gets this from his daddy.  I'm trying to incorporate more rhyming books and games into his learning.  With some of his birthday and other money he's been given recently by family members I got him a couple really cool books that just came in last week.  I'm especially excited about the one that shows how a made up street changed through 12,000 years of time.  It's called A Street Through Time by Dr. Anne Millard and illustrated by Steve Noon.  It starts out by telling the story of a street and then starts with the stone age hungers at 10,000 B.C., then the first farmers, Iron Age, Roman times, and on and on until we get to the "The Street Today." 

This will be good for Jaden and the others, too, but I think it will be a great thing now for Trusten.  The other book is called All Around the World by Geraldine Cosneau, and it has "8 fold-out scenes with over 400 resuable stickers!  Plus 24 huge animals to draw!"  It's got the African savannah, the Sahara Desert, the Amazon rainforest, the tropical sea, the Arctic, and more.  He'll get to learn about different kinds of animals that live in different places.

I signed him up temporarily for Clever Island, which is an online educational game community at which Jaden was a member for years. I'm not sure I'll keep the subscription, though.

He's doing well (on most days) with his reading lessons with the Learn-to-Read Bible.  Some days he jokes around and acts goofy too much and won't take it seriously enough, and I get frustrated.

I'm planning to buy him Inchimals which are a set of 12 wooden animal rods in differing lengths that will help him learn to measure, add, etc.

He's got one or two more days worth of work to do before he's finished with his first of the Get Ready, Get Set, and Go for the Code books.  I've not been making him do them very often lately, but we do a reading session almost daily.

Olivia:  I can tell Liv is learning to be a mother.  Even when she does not have a baby doll with her, she makes do with an invisible one.  The three main things she says and does?  Kisses and asks whether I want to kiss or pet her baby, says her baby is drinking her milk, and that her baby is sleeping.  She has been going alone with me on first day each week to get our groceries.  The boys do something with Nathan, and I nurse Elizabeth before I leave, and she sleeps part of the time we're gone.  Liv absolutely loves that she goes with me by herself and "not the boys." 

She definitely understands the concept of two, maybe more.  If I ask her to get two cloths for the baby, she'll bring me back two cloths, but if I ask her to get a cloth, she'll bring back one.

She plays on my iPad sometimes.  She plays National Wildlife Federation's "What Did Snakey Eat?" to practice shapes (where a child must choose between three objects after seeing the shape in the snake's belly) and some princess and pony memory card game.  She loves horses and ponies!

She helps me with Elizabeth, doing little tasks like fetching things for me or taking dirty clothes to the laundry basket or just snuggling with us and playing with her.

Elizabeth:  She may very well be the sweetest baby I've had.  She's laid back, and I think she may be a deep thinker (as deep as a child at that age can get, I guess).  She smiles a lot and laughs. She's almost to the point of sitting well unsupported.  She has been rolling more and moves forward and of course in circles.  There seems to be nothing at all wrong with her neck anymore, and her head is much better.  I'm still taking her to the chiropractor, and we have started using an energy technique of placing a hand on the front left side of her head and cupping another hand on the back right side that leaves space between the head and hand and then just using energy (without pressure) to realign things. I think I will buy another door jumper (gave the last one away), because I think that activity will be good for her (and fun).  She's not putting a lot of weight on her feet yet, but I'm not worried at all, because she's at the same point Liv was at the same age (seven months).

Okay, now for a slough of pictures that highlight some of the fun we've had this month, and I probably won't post my other things until tomorrow.

From l to r: Trusten (5y), Jaden (9y) and Elizabeth (7m), and Olivia (2.75y)

L: Two squash from our garden that grew together; R: Two tomatoes from our friends' garden that grew together

Jade making "snow" with just a blue scoop's worth of white powder and some water in a beaker

Our friends' earth bag home bedroom

Bottles for decor and lighting

My babies snuggling with Elizabeth and then posing for me again

While making their breakfast (apple cinnamon muffins on that day), Trust and Liv check out Jade's iPod on the kitchen table

Trust and Liv floating down Roaring River

L: Liv with arock; R: Jade looking for who-knows-what

Kids with a couple of the chickens

Elizabeth and Olivia playing on our bed. Liz nearly toppled over onto Liv, and so Liv pushed her back

A possum Nathan caught one night, which Jaden William also inspected

Sabbath afternoon fun in Roaring River

Showing off their grasses during a walk (which is always more than just walking)

Pictures I took of myself and Liz

A caterpillar in its chrysalis climbing up the tree (Trusten's discovery) and a leaf-looking wing from a [missing from the scene] insect (Jaden's discovery)

Stay tuned for more soon.  Until next time...

Dangerous Plants and Animals; New Chickens

We've been doing a lot of reading all together: bible, nature magazines, children's storybooks, rhymes, Mystery of History, science books, etc.  Trusten is doing really well learning how to read with the Rocket Reader's Learn-to-Read Bible, which I also used when teaching Jaden William how to read. He's doing well with most of his workbook work, too.  Jade's still doing workbook work now, too, but the main focus is math.  He's still not finished with the Grade 3 math workbooks, though he's done something like 40+ pages in his Grade 4 grammar.

Liv loves playing with her baby sister, and is usually nice when she's doing that.  It's when she's doing something else that she often becomes naughty:

Nice mode turns naughty later in the day

Muddy yet again, as she doesn't seem to understand that "jumping in the sprinkler" means just that

We had many run-ins with dangerous creatures—both plant and animal—since my last post.  Here are a few:

Deadly black widow spider

Poison ivy rash, which poor Liv experienced body-wide (but is fine now)

Deadly water hemlock

Water hemlock (Cicuta maculata) grows abundantly around here, and I took special time out to teach the kids about this plant one day, because they like to pick it for my bouquets (which is fine; it's pretty), and Liv wanted to eat some on that particular day.  I told her to NEVER eat that, because it would kill her.  That was back before it all (almost) seeded.  I searched diligently to find a little today to photograph.  Down in the shade I found a bit.  It's important to be able to tell this and Queen Anne's lace (otherwise known as "wild carrot") apart, because they look very similar at a glance when the water hemlock is fuller of the little white flowers than the picture above shows, like seen in this picture.

 Queen Anne's lace (Daucus carota) has an edible taproot.  The root is a wild carrot. The flowers are also edible, but the leaves are toxic and can even cause skin irritation.  Here is some Queen Anne's lace from our yard:

Note the frilly leaves underneath the flowers at bottom left and the difference in the leaves at bottom right when compared to water hemlock

I dug up one of the Queen Anne's lace plants today, and sure enough the root smelled just like a carrot (I've wondered for a long time).  We also tasted it.  It was too hard to eat raw, though.  I read and learned, though, that the plant is a biennial, and it flowers during the second year during which time also the root is very hard.  Apparently the roots are better to eat toward the end of the first year.  Calorically speaking, I think you'd burn more energy digging one up around here in the Ozarks than you'd get by eating it.  The rocky soil makes it quite a task.  They are said to be especially abundant in Missouri, though (where we are) and are thought to be an invasive species that is a nuisance to many.  Well, I don't quite see it the same way as those folks.  I imagine they are the same type to buy the damned Monsanto's Round-up toxin to spray on their dandelions and other lovely edibles.  I think Queen Anne's lace is pretty, and it gets an extra mark of approval for being a wild food source.

L: Jaden holding my freshly-dug-up plant; R: the white carrot after I washed it

Jaden William turned nine, and we went to the Dixie Stampede for his birthday.  I thought it was neat how it worked out, because we'd just watched Dancing with Wolves the night before, and they are both themed around the War for Southern Independence and have a lot of horse riding.  We had fun, and he loves his gifts, too.  Nathan bought him a nice watch (that he got about a month early), and I got him some books and a science kit that has 70 or more science experiments.  He has been having so much fun making things in the test tubes.

About to open gifts before going to the show (where pictures are not allowed) and enjoying some black cherry cream soda

Some other random pictures:

Can you say squash jungle?!  Our garden is doing well, and we finally got more chickens!!!!!!!

One of Jaden's latest caterpillar finds, perhaps for a Polyphemus moth, which I've posted before, but I've also posted a caterpillar before that we believed to be the larva of the same, but it had reddish dots, but that doesn't mean this isn't the same, as I've seen variations in many species

My sweet baby girl, Elizabeth, at six months of age, learning to sit and having fun with Momma (me!)

Until next time...

May Fun: Pentecost, Birthday, Plants, and More

A lot happened in the Roman month of May.  Some highlights:

Nathan replaced the flooring in our living room and rearranged the furniture, so now I have most of my bookcases (except for the one on the desk) all on one wall, and the seating in relation to the tv (which we only use for dvds and games) is better.  We love it!  I can finally use my little table now I bought about seven months ago.  I was planning to use it for our microscope and my sewing machine, but the latter went back into my closet, because it's too much of a temptation for Liv (which means I can further drag out my excuse for not sewing), but at least we can easily use the microscope.

Trusten's birthday was toward the end of the month; he turned five years of age.  His birthday trip this year was a visit to the Promised Land Animal Park in Eagle Rock, MO.  We've been there twice, but the last time we went was when I was pregnant with him, and Jade was not quite four.  We love going there!  It was a lovely day when we went, and all the friendly, free-ranging animals reminded me of my Father God's soon-coming Kingdom to this earth, at which time His children--headed by Salvation the Firstborn--will reign over the earth, turning it back into a paradise garden from the wilderness it has become, and humankind that lives during that time will enjoy a much better world than this one, when even the animals will live in harmony and will only eat plants.

Deer coming to our windows to be fed and pet

Emu--these are always so funny, but Trust and Liv were scared, and Liv fled to the front floorboard

Male zebra to left was not happy in fenced enclosure alone; farther down were pregnant mares and babies, which explains why the male was by himself. 

L: Alpaca; R: Elk

The cutest in our very own vehicle.  I sat in the back beside her so Trusten and Liv could sit in the front to see better

I got Trusten some practical things for his birthday--some original Smencils and colored Smencils (scented pencils) for his book work and some books, as well as some floam-like stuff that I forget what is called (alternative to Play-Doh).  He got several cards and other gifts from friends and family.  He got a gardening set from his Gamma Pat (my mil) so he can do his very own gardening.

My precious boy with a couple of his gifts

Trusten ready to do some gardening

We also celebrated Pentecost.  We ate our traditional (for us) feast of brisket and sides and homemade punch.  Mmmm.  The children listened to their holy day lesson, Nathan and I listened to a sermon, and we enjoyed the outdoors.  The children also received their biblically-themed Pentecost gifts.  Jaden William and Olivia were both very excited about and thankful for their gifts, but Trusten was very ugly and unthankful for his and then hit Jade after Jade innocently asked why he didn't like his gift.  Needless to say, Trusten got in trouble and had his gift taken away (to be returned soon).  Jaden got a new bible and a bible word search.  Trust and Liv got different bible story sticker books.

Will, Trust, and Liv with their Pentecost gifts

We're in the process of identifying more local plants, but the only one I've actually written on the card about so far, recently, is the wild oats:

Wild oats top right picture

I posted on this blog recently a picture of an unknown wild grass, although I had told the children several times over the last few years that it looks like wild oats.  Ironically enough, that's one of their common names (also wood oats, spangle grass, and others), Latin name Chasmanthium latifolium.  Info copied from eattheweeds.com:

IDENTIFICATION: A perennial, clump-forming grass, wide leaves, nodding clusters of flat, oat-like seed heads, two to five feet,   clump spread two or more feet, leaves are about one inch to eight inches long, flat, terminating in a sharp point. Leaves has distinct cross veining. Flowers flat clusters, spikelets, to two inches long, one wide, spikelets hang on thread-like stems in loose, open panicles above the leaves. Leaves and flower heads turn tan in autumn, reddish-bronze winter.

METHOD OF PREPARATION: Winnowed grain as cereal or ground to make flour.

  We're about to read through Eat the Weed's edible flower pages and identify all the local flowers we can eat (besides the ones we already know, like dandelion which the kids love). 

The kids are all doing well in their workbook work.  Here are a few more pictures of some of the things they've been doing:

Boys cracking pecans; they were delicious but went quickly w/o my getting very many--lol

Jade dressed up as an Arab

Learning about the states with a fun sticker book

Jade with one of his recent caterpillar finds (maybe a swallowtail variety, but I cannot positively id it as of yet)

Groundhog at the edge of our yard

Until next time....