Seeds, Science and Saving Our Water

Ah, Florida. Spring was fleeting, and now it's summer-hot already. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted. Along with the heat has come the realization that this is when I usually (accidentally) kill off my plants by forgetting to water them. This year I'm using water-saving pots AND I put "water plants" on my daily to-do list. Hopefully, the poor little guys will last longer this year. Actually, it's the seeds sprouting indoors that are struggling right now. They did so well at first, then one day, they were all, well, smooshed. Another morning I found them strewn about like rose petals at a wedding. Eventually, the plant-killer puked black, organic soil and seedlings on my beige rug and I finally caught on. Stupid cat. Sure, she's taken out my pothos and peace lily, but I assumed the little seedlings were too small to be of any interest to her. I was wrong. I planted more seeds and crossed my fingers, and now I'm searching for a safe place to hide the little plants at night. Interestingly, my children also nibbled on our plants, but they each tried a leaf of the more mature basil. The six-year-old declared it tasted like pizza; the three-year-old declared it was a bad idea to eat a huge basil leaf.

Speaking of basil, meet Basil, our resident toad, peeking out in the picture above. We're pretty sure he's a toad because he lives in the bottom of our basil pot, on dry land, and hops out when we water it. We carefully water from the top, instead of filling the reservoir, so as not to disturb him too much. He keeps coming back as soon as the plant sucks up a bit of water, so we figure he just thinks we're the
housekeeping crew.

This may be a bit off topic, but it made me think, so I offer it to you. My family spent a day at the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center in Mobile, Alabama recently. Very highly recommended, by the way! One of the permanent exhibits is about the human body. It shows the different systems, how it all works, how it's all connected, and other cool stuff. It also offers many hands-on experiments, and everything is focused on good overall health. There are even stations in the exhibit where locals can check in regularly and keep track of their vitals. While we enjoyed the exhibit, and really, the whole Exploreum, very much, we couldn't help but notice how many morbidly obese families were going though the exhibit, and worse, taking nothing away from it. One display showed restaurant vs. appropriate portion sizes, and my husband heard a large woman declaring that she could never eat that little. I saw another very overweight woman doing an experiment for her large child, who couldn't be bothered making the effort. Throughout the exhibit, we didn't see one family of large people do or say anything to indicate that they "got it", or to teach one of their children. I hope we missed those families. I hope that we saw the exceptions, not the rule. Maintaining good health, including a healthy weight, is so important not only for us, but for the environment.

Finally, I read this month's issue of National Geographic; it's a special issue dedicated entirely to the global water crisis. Cool: a picture of an ice carving in the frozen Kennebec River in my home state of Maine. Not cool: almost everything else. The water crisis is really scary, and I suspect that it's far more advanced than many of us on public water realize. I encourage you to pick up a Nat Geo and read it for yourself. However, I read that and this month's issue of Discover Magazine back to back, and it ALSO contains discouraging water news (and a story on the epidemic of childhood illnesses). While both are valuable and interesting resources, I suggest reading Tiger Beat or Soap Opera Digest or something in between to avoid the staggering depression I battled for a few days after reading all that sad news. Fortunately, when I came out of it, it was with a renewed sense that this little effort of mine, no matter how small, is worth it.