Ladybird Garden Revisited Times Three

This beautiful wood cut out is on the new play area for the kids. This is above the door right at the level of my neck.

This is below.

I can see why kids love it here.

Chimney swift tower.

A long board for the kids to use like a balance beam.

Yikes!

I was exercising on the equipment for adults to use while the kids play. I was on an elliptical talking to a girl and her Aunt Martha who grew up on a farm in Texas with Guernsey cows and Holsteins. They grew garden vegetables. She loves windmills too but not the kind that create electricity. I like all windmills. The girl's little brother looked like he wanted to use the elliptical so I let him have it. I tried the exercise bike but that is hard to do when I am wearing a skirt so I kept walking. The garden has a new turf that does not need much mowing. Was it part buffalo grass maybe?

This is the board walk back to the class room area.

Big Bluestems.

I am back inside by the introductory video.

This garden has their own database. Visit wildflower.org/plants-main to explore the database.

So purdy!

I should not have taken so many pictures.

Oh, they got a downstairs? Cool.

This is my view of the prairie from one of the windows downstairs. This would be a fun place to volunteer..

 

Growing Bacteria

 

My newest citizen science project is for the National Resources Research Institute which is an offshoot of the University of Minnesota in Duluth. The project is studying the relationship between bacteria and algae in the hopes to prevent algae blooms on the north shore of Lake Superior. On Tuesday afternoon I took a sterile bag and collected water from the flowing part of Chester Creek which is a five minute walk from my place. I placed it in a insulated pouch with a frozen ice pack and took it home. I mixed 3 ml of the creek water with a growing medium and put it in this petri dish. When I saw algae starting to form 24 hours later, I waited another 24 hours to count. I counted 14 spots of E-Coli. E-Coli are the black or dark purple spots. The pink spots are a different kind of Coli. The white spots are not Coli. When I was finished I entered the data onto a computer form. I poured a thin layer of bleach over the petri dish and disposed of it in the garbage. How odd to be purposefully growing bacteria in my house. This will be a weekly talk until the creek freezes over.