A few days ago the girls tried to count the frogs in our little pond. They caught three with a butterfly net and put them in the wading pool. Two big ones and a little one. Angela said there was another she couldn’t get, so we have at least four, and lots of tadpoles. They have tried to name and identify them, giving them names that Hilaire Belloc specifically said NOT to give them, in his famous poem! But as Angela and I were fixing the stream and Christina and Anna-Grace were watching the frogs so they wouldn’t jump out, Christina said, "Look! One’s trying to get on top of the other!" Angela and I looked at each other. (Now, the younger girls have no idea what the frogs were trying to do – and I’m sure Angela’s knowledge is still sketchy. "Mating." That’s about it.) Now, for some time they had been trying to figure out which are boys and which are girls – not hard to solve, since we could have gone on google and found out easily enough, but the girls did ponder the question. So Angela jumped up. "Which one was on top?" "The little one tried to get on that bigger one." I said I thought telling boys from girls had something to do with the markings around the eardrums, and they determined that one of the big ones and the little one were boys, because they had a dot in the middle of the eardrum that the girl didn’t. Very cool. Now, I’m not sure if they’re right about that, but they were doing their own kind of experimenting, collecting data and drawing conclusions. This is a very good thing – hands-on science! Later I put the question to Mr. Google and found out that the boys are usually smaller, because the girls need room for egg sacks. Good so far. Also, the boys have larger thumbs, and something about there being a black stripe on the inside of the legs. But I don’t know if that’s specific to certain species. No mention of eardrums from my cursory examination. We’ll check for the other characteristics next. But at least we know the little one is a boy, and I think Christina knows certain markings on the girl, so that she will be able to identify her again. She has named her "Barbara Bandy-knees." I think Mr. Belloc would be flattered.
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For years I have wanted a water feature in my gardens. I wanted the children to be able to play in a stream and splash in a brook. I loved waterlilies and the ecosystem of a pond. I loved the look and sound of a waterfall. Unfortunately we were not blessed with a natural water feature on our property, and it didn’t seem we could make one. About ten years ago I bought a little patio pond kit, with a large black cauldron, a waterlily, and a vertical plant of some kind. I was thrilled! I bought a couple goldfish and looked forward to a summer with a nice little watergarden. Unfortunately, by mid-summer the snails were eating my lilypads and my fish went belly-up (I later figured out the poor things cooked! black pool, hot sun, no water circulation… poor things!) So I gave up. I poked holes in the cauldron and turned it into a planter. Then a few years ago we built an addition and we had a great big pile of clay to do something with! The time was right! I did lots of research over the winter and by summer I knew what needed to be done. My husband used the clay to increase the grade of our slightly sloping yard, and he and my son dug a hole. I laid the stone around the pond, and the girls and I arranged the stream and waterfall. That took us to autumn, but by spring of last year we were ready to populate the pond with flora and fauna – and, as I had hoped, never a day goes by without the girls going over and playing in or just admiring the pond! They love the fish, but the frogs are a big hit! They love the stream, too, and this year we are filling the adjacent rock garden with Stepables so they will have colorful and soft plants under foot. I am so happy with our watergarden! Nothing seems to invoke in a child a sense of wonder and awe and joy of nature like a pond. I hope you will find a way to add water to your property, not only for your own enjoyment, but for your children. Here’s a simple starting craft for children in the garden! Do you have spring bulbs that you can’t find when the foliage has died? Do you ever accidentally dig them up, or worse, chop one in half while digging? I hate that! Last year I planted a lot of bulbs and was concerned about that happening more often. I put sticks in the ground to mark their place, but they are unsightly, and tend to get knocked down anyway. So I thought, why not have rocks with pictures of the bulbs on them, to mark the spot? It could be whimsical or artistic or serious, but it would be ‘garden art’ with a purpose! (no pink flamingoes in my garden!) So I set Angela to make a couple to start, and she and Anna-Grace made our first markers. They used acrylic craft paints, the kind available in bottles at any craft store. Then Angela sprayed them with Sealer, to make them waterproof. So easy! Personally, I wouldn’t have gone with pink rocks (yes, I’m too grown up, I know) but they did a great job, and a house full of children should have gardens that reflect their presence. Pink it is! So set the children at it, and they will have a great time! After overhearing several of my daughters playing out by the pond, my oldest called to me and said, "Mom, you know you did something right when your children name their frogs after a Hilaire Belloc poem." Thank you ! Here’s the poem, a fitting first entry to this blog's poetry selection.
The Frog by Hilaire Belloc Be kind and tender to the Frog, And do not call him names, As "Slimy skin," or "Polly-wog," Or likewise "Ugly James," Or "Gap-a-grin," or "Toad-gone-wrong," Or "Billy Bandy-knees": The Frog is justly sensitive To epithets like these. No animal will more repay A treatment kind and fair; At least so lonely people say Who keep a frog (and, by the way, They are extremely rare). From "The Bad Child’s Book of Beasts" |
AuthorWelcome to Growing Goodness! This website is dedicated to growing good things, both plants and children. It's a gardening blog with maternal overtones, as I discuss the goodness and value of plants, both wild and domestic. In the process I hope to help you pass a love of nature on to your children. Happy Gardening! Archives
August 2011
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