Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Soil testing for Spring Gardening

We wanted to test our soil's ph level in a number of locations before spring planting. We bought a commercial soil testing kit and collected samples from the Blueberry's and the vegetable garden. We discovered both locations to have a ph level of 7 which is neutral. mostly good news for the vegetable garden but however the Blueberry's need more acidic soil to grow best.


Soil ph is a numbered scale from 0 to 14 the lower the number the more acidic it is, 7 being neutral and the higher the number is the more alkaline it is. By measuring ph levels we have more data to make decisions on soil health and any amendments needed.



Some examples to improve soil health for particular needs are:

1 Add amendments to increase acidity like. sphagnum moss, aluminum sulfate and iron sulfate.

2 Add amendments to increase alkaline like wood ash or potash.


Now we can make changes to the soil before planting, for a better growing season.    

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Pancake Tuesday

Pancake Tuesday is a  holiday and is a day where people gather with friends and family and have a feast of pancakes. On this day you make pancakes of all sorts and there also is a long history of this special day. In the middle ages it was called Shrove Tuesday.The name Shrove comes from the old word "shrive" which means to confess. On Shrove Tuesday, in the Middle Ages, people used to confess their sins so that they were forgiven before the season of Lent began.

Pancake Day celebrates the start of the Christian celebration of Lent where Christians give up something for 40 days to empathize with Jesus Christ when he was sent into the wilderness for 40 days and nights and tempted by the Devil. The forty days now leads up to the celebration of Easter.

During Lent people would fast, so the day before, Shrove Tuesday, households would use up food items in the home such as sugar, butter, milk and eggs. Pancakes were easily made from these ingredients and provided needed nutrients before the fasting period. Eggs would not be eaten thereafter until Easter.!Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and ends at Easter Sunday, a period of forty days. 
So what is a pancake? A pancake is a thin, flat cake, made of batter and fried in a pan.You mix flour, egg and milk and vanilla in a bowl and this makes a batter. You then pour some in a frying pan on low heat and flip it when the bottom is solid.








The pancakes were great!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Trip To The Science Center


On March 1st i went to the Science center and had loads of fun and my most favorite thing there was probably the frozen shadows chamber at firs i was thinking that you had to look at the light when it flashed but you didn't have to. You had to face the wall flash the light and walk back from the wall and you will see your shadow frozen on the wall. I really liked going to the science center this time it had newer better things to do. There was a cool Musical pipes thing there too here is a link it was fun! Musical pipe! Here is another link to the science center website for Ithaca