Root-Vue featured at Toy Fair:
Feed children's natural curiosity with our award-winning nature kits! The Root-Vue Farm has won the Dr. Toy Best 100 Toys Award, the Parent's Choice Seal of Approval, and the Oppenheim Gold Seal. Give kids X-ray eyes while they watch carrot, radish and onion seeds develop underground!
Name that Critter CoNtest!
This past weekend we had a contest with the photo to the right. I had gone out to pick two large tomatoes, which were just turning red, and they were gone!
I asked my husband and sons if they had picked them and the answer was no. Then I discovered what had been munching on my tomatoes!
We asked web visitors to identify this critter to win a free Worm-Vue Wonders and 2nd grade teacher Angela Graves was the winner!
Angela said, I believe a tobacco hornworm ate your tomato plant. Its scientific name is a manduca sexta. It looks very similar to a tomato hornworm but it has a red horn instead. I had one eat my plant this summer too!
Angela plans to use the Worm-Vue Wonders in her classroom along with a soils and composting unit she teaches. We love that! Congratulations Angela!
HarvestiNg Fruits aNd Vegetables
Today we had a wonderful bounty. We picked cherry tomatoes, basil, and cucumbers from Dylan's garden. We harvested a huge pan of green beans, corn, and baby pumpkins from another garden on teepee hill. We also gathered plums, peaches & blackberries from the fruit trees surrounding our house.
The fruit trees were planted about four or five years ago. We have apple, plum, peach, pear and cherry. This is the first year we have really seen fruit, mostly plums and peaches. Apples and pears may not produce fruit until the fifth year so we are keeping our fingers crossed for next year.
Photo by Dylan Ray, age 10Vegetables taste better wheN you grow them yourself
Dylan and Evan Ray started their garden at the beginning of the summer. Dylan has been tending to it ever since. So far he has picked cherry tomatoes and baby cucumbers. He never liked to eat cucumbers before, but now says "they taste better when you grow them yourself."
Square Foot GardeNiNg
When Evan and Dylan were planning their garden, their Dad Richard suggested "Square Foot Gardening," which is a raised bed planting with vegetables and flowers in the minimum of space they need. This cuts down on weeding and watering, and provides easy access to the plants. It's perfect for kids to learn how to grow their own food.
Mixed greens a 'growin!