My Moss Terrarium!

We created a miniature biosphere last week! Every day we go on a long walk in our neighborhood, and my Momma likes to pick up little pieces of moss to put in the cracks of her rock garden. Well, this time Holden and I got to collect some moss, some pretty pebbles, and some dirt, and we planted them in a jar! First we put the dirt into the jar (my Momma says that if we do it again we need to sterilize the dirt first, either by baking or microwaving it... there are now LOTS of creepy little worms and funny other creatures that are making little trails inside the jar). Putting the dirt in the jars was fun, 'cuz we got our hands nice and dirty. Then we put a smoothe rock in (to look like a mountain), and put moss around it. Then we dropped a few pebbles in, stuck a stick with some lichen into the moss, and each of us got to put a little plastic animal in there. Holden chose a sheep, I chose a turkey. We then put a few spoonfulls of water in the jar, and closed the lid. In theory (if the jar isn't shaken by inquisitive little hands, and has enough light), the moss etc. inside the jar is supposed to sustain itself: the water condenses, then drips back down into the soil. If it goes well, my Momma wants to make a few miniature rock gardens inside some jars for herself.

I was so excited about my moss terrarium (jar) that I just would not hold still... my Momma has 5 very blurry pictures of me, and this one is the least blurry one.

Holden was very happy about his moss terrarium, too! I'm happy to have a friend to do projects with.

Here is my jar, you can see the moss, the turkey, and the lichen "tree"


Here is Holden's jar, with moss, a sheep, and some red pebbles under the lichen "tree"















Speaking of gardens, my Momma WILL post some pictures of our garden in the near future... right now our star magnolia is beginning to bloom, and the daffodils and hyacinths are blooming, but all the other plants haven't grown up out of the ground yet. My Momma spent a good bit of Saturday edging the front lawn, and digging up some very stubborn dandilions.

I had fun digging in the dirt today while my Momma worked on the flagstone pathway... I have my very own "house" behind the big maple, with my very own boulder, and some bricks to sit on (my Momma found them in the dirt while digging a hole for a tree). I have figured out how to dig up worms in the garden, and proudly show each of them to my Momma. She's learned that it is generally a good idea to check my pockets BEFORE going inside - worms don't like going through the laundry, and picking dried-up worm corpses out of my pocket AFTER going through the washer and the dryer is not a whole lot of fun. Let me know if you need any worms. I'd be happy to dig some up for you.