We went to our first official Homeschool meet-up today since the first pandemic shut-downs. That’s not to say we haven’t been out and about, or seen other people (like family). This was the first intentional gathering in a public (albeit outdoor) space.

One of many personal highlights was running into an old friend that I totally was not expecting to see there (she hadn’t said she was going on the meet-up site). Like us, she also just started dipping her toes back into socializing, having only been to one prior meet-up. Its been so long, only the older of our kids remembered a bit of each other, despite the fact that she and I hung out exclusively on a near-weekly basis leading right up to the shut-downs. We agreed that maybe we will start meeting up again, just our families, like we had previously.

Other highlights included seeing a large bed of milkweed, some chickory in bloom, and meadow phlox. I found an acute bladder snail to bring back to our bioactive self-sustaining ecosystem in a jar (more on that in a minute), and we came up on some old turtle bones in the creek bed, which had been there long enough to have first been bleached and then started to turn green from algae. We also found several webs of the creepiest looking spider I've ever seen in the wild - what I can only assume based on an amateurish ID to be a Micrathena of some sort, due to its spiny back. Though, from the angle I saw it, as I approached it almost looked like it opened a spikey umbrella to warn me to back off, and I don't know if that is typical of them to do. Best I got was a blurry photo because I couldnt get my camera to focus.

I also did a quick watercolor sketch. Prior to leaving, I quickly threw the new Aquarius set my mom sent me that she picked up during her trip to Poland with my dad and one of my brothers.

My daughter came to see if I was almost done, since they were tired of waiting and wanted to explore, and asked how did I manage to make red look like water?

I said “paint what you see, not what you think you see.”

Here is a snapshot of the area from a slightly different angle.

P.S. I have a bioactive ecosystem in a jar that has been going 3 years at this point. At first, I thought it was a failure, because it stunk and everything seemed to be decaying. I set it aside in an eastern window, and while it was initially vented, I closed it when a mosquito got in the house and started breeding in it. Then, I forgot about it, or rather, avoided it for a long time. When I went to clean it up, the water had cleared (and smelled fine), the moss had been cleaned of the filamentous algae that was on it, and growing. The nerite snail I had put in there was still alive. This was last year.

Since then, I had moved it to a dedicated spot, added a shrimp (which lived a few months but eventually passed), and it had been otherwise doing okay in that spot. I added the acute bladder snail from today, whom I named Tug as I watched them tug their like a heavy backpack as it navigated cluttered areas.

I decided to give it an update, and headed over to my happy place (aquarium store not far from me) to pick up some more plants, some proper substrate for shrimp, and more shrimp. Seems everyone has made themselves at home and look quite comfortable. Even the bladder snail wasted no time and deposited some eggs on the glass. The nerite woke up from their nap since I had to move them while adding substrate, and seemed happy to find new company - the shrimp having taken turns attempting to claim him for themselves while standing on their shell.

Despite having never performed a water change, or cleaned it, it really is that clear. This is what is so amazing about bioactive jarrariums. Since I hadnt cleaned it, the accumulated “scum” at the bottom that is now underneath and slightly mixed in with the substrate as I poured it in should provide plenty of nourishment for the rooted plants. I left the leaves that broke off or were wilted on, so that the bladder snail and shrimp have something to snack on, in addition to the biofilm that collects on the moss. I did recently clean up the moss significantly, as it had multiplied to the point of filling the jar. So mostly self-sustaining - you do need to do a bit of pruning here and there.