Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick; The Biggest Tomato Ever

Twig Walkingstick lives in and around the Wooster campus of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. His alter ego is Kurt Knebusch, one of our super-talented writers and editors on campus. Each month, look for Twig to answer a reader questions and some additional interesting facts below. After Twig's post, we will be providing some ideas and suggestions on how to incorporate the info in Twig's column into fun science learning for your students and children.

Q. Dear Twig: What's the biggest tomato ever?

A. The biggest tomato ever in weight – the heaviest, that is – weighed an amazing 7 pounds, 12 ounces. That's actually just a little bit more than the average weight of a newborn baby born in the United States! 

Whoa. Big tomato ...

Scientists at Cornell University say tomatoes come in a huge range of sizes. One wild type grows tiny fruit that weigh less than a tenth of an ounce: way less than even a blueberry or cranberry.
Other types – ones bred especially to crank out whoppers – grow tomatoes that weigh nearly a thousand times more than that!

The variety called Brandywine, for instance, grows fruit that weigh about 2 pounds each. Dutchman and Gian Beligan tomatoes can tip the scales at up to 5 pounds. The record tomato, the baby-sized one, came from a type called Delicious.

Giant tomatoes tend to look like soccer balls with the air half let out. Big, but caved in on tom. Also juicier.

Kickingly,

Twig

P.S. Plant scientists call the tomato a fruit. But in general we call it and use it as a vegetable.


Notes: The record tomato was grown by Gordon Graham in Oklahoma in 1986. Read about him and it in Southern Living. Learn more about growing giant tomatoes in Organic Gardening. Sources included Guinness World Records 2006 and "Dissecting the Genetic Pathway to Extreme Fruit Size in Tomato ..." by Lippmann and Tanksley, Cornell University. Note, too, the "World's Largest Tomato" (artificial category),  Leamington, Ontario, Canada, which Twig in fact has had the pleasure of staring in open-mouth wonder at.

Using this information in the classroom:

Want to have more fun with tomatoes? Have dun growing them together with your students in your classroom or home.

Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Where do deer sleep during winter?

 Twig Walkingstick lives in and around the Wooster campus of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. His alter ego is Kurt Knebusch, one of our super-talented writers and editors on campus. Each month, look for Twig to answer a reader questions and some additional interesting facts below. After Twig's post, we will be providing some ideas and suggestions on how to incorporate the info in Twig's column into fun science learning for your students and children.

Q. Dear Twig: Where do deer sleep during winter?

A. In two kinds of places. The choice depends on whether it's daytime or nighttime. (I assume here a cold, snowy winter where the deer is. Are.)

At night, deer tend to sleep near coniferous ("kuh-NIFF-er-us") trees. (Coniferous trees you know might include pines, firs, spruces and hemlocks.) A usual spot is next to a trunk under thick, low, sheltering branches. The branches serve as a roof and a blanket. They keep out the wind, slow down how fast heat gets lost and help the deer save energy. A key for a deer to survive winter is to save energy.

During the day, deer sleep more in the open, away from deep, dark woods, a lot of times on a fill facing south or west. Why: To be in the sun. The sun's heat makes them warm. Or at least not as cold.

The technical term for both places is "bed sites." Deermay "bed" —lie down, sleep, or just hunker down and relax—at times throughout the day or night.

Long winter's nappilu,

Twig

P.S. Ohio's native deer is the white-tailed deer. Out west look for mule deer. Also, mules.

Notes from Twig: 

• Mules, but not mule deer, like in Ohio too of course. And in many other places, such as "Hee Haw."
• Subspecies of the mule deer (note: not a mule) are the Sitka deer (ditto) and black-tailed deer (ditto ditto). White tailed subspecies are the Coues (said "cooze." "cows" or "coos," depending on who says it) deer and Florida key deer.
• Sources included "Winter Bed-site Selection by White-tailed Deer in Central Ontario," Journal of Wildlife Management, 1983.
• Ohio State's experts on deer and wildlife management in general, but not mules, work in the School of Environment and Natural Resources, specifically in the Terrestrial Wildlife Ecology Laboratory.

--

Using this information for education:

Many students are preparing to celebrate the holiday season and dreaming of what they may find under the Christmas tree. Unlike the Christmas trees inside homes which have presents underneath them, nature's Christmas trees (pines, hemlocks and firs to name a few) are often a present to wildlife in and of themselves. 

Written by Colleen Monroe, A Wish to be a Christmas Tree is a fun holiday read that recounts the tale of a pine tree that has grown too large to ever be picked by a family as a Christmas tree. As he begins to cry, his woodland-creature-friends share how important he is to them...how he provides shelter from the storms with his branches, bedding for deer, and many other important benefits. Still sad, the tree is cheered when the animal s decorate him on their own and make him their own special Christmas tree.

This is a fun book to read during the holiday season, because it teaches the importance of friendship and helping others, but children can also learn about the important ecological functions of trees for wildlife in a fun way. And that includes providing cozy beds for deer in winter. Thanks, Twig!

This turkey is "staying alive"

November is here, so it's time to talk turkey. Turkey adaptations that is. Adaptations are physical or behavioral characteristics that plants or animals have to help them survive. But have you ever wondered how to make learning about adaptations fun for kids? Here's the answer: a quick and fun lesson on how the adaptations of wild turkeys help them stay alive!

This is an Eastern subspecies wild turkey...not to be confused
with the domestic turkey that graces most tables at Thanksgiving.
Photo by John Ford and the National Wild Turkey Federation.

This is a fun, hands-on activity...and now is the perfect time of year for it! Not only are your (and your students) probably starting to dream of all the goodies including the star player TURKEY on your Thanksgiving tables later this month, but many of the materials needed for this activity can be picked up at a bargain price now that Halloween supplies are on clearance this week!

This photo of a flock of Eastern Wild Turkeys was taken by Henry Zeman.
Courtesy of the National Wild Turkey Federation.

The following lesson is from the book Wild About Turkeys by the National Wild Turkey Federation.

1. Start of by telling students they'll be learning about ADAPTATIONS. In fact, adaptations are so special that every time you say the word "ADAPTATIONS" students should wiggle their thumbs. 
2. Define ADAPTATIONS and why we talk about them.
3. Ask for a volunteer. Ask the other students if the volunteer could survive as a turkey in the wild. Nope...not without some wild turkey ADAPTATIONS. (Don't forget to wiggle those thumbs!)
4. Now is the time to go through you ADAPTATION box and briefly describe how each of those items would help a wild turkey while you dress the volunteer with their new ADAPTATIONS. What's in your box? Here are some ideas:

• Feathers: Use a down vest. Feathers help turkeys stay toasty warm. Their normal body temperature is 108 degrees! You can also use a camouflage jacket. The colors help turkeys hide from predators
•  Tail feathers: Bright and colorful will do the trick! For males, these feathers help in strutting and make the female turkeys agree to a date!
• Beard: Hit the Halloween clearance aisle and grab a costume beard. Turkey beards are a good indicator of gender and age.
• Multi-colored head: A tri-colored bicycle helmet is a good bet for this one. The red, white and blue on turkeys' heads is a form of communication for the birds.
• Carunkles:  Use a red neck tie. Turkeys can change the carunkles size and color to communicate as well.
• Snood: This is as easy as a red balloon.Turkeys can change the size and color of their snood to communicate with each other and also to help regulate body temperature.
• Beak: Here's another chance to take advantage of that Halloween clearance aisle by snagging a costume beak. Turkeys use their beak to catch food, and it's small, stout shape is perfect for the kind of food they eat. Can you imagine what a turkey would look like if it had a beak like a toucan? Ask students if they think turkeys can chew and if they have teeth.
• Gizzard or Crop: A cheese grater is a "grate" replica of the small stones that are located in the crop and that grind up the bird's food.
• Spurs: Cowboy spurs can be used to show how male turkeys use their spurs to fight other males. The best fighter gets the girl! Males sometimes also use their spurs as protection from predators.
• Long toes: Plastic garden cultivator tools can show how turkeys use their feet to scratch the ground and dig up acorns, chufa, grasshoppers, worms and more.
• Fast running: Jogging shoes make a nice visual. Did you know turkeys can run about 19 miles per hour?
• Bones: PVC pipes or dryer vents can show how turkey bones are very light...in fact, they are almost hollow. Turkeys can fly about 55 miles per hour at top speed!
• Eyesight: Time to hit the Halloween aisle again for some googley glasses. A turkey's best defense is good eyesight, and turkeys can in fact see in color.
• Strutting: One more thing turkeys do to get a date! Male turkeys do this to impress the ladies. Have your volunteer strut or dance whil playing "Staying Alive." 

Have the students vote as to whether or not they now think their volunteer's ADAPTATIONS are enough to stay alive as a wild turkey. Older students may be asked to think about their favorite animal and identify a few of that animal's ADAPTATIONS to share with the class. And what about our ADAPTATIONS as people?

Photo by Maslowski & the National Wild Turkey Federation

 Wonder why the students wiggled their thumbs every time the word ADAPTATION was mentioned? Try this experiment. Tape thumbs down to the rest of the students' hands and ask them to try everyday tasks like buttoning, zipping, getting a glass of water, writing their name, etc. Do our thumbs help us stay alive? You bet!

And speaking of adaptations, did you know domestic turkeys have their own set of ADAPTATIONS, too? Today's domestic turkeys are white and are descendents of a no extinct subspecies of wild turkeys. They are bleived to have been domesticated by Native Americans in Mexico between 150 BC and 400 AD. Spanish explorers brought Turkeyes to Spain, and by 1530, domestic turkeys were common throughout Europe. They arrived in the US from England in 1607.

Commercially-raised domestic birds look quite different from their wild relatives as you can see. Their feathers are usually white, which is preferred for the cleaner appearance of the dressed birds. Domestic birds are also so heavy they often have difficulty flying. Their neck skin (wattles) is heaver and their snood is longer. Their temperament is also more suited to confinement.

Domestic male turkeys tend to be vocal and respond with a squeaky gobble to almost any noise. Females use calls similar to their wild counterparts, including the cluck, yelp, cutt, purr and kee-kee.

From 1930 to 1987 when interest began in increasing the American wild turkey population, efforts were made to mate wild and domestic turkeys to increase the populations. However, the resulting offspring were unable to survive in the wilderness, having lost their survival instincts. They were quickly eaten by predators, even if the offspring contained only a small percentage of domestic turkey in their genetic makeup.

Interested in learning more about modern turkey production? Visit our good bloggy friend Katie at On the Banks of Squaw Creek. Her family raises turkeys for a living and their birds feed the processing plant that supplies turkey to all the Subways west of the Mississippi. Katie does regular turkey features and fill you in on all the happenings and yes, sometimes even the heartbreaks, of farm life.

Halloween is over, so what now?

Wondering what to do with those leftover Jack-O-Lanterns? Now's the perfect time to go back and look at our fun lesson on pumpkin decomposition! 'Cause what's not to love about getting a useful lesson out of something you were probably just going to throw away anyhow?

And, I recently found two really cool books to go right along with that lesson on decomposition. Both talk about the plan life cycle in fun, easy-to-understand ways. In fact, we spent last week sharing those lessons with preschoolers, who loved the stories and illustrations (not to mention they ooey, gooey, slimey disembowelment of the pumpkins)!

The first book is Pumpkin Jack, which is both written and illustrated by Will Hubbell. I especially love this book for this activity because it starts the life cycle off with the Jack-O-Lantern phase of the pumpkin and has great illustrations of the slimey, rotten phase of the pumpkin. Then the seeds start to grow in the spring and the little boy ends of with another Jack-O-Lantern. This is and especially great story to share if you have kids who are reluctant to get rid of their carving masterpieces.

I also love It's Pumpkin Time! by Zoe Hall and illustrated by Shari Halpern. I especially love the illustrations, which definitely remind me of some of my favorite Eric Carle books. This book follows the adventures of siblings who plant and care for their own pumpkins. Especially helpful are the illustrations of the life cycle at the end of the story. I copied these drawings, cut and laminated them into smaller pieces and used them in a sequencing activity...which worked really well.

Halloween may be over, but those pumpkins are still good for something!

Smart Stuff with Twig Walkingstick: Now THAT would be a Great Pumpkin

Twig lives in and around the Wooster campus of the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, where he enjoys the prairie plant in Secrest Arboretum. His alter ego is Kurt Knebusch, one of our super-talented writers and editors on campus. Each month, look for Twig to answer a reader questions and some additional interesting facts below. After Twig's post, we will be providing some ideas and suggestions on how to incorporate the info in Twig's column into fun science learning for your students and children.

Q. Twig: What if there were flying pumpkins?

A. 

Wobbity, wobbity. Um, yes, well, if there were, you’d have to keep looking up all the time so you wouldn’t get klonked in the head by one. But: As far as I know, for better or worse, there are no flying pumpkins.

Reason being, pumpkins don’t have wings. They also don’t have propellers. Nor Rolls Royce vectored-thrust turbofan engines, as used on the AV-8A Harrier vertical/short takeoff and landing aircraft. A pumpkin with vertical/short takeoff and landing capabilities would be a powerful pumpkin. And hard to carve.

The Great Pumpkin flies but isn’t real. He’s in that Charlie Brown Halloween special. He “flies through the air to deliver toys to all the good little children in the world,” say Linus and Wikipedia. “(He) is likely to pass by anyone who doubts his existence.” Which means no Nintendo DS for me, boo!


Birds have wings. So do bats and most insects. Seeds with wings are called samaras. But pumpkins and their seeds aren’t samaras.


The wind beneath your pumpkin,

Twig


P.S. Examples of samaras are those spinning “whirligigs” that come down from maple trees.

Notes:
To find out more, try the Ohio State University Extension fact sheets “Growing Squash and Pumpkins in the Home Garden”  and “Growing Giant Pumpkins in the Home Garden” (but not flying ones); Jane’s All the World’s Aircraft 2007-2008; It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966); and “Blowing in the Wind: Seeds & Fruit Dispersed by the Wind."


Webster’s New World College Dictionary gives two ways to say “samara”: “SAM-er-uh” and “suh-MAR-uh.”
Using this information for education:
Pumpkins are a fabulous fall plant that most students are familiar with carving. In addition to being a great tool to study decomposition, they also provide an excellent opportunity to learn about plant life cycles. Students can draw or order the sequence of pictures depicting a pumpkins life cycle...but be sure not to leave out that important part of decomposition.

I also love all of the great pumpkin activities that reach across the curriculum from literacy to art to math and science and yes, even recipes the Mrs. Nelson provides. These are some great ideas!

Pumpkin, pumpkin, what comes next?

It's that time of year. Pumpkin patches and corn mazes are thriving. Families and even classrooms of students are picking pumpkins and decorating and carving them. But have your students thought about what comes next? After the pumpkin is carved?

This is a perfect opportunity to teach your students about the science of decomposition. Decomposition is one of the most importance processes in the garden and in nature. It's the process by which fungus, bacteria and invertebrates chance matter that was once alive (as in fallen leaves, rotting logs, and yes, even pumpkins) into fertile soil. It's not just a necessary part of the process in the garden; it's a crucial part of the life cycle. The following experiment will provide a wonderful opportunity to experience and observe this immeasurable important ecological function first hand.

The details of decomposition will become more familiar to children as they get older. The important concept for young children to walk away with is that the dead material helps grow new life. As they watch the pumpkins in this experiment rot, they will see beetles, worms, mold and other tiny organisms participating in this cycle. But there will also be millions of organisms too small to be seen participating in this process.

What you will need:

• 2 pumpkins (1 carved and 1 not carved)
• hand lenses
• Optional supplies: Sign explaining your experiment, your camera and the books Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jean Titherington and The Story of a Garden by George Levensen

You will need to find a protected spot near your classroom or home where you can leave your pumpkins to decompose on a patch of soil or under a bush. If you're conducting this experiment at a school instead of your home, it's a good idea to talk to the grounds staff about your experiment and you may want to put up a sign to prevent your experiment from getting "cleaned up."

1. Ask the children what they think will happen if the pumpkins are left outside. Record their ideas and place the pumpkins in their outside spot. Take a picture if possible to track the process. Ask them to describe what the pumpkins look like now and record their answers.
2. Visit the pumpkins every day or at least twice a week. During that time, you can read pumpkin stories out load, starting with Pumpkin Pumpkin and later, near the end of your experiment, Pumpkin Circle. Each time you visit, ask the children to describe the appearance of the pumpkins and what is happening. Record their observations with pictures and/or words. Take another picture. 
3. Using hand lenses, have students search for worms, beetles and other decomposers at work and discuss their role in "munching up the pumpkins" and helping them turn back into soil. Be sure to have the children look for mold and fungus as well.
4. When the pumpkins are gone (or mostly gone), continue to visit the spot to see if new plants begin to grow there.
5. Review the predictions the class made about what might happen to the pumpkins. Display your photographs and read the children's observations about the pumpkins over time. Ask what happened to the pumpkins, Why? What helped the pumpkins break down? What would happen if they didn't break down like this?

Decomposition is a concept that's easy to reiterate on a frequent basis, especially in the garden. What might happen to a tomato left on the ground? Who might want to each my apple core? There are many possibilities to keep in mind and remind students of the life cycles taking place in nature and in the garden.

Looking for more pumpkin fun? Here are some ideas for going even deeper!

• Place another object, like a pile of wet leaves, another fruit or vegetable or a piece of plastic or styrofoam next to the pumpkin to compare what happens to it. Which decomposes more quickly? Which has more bugs and decomposers on it? Watch and learn together!
• Place 4 to 8 pumpkins a few feet apart and have students hope over each one. It's pumpkin leap frog!
• Try a pumpkin slalom, where children run in an s-shape through a line of pumpkins.
• Have a pumpkin seed tasting. Roast seeds from a carved pumpkin or buy them in the store. Taste and compare seeds prepared in a variety of ways: roasted, toasted, salted, unsalted, etc.