EXPERIMENT!
I dashed back into the barn. Sassafras lay sleeping with Pip curled up on top of him. I tossed my science journal onto the table. I’d meant to do it quietly, but it made a big slamming noise instead. Sassafras jumped up, launching Pip into the air.
“Aaaaaaahhhhh!” yelled Pip as he flew across the room.
Whoops.
“Sorry, guys!”
“Now that I’m wide awake,” said Pip as he brushed himself off, “you might as well tell me what you’ve figured out.”
“I made a list of all the places around here that I thought the plant might grow. Mom had a few ideas to add, and now we have so many great things to try. Rocks, water, sand, soil—here, I’ve got a whole list written down.”
Pip looked over what I’d written and scratched his head. “So how will this tell us where our plant is from again?”
“If we can figure out what our seeds grow best in, that will give us a big clue. Like if the seeds start growing on rocks, we know the pod probably came from the top of one of the mountains, or any other place around here that has a lot of rocks all in one spot.”
Pip nodded. “Oh, now I get it. So first we need to try all these things, and then we’ll use that answer to figure out where we should take the pod!”
“Exactly! I want to get these seeds back to the right place right away. I don’t know if they’re going to do something weird like dry out, or I don’t even know what. So let’s get cracking!” I grabbed my science journal and a pen and started writing as I spoke. “First, we start with our question.”
“And next is our hypothesis. So here is where we make a guess. What do you think, Pip? Where will our mystery seeds grow?”
“Hmm.” Pip tapped his chin. “I think the mystery seeds will grow in water. Because the seed pod looks like a merhorse stone, and those are usually underwater.”
“Ooh, great guess, Pip!” I wrote down his guess and then added mine.
“OK, now we need to figure out all the materials we need.”
“You said sand, water, rocks, and … I don’t remember the others.” Pip shrugged.
“Oh, and soil and that mix of sand and moss Mom told me to try. Here we go …”
I tapped my pencil on my lip. “How many seeds do we have?”
Pip carefully counted and announced, “Twenty-four!”
“OK, perfect. We want to try six different ways to grow them … so with twenty-four seeds … we can put four seeds in each container!”
Pip made six little piles of four seeds each.
“OK, I can get pots and labels from inside, potting soil from the greenhouse, rocks from our driveway, stream water from the stream …”
“But what about sand?” Pip asked. “And moss?”
“Hmm, Mom said peat moss would be the best to try. But I forgot to ask her where to find that.”
Pip gave a joyful jump. “I know where to find that moss in the forest. I can also get the stream water!”
“Perfect! Now we just need to figure out where to find sand …”
Sassafras went running for the barn door. He stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder and gave an annoyed meow.
“Oh! You want me to follow you.”
Sassafras led the way out to my sandbox. “Brilliant! Good kitty!” I scratched under his chin and he purred. “Wait here. I’ll be right back with the cups.”
Several minutes later, Pip, Sassafras, and I met up in the barn.
Pip panted in front of a small pile of moss and a bit of stream water. “Now what?”
“Now we write out our steps. In an experiment it’s important to change just one thing and keep everything else …”
“ … the same!” chirped Pip. “Your mom is always saying that.”
I laughed and nodded. “She is! We’re changing the stuff we are trying to grow the seeds in. So we should use the same pots, the same number of seeds in each pot, and the same amount of stuff in each pot. We should also keep them in the same place. And I’m pretty sure all seeds need water to grow, so I’ll add the same small amount of water to each of them.”
With Pip and Sassafras both helping, we got through the seed planting pretty quickly. As we stood back to admire our work, Pip let out a monstrous yawn.
“I think my work here is done. Time for a nap! I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Sassafras and I gave Pip a quick snuggle. “See you tomorrow, Pip!”
