I came across this experiment is an old handout from my teaching days, the little ladies thought it would be fun to try.

Gather:

clean sock
newspaper
long piece of yarn (about 5ft.)
2 TBS oil (canola, vegetable, etc)
1/2 cup water
food coloring (optional)
jar

Set up:

1. Add water to jar.
2. Add oil ***not exactly sure what the purpose of the oil is, it might keep the sock from drying out quickly.
3. Drop a few drops of food coloring into the oil. This is optional, it just makes the sock look pretty.

4. Take the clean sock and stuff it with newspaper, tie it closed with the yarn. It will look like a pull toy- you could add eyes and long ears to it and call it Fido if you want  .

5. Take the sock for a walk in a field or woodland. 

As you probably figured out, the point of the sock dragging along the ground is for little seeds to stick to it; well, the little ladies weren’t finding the seeds sticking on their socks, so Rainy started throwing it into the thistle patch hoping for seeds to stick.

She even got to the point where she was sprinkling seeds onto the sock. I think this experiment would have worked better if Dave hadn’t just mowed the path.

Grass and thistle seed collection picked along the way-

6. When your sock has gathered enough seeds, carefully place the sock into the jar of the water/oil mixture.

7. Set it in a sunny window and keep the sock moist. Don’t overdo it with the water, you just want the sock to be moist or it could get moldy. It might take a few weeks for the seeds to germinate, be patient and make sure the sock stays moist.

  If you are participating in Outdoor Challenge Mondays, be sure your blog link is below; if you still want to participate let me know and I’ll add you to the list.

5 orange potatoes, the five of us, little eco footprints, potje thee, silverpebble, the work of childhood, searching simplicity, love living simply, strasilo, semi-handmade, this little kitchen, school time adventures, heirloom seasons, the loving path, a place like this, the magnifying glass, pebbles in the water, chocolate eyes, we are here, rosy-posy, oakbee farm, my year in haiku, time to craft, child in harmony, serendipity, secret water, free flowing ways, se7en, a smile a day, where ada likes to wander, wide open campus, what are we doing today mom?, chasing domestic bliss, dim sum, bagels and crawfish, adventures of a flake, frontier dreams, the snail’s trail, goose and binky, over the crescent moon, it’s a wild life, my world edenwild, the binker files, lil muse lily, foursquare schoolhouse, obaitori, boys in the woods, bumbles and light , wonder in the woods, terrallectualism, semi-crunchy mama, Gwynneth, All Things Beautiful, we are here, shivaya naturals, free to learn and lovin it, moment to moment, being brooke, roots & wings co, little greenapple farm, 5 Orange Perks, home made simple, mommy and me

“That’s all.”