Citizen Science

I was at a conference recently and listened to a presentation on citizen science. I have been intrigued by the concept before when I heard about citizen science projects on Science Friday, but it was one of those things that slipped to the back of my mind. It all came crashing back to the forefront when I heard Travis Gallo with the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center speak about the Invaders of Texas citizen science project.

Citizen science is when volunteers, often not trained in a particular science, perform research-related tasks to promote science. The project that Travis is involved with trains people to identify and report invasive species of plants (I know, how cool is that?). They even have an online training module so you can sign up and go through training right after reading this post.

I need to come up with a cool and useful citizen science project related to insects. Maybe backyard observations of insects that come to flowers? Anyone have any good ideas?

Update on the boy:

The boy is now the big 0-1! I can't believe that a year has passed so quickly. He's doing great- he's in the 75% for height and 30% for weight (the kiddo is lean and mean, well, not really mean since he giggles a lot, but oh well....). We, of course, had photos taken and I bought a cake for the "cake smash". The boy was waaaay interested in the little plastic things on top of the cake, so once those were gone he got more interested in the cake itself. He tried a bit of cake, but seemed rather indifferent. At his party, I made cupcakes. Once we took the candle and wrapper off of the cupcake, the boy tried to cram the whole thing into his mouth at once.

The kid is walking all over the place and now when you go to put him down, he doesn't want to sit; he wants to stand. He loves picking out books that he wants read. He'll grab one, walk over, hand it to you and then plop backwards into your lap (well, it more of a crumpling or throwing himself backwards toward the general vicinity of your lap, but you get the idea). Everyone wonders why we have so many board books and I still tell people to buy more board books when they ask for gift ideas. The kid takes after his mom and loves books (did I mention I'm hoping Santa will bring me a Kindle?). All in all, it's been a great year and I hope that all of you have enjoyed the ride as much as we have!

The Budding Entomologist

Last week I did a class on entomophagy so I had mealworms to cook for the kiddos. The boy decided he didn't need to have his cooked.....

Tempura battered scorpions

It's Halloween!! Time for another post on a buggy-themed recipe. I know all of you secretly love these and I also know that none of you want to come to dinner at my house (it's okay, my husband does all the cooking anyway, so it's safe to eat here).

Tempura Battered Scorpions

Prepare your scorpions

Collect scorpions- you can use a black light at night to easily find scorpions (they fluoresce under black lights). Be careful when handling scorpions as they can sting- the stinger is located at the tip of the tail.
Scorpions can be placed into the freezer for a few hours to kill them or for those more adventurous souls, keep them alive until frying.

Prepare your tempura batter

1 egg
1 cup ice water
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted

Beat the egg in a bowl. Add ice water to the eggs (make sure to use ice water, not water that is lukewarm). Add flour to bowl and stir lightly. Do not overmix batter.

Prepare to fry your scorpions

Heat oil in a pot to about 340-350 degrees. Flour your scorpion then dip into the batter until it is lightly coated. Place the battered scorpion into the oil and fry until crispy. Once cooked, remove from oil and place on a paper towel. Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Update on the boy:

The one year mark is inching closer and it seems the closer it gets the faster the boy changes. He's now walking, not all the time, but he'll take 7-8 steps before grabbing something or sitting down. He got his first bloody lip yesterday from crashing into the coffee table...poor little guy.



He's also trucking along on learning sign language. He now knows and signs milk, cheese (the boy is a cheesehead- he's obsessed with cheese!), more, ball, fan and dog. He's also waving bye-bye now. He does this when I leave for work in the morning....so sweet!