Yard work is constant self-tutoring. The tutor shares some statistics about this year’s apple yield. I finally finished picking apples from the backyard tree today. I estimate that we kept 688; another 160 are left on the tree or the …
Horticulture can lead the amateur to self-tutoring. The tutor discusses the idea of a cultivar. Cultivar literally means “cultivated variety.”1 In my mind it refers to a plant commonly grown, that you, also, can buy and grow, either as seed …
Tutoring any subject, definitions are important. The tutor shares a meaning of sport he recently discovered. The term sport, referring to a physical game, is well understood. However, I encountered sport used in a horticultural context, so looked it up: …
Tutoring biology, you come across the concept of trophic level. The tutor defines it. In an ecosystem, a tropic level can be thought of as a level of energy or of consumption. The organisms at trophic level 1 are called …
Local plant identification leads to constant self-tutoring. The tutor reveals a great find from Nanaimo. I was down in Nanaimo for a few weeks this summer. (BTW, I’ve loved Nanaimo since ’08, when we started traveling there.) Notable in Nanaimo …
Lifestyle: plant identification from field guide: chicory Read more »
More lifestyle tutoring: the tutor shares the discovery that rats and raccoons are repelled by mint. About 10½ years ago I came across a rat I had to get rid of. The business wasn’t pleasant; thankfully, it’s not happened since. …
Tutoring math, the tutor has stumbled into the world of crickets. I’ve lived on the Atlantic and the Pacific coasts of Canada. Everywhere I’ve lived, I recall that crickets start chirping sometime in July. Why not until then? I’ve reasoned …
Tutoring biology, how life originated is an inevitable question. The tutor offers a point about it. By the cell theory, which I discussed in yesterday’s post, new life can only result from an organism already alive. Scientists believe life started …
Biology: How life on Earth may have started (and perhaps why it could): part 0 Read more »
Tutoring biology, or any subject, essential concepts can continue to deliver surprises. The tutor looks at cell theory. Cell theory is perhaps the first brick in the structure of modern biological understanding. It states the following: Every living organism is …
I find that being outside in the summertime leads to constant self-tutoring. The tutor shares a find from the siding this morning: a twin-spotted sphinx moth (Smerinthus jamaicensis) I don’t remember seeing one of these. A quick internet search yielded …