About 4 years ago, I started a summer patch for growing our own vegetables. I figured it'd serve as a lesson in botany to my kids. So I grew tomato, capsicum, chilli peppers and eggplant. Got a hibiscus tree and grew okra.
The plants grew well and I tried in vain to interest my kids in Solanaceae and Malvaceae -to no avail. Soon the Japanese beetles arrived in hordes. My plants were soon overwhelmed. I told the kids the story of "Pari Vallal" - the one who gave up his golden (for more effect) chariot to a slender creeper (jasmine?? the plant name varied in my various renderings).
But the older one was ecstatic. He found a way to drown the beeltes in soap water since I refuse to use chemical pesticides. He found other bugs including some earthworms and others whose names/phyla/class/order eluded me. He informed himself of how the earthworm droppings look.
He started collecting matchboxes emptied and filled with insects. He even tried to freeze one in our freezer saying he was going to study cryogenics - until I threatened him with accidentally dropping them into his dinner plate.. He'd even tried to see if an earthworm could really regenerate itself when cut in two.
He'd just walked into an incorrect class!
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