Activities for Home Lovely
“Can a seed really just fall on the ground and start to grow?”
That’s what my first editor asked when she called to tell me that Greenwillow
Books wanted to publish my first book. It’s easy to laugh and say, “Oh, those
people who live in New York City,” but I often find myself trying to remember
exactly how certain things happen.
As anyone who keeps a haphazard compost pile can tell you, seeds fall on the
ground and start to grow all the time. Potato peels, the scooped-out insides of
melons and rotting tomatoes sprout beautiful seedlings. Squash, including
pumpkins, are good, too.
At an exhibit at the Great Lakes Children’s Museum in Traverse City that
combined artwork from books, the books themselves and related hands-on
activities, a terrarium was set up to grow the three things that Tiffany finds
growing next to her garbage can in Home Lovely, next to the pages from the book
that show what the three types of seedlings look like as they grow.
Don’t forget, as Janelle says, “You know, you have to water plants to keep them
alive.”
At the end of Home Lovely, Tiffany and her mother make:
Floating Melon Bonanza
1 cup boiling water
1 pkg.(3 oz.) lime-flavored gelatin
3/4 cup apple or white grape juice1/4 t ground ginger
2 cups small melon balls
salad greens
Prepare melon balls. Pour boiling water on gelatin in bowl; stir until gelatin
is dissolved. Stir in juice and ginger. Refrigerate until slightly thickened (to
the consistency of unbeaten egg whites) but not set. Stir in melon balls. Pour
into 4 cup mold or 6 individual molds. Refrigerate until firm, at least 4 hours.
Unmold on salad greens.
(To unmold salad, quickly dip mold into hot water to top of salad. Loosen the
edge with a paring knife. Place a plate on top and, holding tightly, invert and
shake gently. Repeat if necessary.
To speed up thickening, place gelatin mixture in freezer or in a bowl of ice
water. Remove when it starts to thicken. If too solid, soften over hot water.)
Recipe and gelatin instructions adapted from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, 1978
edition.
How many recipe ideas can you think of to use up melons? Tomatoes? Potatoes?
Zucchini?