Pages

Thursday, June 13, 2013

finding moths

When we were at my parents' house last month, my mom found a great recipe for moth food.  The idea is that you mix it up, let it sit for a few days, paint it on a tree, and then creep out late at night with a flashlight and spy on some giant moths!
Michael had an absolute blast mixing it up and painting it on the chosen tree.  My dad went out a few times to see if there were any moths worth seeing.  There were some tiny ones so we ended up not waking Michael.  But, we did capture a few and showed them to MV the next day!  He loved seeing them flutter about and then releasing them back outside.
We were going to see what we got the next night but we had torrential rains in East Texas and it washed off all the moth food.  So, we didn't get to see any huge moths but all in all, it was a success!

Wanna try it?
Let's get started :)


Get some really ripe bananas...


Add a bit of brown sugar...maybe 1/2 cup.


And let your kiddo go to town!




While he is getting it nice and mushed, add a couple tablespoons of yeast to a small bowl and add about 1/3 cup warm water.  Mix and let sit until frothy.



Add to the mashed banana mixture...



Cover with a screen (or a splatter shield!) and let sit in your warm garage for a couple days.


After a few days, it'll be fermented and smelling lovely, I assure you.


Find a good tree, at your child's eye level, and stir with a paintbrush and get to work!






Now, wait until completely dark outside, cover a flashlight with red cellophane (or use a headlamp on the red light setting) and sneak outside.  When you get to the tree, uncover the flashlight (or flip to white light) and see your moths!


Have fun!

No comments:

Post a Comment