Our planet is amazing and alive! As we transition from summer to fall,  we made observations about our changing planet.

As the Earth spins and rotates around the sun, the days become shorter or longer, depending on the planet's tilt. When the North Pole tilts toward the Sun, it's summer in the Northern Hemisphere. Alternately, when the South Pole tilts toward the Sun, it's winter in the Northern Hemisphere. This axial tilt of Earth is the cause of seasons. As we move from summer to fall, one observable (and measurable) change is the decrease in daylight hours. The days are getting shorter!

Here in Brooklyn, on July 1st, the sun rose at 5:28am and set at 8:30pm, giving us roughly 15 hours of daylight time. Six weeks later, on August 12th, the sun rose at 6:03am and set at 7:57pm, giving us thirteen hours and fifty-four minutes of daytime time. At the time this post was written, 8/25, the sun rose at 6:15am and set at 7:39pm, roughly thirteen hours and twenty minutes of daylight time. And the days get even shorter!

September 3rd
Sunrise: 6:24am  Sunset: 7:25pm
13 hours of daylight time


September 25th
Sunrise: 6:46am  Sunset: 6:48pm
12 hours of daylight time


October 18th
Sunrise: 7:09am  Sunset: 6:11pm
11 hours of daylight time


October 31st
Sunrise: 7:24am  Sunset: 5:53pm
10.5 hours of daylight time

By early November, we'll be changing our clocks back to account for the diminished daylight hours as winter approaches.

After several very hot days, we got way too much rain before settling into a comfortable stretch leading up to another warm-up. Our garden plants have required a lot of love and attention, which our young scientists gladly provided. Their dedicated care has paid off in the form of a delicious harvest. Although very few tomatoes have been ready, we've enjoyed munching on freshly picked cucumbers during our workshops. Scientists of all ages have given the Lab cucumbers the thumbs up! We've also harvested Lab herbs to use in plant sprays against flying and crawling garden insects. As of 7/22/19, we have harvested a little over 8 pounds of cucumbers and almost 3 pounds of tomatoes. Kid-grown food, right here in Brooklyn.

We've also harvested several thousand dill seeds, and a few hundred green pepper seeds to be used in next year's garden.

It's the moment our young scientists have been waiting for! Our first Black Swallowtail butterfly has emerged! Found throughout most of eastern North America, and highly attracted to the Lab garden, Papilio polyxenes (Black Swallowtail) is the state butterfly of Oklahoma and New Jersey. It's been about two weeks since we noticed the first chrysalis in the front garden planter, and this morning we were pleasantly surprised to find that the first butterfly had emerged.

The Lab garden is thriving! In addition to the plants, we have Black Swallowtail caterpillars making their home in our dill and parsley. Last year, we observed that our garden attracted a lot of butterflies, which resulted in a handful of caterpillars on our plants. This year, we used that knowledge to help our young scientists plan what and how much to plant in our garden. One concern was how much the caterpillars ate. Last summer, our parsley was decimated. This planting season, our young scientists decided to plant the dill and parsley close together in pairs. This attracted lots of butterflies, very quickly.

As of today, June 25th, our young scientists have counted 19 Black Swallowtail caterpillars in different stages of development living in our front garden. They are part of our local ecology and out young scientists have been delighted to observe them. Some of the caterpillars are fully grown and are nearing the pupa stage. Follow us on Instagram or Facebook for caterpillar updates via pictures and video.

Caterpillar Facts
​There are about 180,000 different types of caterpillars.
The life cycle of a butterfly has 4 steps: eggs, caterpillar (larva), pupa, adult (butterfly).
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Most female butterflies lay their eggs on the kinds of plants their caterpillars will want to eat – this helps make sure the young are able to start eating right after they hatch.

Some Swallowtail caterpillars make tents out of leaves for shelter.
Caterpillars have three pairs of true legs, up to four pairs of prolegs in the middle off their bodies, and often one pair of prolegs at the end of the body.

Caterpillars breathe through a series of small openings along the sides of their thorax and abdomen called spiracles.