Terrariums

Mini Moss World, originally uploaded by benlouelt.

Yesterday we headed for the hills (Woodend) for the weekly Granny Roast.
Nearly every Sunday we have lunch or dinner at either my Mum's house, my Mother-in-laws house or our house. Sometimes it is all of us, sometimes less. This weekend we altered the day to Saturday and the kids, Ben and I headed out to my Mum's. Because it is a 45 minute drive away, and because it is just sooo cold there, I think this journey is destined to always be one of those leisurely lunch time affairs.

After a good hearty lunch we all took off outside for a bit of a walk out in the garden. I'm glad we rugged up, but strolling through the soggy grounds was probably better done in gumboots rather than my new shiny red shoes.

Unlike our dry garden here, everything there is damp. Under all the trees, amongst the leaf litter, you can find moss, lichen and a healthy dose of funghi. The kids had a great time taking nature shots of the different lots of toadstools and mushrooms.

With terrarium making in mind, we salvaged a few of those lovely colonies of moss and lichen, bagged them up and brought them home.
After a quick trip up to Provincial Home this morning, I came home armed with a fantastic glass lidded jar for the modest price of $10.
We already had a small amount of pebbles left over from these, I had a bag of charcoal set aside for the fish filter (sorry fish), potting mix and a bit of dried out old Sphagnum Moss.
A rummage through my craft supplies last night unearthed a couple of packs of Sculpey, which I fashioned into mini toadstools, and then coated with Diamond Glaze after baking. I'm not so sure about the Diamond Glaze, I don't think it will cope with the moisture.

Poppy had a lovely time putting this all together. It will be interesting to see what it looks like in a month or so, when the moss has properly settled in to its new surroundings.

This is a far cry from the terrarium I made as a kid, back in the 70's. Mine was made from a recycled plastic soda bottle. And was filled with mini ferns. I think it's ugliness doomed it to failure, but I do hold fond memories of doing it with my Grandma.