The Wild Cranberry Harvest

October is cranberry season! And in the dunes of Cape Cod, you can find wild cranberries growing in abundance. They grow in the swampy, boggy valleys between high dunes. And they're one of 2 crops native to the salty, sandy soils of New England (blueberries are the other one).

A 19th century ship captain was the first person to grow cranberries for his own use. Why would he want to do that? Because the berries are high in vitamin C, which prevents a disease called scurvy—something a lot of sailors used to get because they didn't have access to fresh fruits when they were out on long sea voyages. The ship captain grew cranberries, and brought them aboard his ship in barrels.

Most people buy cranberries at the supermarket that are harvested from giant commercial cranberry farmers. But we picked them wild in Provincetown, MA two weekends ago. There were so many of them we could hardly carry our full baskets out!

You can read more about wild cranberries in my article in Odyssey magazine:

City Science Kids Reporting from Provincetown, Cape Cod

Last weekend, we found this absolutely massive mushroom in the sand dunes of Provincetown, Cape Cod in Massachusetts, where we were picking wild cranberries (more about that later).

This mushroom looks like some kind of bolete (although we don't know for certain). Surprised that mushrooms can grow in the sand? So were we the first time we encountered them—last year, in fact, when we were picking wild cranberries in this same spot. It was our guess that some of the mushrooms we saw were fungal partners for the cranberry bushes. That is, mushrooms that help the cranberries to grow and in return, get sugars and other nutrients from the cranberry bushes.

There's so much scientists still don't know about mushrooms, even scientists who study them all the time. You can learn a little about mushrooms from this past episode of CSK. And from this article I wrote for the magazine Odyssey about mushrooms that glow. Check them out!

Summer is Over! Time to Think About...Your Garden?!?

With gardens in both city and country starting to die back for the oncoming winter, let's revisit this City Science Kids episode from the archive: A Garden Gets Ready for Winter.

What are you and your family doing to get your garden—and yourselves—ready for the cold months ahead?

It's Fall! Why Are the Leaves Changing Color?

We bet you've been asking yourself the same question! And so have the folks at The American Chemical Society. They put together this short & sweet little video about what happens as the chlorophyll that makes leaves green, starts to dwindle as autumn picks up. Watch it here! Then send in your pictures of the best leaves of fall that you've found so far!

City Science Kids Reports from the People's Climate March in NYC

Today, 310,000 people made their way down Central Park West for the People's Climate March. Many of them held up signs to let watchers know what about global warming they were concerned about, such as using the fossil fuels coal, oil and gas to heat our homes and drive our cars. The marchers in this photo are all holding posters of polar bears. How does global warming affect these mammals that live up by the Arctic Circle?

Polar bears eat seals that swim in the sea and rest on the Arctic ice. The ice in the Arctic has been melting very quickly because of global warming. This means that the bears have no way to hunt seals—they can't catch them out in open water. So, the bears are starving. According to the organization Polar Bears International, melting ice means that many bears in Russia have been stranded on land. In Canada, polar bear populations have shrunk 22% because of shorter ice-bound hunting seasons. Off the coast of Alaska, some bears attempting to swim from land to ice have drowned—there's just too much water for them to navigate.

Have you thought of ways that global warming affects you or the people and animals you care about? Write in and let us know!

Making Electricity from the Bay of Fundy Tides

Our latest episode is live! Find out how one power plant in Nova Scotia generates electricity using the tides of the Bay of Fundy. And to read more about Fundy tides—they're the highest in the world!—visit our entry from the summer, here.

Another Milestone for City Science Kids!

This week, we waaaay passed the 20,000 views mark—thanks to all of you! The top 5 favorite episodes of all time (and they're good ones!):

Brooklyn Brine & The Science of Making Pickles (watch it here)
Mushrooms in the City (watch it here)
Elevator B and the Bees of Buffalo (watch it here)
Hot Air Balloon Over Poughkeepsie (watch it here)
The French Fry Boat (watch it here)

We couldn't have done it without you! As the new school year starts, we hope you'll join us for another great season. And as always, teachers, you can check out every episode with your class on our dedicated channel on SchoolTube.
xxx,
Lela