Heirloom seeds are more than 50 years old and are not genetically modified. Jere Gettle, author of "The Heirloom Life Gardener," is particularly fascinated by heirloom seeds and he noticed they were being dropped by seed catalogs in the 1980s. The plants they produce are typically different from what we see in the grocery store. Listen to learn more about Gettle’s fight to bring heirloom plants back to our dinner tables.
Story Length: 4:44
© 2011 National Public Radio, Inc. Used with the permission of NPR. All rights reserved.
AIR DATE: 10/07/2011
Even beautiful plants can sometimes be detrimental to the environment. This public radio story takes place in Michigan where the sale of Japanese knotweed has been outlawed following unchecked growth of the large ornamental plant. Japanese knotweed is fast-growing, aggressive and hard to control. It can destroy pavement and even houses and it is unlikely to be eradicated any time soon.
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The naming of every living thing has it's place because of a Swedish biologist. This public radio story is about the system we use to organize life called Linnean system, named after Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus. But now new DNA technology is changing the way to think about the classification system.
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The apples we are used to seeing in the supermarket are the same basic size and shape and they have familiar flavor profiles. But there are more apple varieties than you might imagine. There's a whole world of biodiversity in apples, but these apples don’t make it to the supermarket. Listen to learn more about America’s history with apples and the apple Renaissance taking place today!
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Some jobs such as doctor, lawyer and teacher, are easy to imagine and define. Other jobs, like being a shellfish and wetland ecologist is a bit harder for young people to understand. Help your students understand what an ecologist does by hearing from ecologist Danielle Kreeger. Kreeger is the science director for a group that works to protect and improve the Delaware River and Bay.
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