We received our seeds in the mail yesterday for the Tomatosphere project and we planted them today. Here is an exerpt from the website, this will explain what we are doing and why.
"" Seeds will be provided in the spring of 2007 for spring (or fall) planting. The tomato seeds for 2007 will be in two envelopes – labelled ‘R’ and ‘S’. One envelope contains the control group; the other group has been exposed to a simulated space environment with temperatures of negative 80 degrees Celsius and low atmospheric pressure for a period of 18 days. This simulates a breach in the space vehicle’s storage system on a long-term journey in space.
The basics of Tomatosphere will remain; a “blind” test in which you and your students will not know the origin of the seeds until completion of the germination process and submission of results. Students will learn how to conduct a scientific experiment and compare the germination rates of the seeds. They may also report on the growth and development of their plants... and may be inspired to pursue further education in science and technology. ""
So, in addition to all the other plants and seedlings we've started in our kitchen (which are not in this pic as I moved all of them outside to get some fresh air and sunshine), we now have 40 more cups with tomato seeds in them. Each cup is labeled 1 through 40 for both the R seeds and the S seeds. We've started our journal pages, labsheets, and growth charts and will monitor them daily until all seeds have germinated, or for about three weeks whichever comes first. The kids are real excited about this project, and I may have 80 more tomato plants that will need a home, I already have around 100 or so started from seeds I purchased! I'll try to keep posting updates on this project.
ps. check out my wall-color behind the table. I just painted it, this color is called "Earth tone" and it is our accent wall. The rest of the walls in the kitchen/dining area are being painted "Clamshell" and I think it's going to look great when I finally get it all finished. Just doing one wall at a time, trying to not disrupt my entire kitchen! | 
Posted by Anonymous 
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Tuesday, April 3, 2007 - how cool
What a great homeschool mom!
Your table reminds me of when I started over 40 seeds ( some really cool plants) of tomato plants. They all grew great and I transplanted them into my garden. While on vacation both of our steers got into my garden and ate them all :-(. I was so mad and sad at the same time. Needless to say .. I did not feel sad when they went to the butcher. LOL