Biology

We confront a vast area of (our) ignorance.

Among our consultants were have many diverse talents and backgrounds in many fields.  Biology, however, is not among them.  In school, when required to take classes in science we chose Chemistry, and had such amazing teachers that we felt no need to branch out.  As undergraduates and graduates the need for specialization kept us in our chosen fields.  We have picked up just a few bits and pieces along the way.  Our navigator, for instance, learned some practical oceanography as a professional necessity, and that included something about the denizens of the ocean.  Our interest in history has led us into some details concerning the growing of crops.  And the general news section of the major journals Science and Nature regularly describe fascinating results.  But our formal background remains empty.

We don’t even have a gardener among us.  For various reasons, mostly to do with moving around a lot, none of us has ever had custody of a plot of land.  One consultant has been known to remark that if he had a yard, he wouldn’t put in a lawn.  Instead he’d grow something useful, like wheat or barley, with maybe a hop vine around the edges.  It’s probably a good thing he’s never been forced to make good on the project.  Not only is growing grain and processing it a lot of work; the neighbors would surely object to months of stubble after reaping.

Which is why the actions of one of our consultants have piqued our interest.  This is the one who moved into an apartment on an upper floor of an old house.  As a welcoming gift, his lower-floor neighbors gave him a white poinsettia (it being the Christmas season).  After a certain time, he found he hadn’t killed it, and it was outgrowing the little pot it came in.  He went to the local hardware store for a bigger one and some potting soil.  But the smallest bag of soil on offer was far more than he needed.  It gave him an idea, and he returned with several pots.

He regularly consumes bell peppers, nutritious and tasty vegetables available in abundance at the local grocery store.  The first step in preparing them is removing the seeds.  Now, seeds of course exist to grow new plants.  How about planting a few?  Just to see what happens.

He put the little off-white things in the soil, watered them regularly, and waited.  After a couple of weeks or so (he didn’t keep any records) all of them produced little green shoots.  They’ve been growing since.  Here about the six-month mark two of them have come forth with buds, with every promise of becoming flowers.

We could look up the cultivation of bell peppers.  There are no doubt easily available instructions as to the best soil, watering schedule, time to plant, time to harvest and lots we haven’t thought of.  But right now we’re just watching and exploring our ignorance.  What has our consultant done to the peppers’ timing by planting in summer?  Will the flowers need pollinating in order to produce fruit?  Perhaps they’ll need a year or two of growing before anything happens.  The project was never intended as a source of food.  Instead, we are enjoying its crop of questions.