"Yes. Just like normal lichens grow on the ground. But there isn't a lot of it because they don't like snow."
"Giant?" Tara nods at Gate's summery of the eating of a carrot seed. "Yeah. They have a hard middle. But they're not that big. The leaves are only like... well I guess during a warm the plant gets pretty tall."
And Ann nods too. "Those are carrot seeds. I've got some beans in the pouch, too, if you want to see those."
"Ah, well, the carrots I've seen are only about..," he pauses, realizing measurement systems might be different and instead brings up a diagram of a common Earth carrot on the datapad. Then he has it display a life-sized floating hologram of a carrot. "That size."
Plant blinks puzzledly. "They are growing on ice, but no liking snow? How can there be the one without the other to make it? With no precipitation, the ice would no be forming..."
"It could indicate climate shifts," suggests Scarab, hitting a subject he actually knows something about. "If an area was rainy - or snowy - at one point in history and the glaciers formed, and then it stayed cold enough so they didn't melt but too dry for any more snow or rain."
Plant nods at this. "Sim, I think I am understanding. There are maybe to be many places on Mars like that, in the very high up places where it would no be useful to irrigate but where the earlier rains would be. I am no knowing if the ices there would be safe, though. I should see to it that those are cleaned up along with the water, if only to prevent later problems." She blinks at the mention of beans and nods. "Yes, I would like to be seeing these."
"Those leaves are bigger than our carrot leaves," says Tara, studying the diagram with a thoughtful frown.
"Old glaciers with no cover." Ann nods. "Somebody didn't really know what the planet was like when we first came, and insisted they'd be good. We still make jokes about the things that got left behind to make room for the lichen culture."
Then she nods and walks over to Grace to scramble up into the pouch opposite to the one her husband and calves came from.
"Hmm, so it is," says Gate. "I don't often see them with their tops still attached. Perhaps I was confusing the scale with radishes or something else..."
Plant nods. "Right now, Mars is no having very much old anything where water is being concerned, but it is no so unlikely for there to be places such as that soon. We are still doing surveys after the rains." She waits for Ann to return.
"The round orange things are carrot root slices," says Scarab, trying to be helpful. "And the white things are potato."
"But I've never seen a carrot root. Grace doesn't pull them out. She just gives us the leaves and the nuts." Tara munches absently on a last bit of lichen.
Ann pauses to pull the flap on the lived in pouch open and throw it across Grace's back, then talks to someone inside before climbing down and bringing Plant three big black beans.
"They don't look like the same thing as we call potato." John tastes and shakes his head. "No, not nearly as starchy."
"I didn't even know the tops were edible," Gate admits. "Plants are not a specialty of mine." And he's more used to sticking already cooked things in the microwave.
Plant curiously examines the beans, trying to draw comparisons to other species she knows. "And these are also growing in snow?"
"It's really bland." John offers a spoonful of stew to Joshua, who looks at it curiously and then shakes his head.
Tara looks sideways at Gate, giving him one of those funny looks that only little girls seem to be able to pull off really well. "You let everybody else pick your food for you?"
Scarab thinks about this. "The ones in stew are cooked. They're starchier when raw. Everything in stew is cooked all together."
"If we don't, he might forget to eat," Sheldon says, gently teasing as he answers Tara before Gate gets a chance to. Gate was known to lose track of other things when he was working on a project.
"Fascinating," says Plant. "Most of the plants I am knowing of are being killed off by frost or snow, meaning that nothing is being grown in most places during winter. Are they putting leaves up above the snow at all?" She wonders how they manage photosynthesis. "And what do you think would happen to them in warmer climate? Would it be too warm and cause them to wilt?"
"Is the cooking why it's so bland?" asks John curiously. "Because there really isn't much flavor at all."
Tara blinks at that and looks up at Gate to see if this is a story.
"Not usually. Some of them die if the cover comes off of them," says Ann. "But the carrots will grow taller and make flowers. But the flowers don't make the usual kind of seeds."
Which makes Scarab blink in confusion. "There isn't? I always thought it had a lot more taste than the stuff before we came here..."
Less of a story than a recurring family joke. "Ah, well, I do get distracted sometimes," admits Gate.
Plant nods. "These are being very interesting," she says, poking carefully at the seeds with the tip of a vine. "I am thanking you very much for showing them to me."
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mosaic_archive
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-13 16:32 (UTC)"Giant?" Tara nods at Gate's summery of the eating of a carrot seed. "Yeah. They have a hard middle. But they're not that big. The leaves are only like... well I guess during a warm the plant gets pretty tall."
And Ann nods too. "Those are carrot seeds. I've got some beans in the pouch, too, if you want to see those."
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-13 20:57 (UTC)Plant blinks puzzledly. "They are growing on ice, but no liking snow? How can there be the one without the other to make it? With no precipitation, the ice would no be forming..."
"It could indicate climate shifts," suggests Scarab, hitting a subject he actually knows something about. "If an area was rainy - or snowy - at one point in history and the glaciers formed, and then it stayed cold enough so they didn't melt but too dry for any more snow or rain."
Plant nods at this. "Sim, I think I am understanding. There are maybe to be many places on Mars like that, in the very high up places where it would no be useful to irrigate but where the earlier rains would be. I am no knowing if the ices there would be safe, though. I should see to it that those are cleaned up along with the water, if only to prevent later problems." She blinks at the mention of beans and nods. "Yes, I would like to be seeing these."
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-15 18:34 (UTC)"Old glaciers with no cover." Ann nods. "Somebody didn't really know what the planet was like when we first came, and insisted they'd be good. We still make jokes about the things that got left behind to make room for the lichen culture."
Then she nods and walks over to Grace to scramble up into the pouch opposite to the one her husband and calves came from.
John, in the meantime, is studying stew.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-15 19:42 (UTC)Plant nods. "Right now, Mars is no having very much old anything where water is being concerned, but it is no so unlikely for there to be places such as that soon. We are still doing surveys after the rains." She waits for Ann to return.
"The round orange things are carrot root slices," says Scarab, trying to be helpful. "And the white things are potato."
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-15 19:48 (UTC)Ann pauses to pull the flap on the lived in pouch open and throw it across Grace's back, then talks to someone inside before climbing down and bringing Plant three big black beans.
"They don't look like the same thing as we call potato." John tastes and shakes his head. "No, not nearly as starchy."
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 00:26 (UTC)Plant curiously examines the beans, trying to draw comparisons to other species she knows. "And these are also growing in snow?"
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 01:33 (UTC)Tara looks sideways at Gate, giving him one of those funny looks that only little girls seem to be able to pull off really well. "You let everybody else pick your food for you?"
"Under the snow." Ann nods.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 02:13 (UTC)"If we don't, he might forget to eat," Sheldon says, gently teasing as he answers Tara before Gate gets a chance to. Gate was known to lose track of other things when he was working on a project.
"Fascinating," says Plant. "Most of the plants I am knowing of are being killed off by frost or snow, meaning that nothing is being grown in most places during winter. Are they putting leaves up above the snow at all?" She wonders how they manage photosynthesis. "And what do you think would happen to them in warmer climate? Would it be too warm and cause them to wilt?"
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 05:01 (UTC)Tara blinks at that and looks up at Gate to see if this is a story.
"Not usually. Some of them die if the cover comes off of them," says Ann. "But the carrots will grow taller and make flowers. But the flowers don't make the usual kind of seeds."
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-16 15:18 (UTC)Less of a story than a recurring family joke. "Ah, well, I do get distracted sometimes," admits Gate.
Plant nods. "These are being very interesting," she says, poking carefully at the seeds with the tip of a vine. "I am thanking you very much for showing them to me."