Chillin' with Darwin

Every couple of weeks the biology class takes a field trip. I'm not in the class but I always go on the field trips for two reasons. 1- they usually go to pretty cool places, 2- I enjoy going on class trips knowing that I don't have to do the assignments and everyone else does.

So this is Darwin's house! I was really surprised by how big it was. It was smaller when the Darwin's first moved in but they eventually had 10 kids so they added on. I learned that he was a very involved, loving father. All of his kids really enjoyed spending time with him and they had a close knit family.

This is the weed garden where he began forming his theory of natural selection. He noticed that some of the weeds survived and some of them didn't. It seems basic now, but that was a pretty major discovery!

This is Emma Darwin's garden. They have recreated it almost exactly based off of photos and journals. She had about six of these flower beds and they were all so pretty, I can't imagine how this place must look in the spring!

Here is the main garden where Darwin spent most of his time. He did all of his experiments out here, and this is also where they grew most of their food. I spent almost all of my time outside on the garden tour rather than the house (I'm not sure why, it was totally freezing) but I just have this thing about gardens lately, I love them!

Inside the greenhouse there were tons of creepy looking plants. These ones are all carniverous! They were like Venus fly traps, and if you stick your pen in them they really do close up. It was so cool.

More creepy plants.

This doesn't have anything to do with anything...it just reminded me of Cinderella :)

So, yay for Darwin! It was a fun day, even though it was so so so cold.