I stopped by Dollar Tree and bought garden twine, a strainer (for seeds), and plastic baggies. Then headed over to Fleet Farm to pick up some Jiffy Strips (to plant more seeds), seed starting potting mix (Miracle Glo), dowels, craft sticks, and I bought more seeds (Mortgage Lifter tomato seeds and Columbine flower seeds - though we called the "honeysuckle" as a kid).
I put the dowels in the pea and cucumber containers, and then used the garden twine to tie the plants up. I used the craft sticks to identify each container. They look so much more neat and tidy now!
I sent a second request for seeds from GRIN, but got an email back from one of the facilities saying that home schooling is not an appropriate use for their seeds. I'm a little upset by this, as they clearly state that they provide seeds for educational use. They have a clause that says they will only provide seeds to people who can't use commercial seeds. I tried to explain that we wanted to make observations that count. Anyone can search Google to find out everything there is to know about Oregon Sugar Snap II peas, but do a search for Konservenstolz peas and you won't find much. But alas, we are not scientists, we do not have a laboratory, and we lack any kind of PHD in plants. I'm curious how other people have gotten seeds through GRIN, as I've found several online who got many varieties for their home gardens seemingly without a hassle. The world may never know. Oh well. It was a good plan and a thoughtful attempt to help science while teaching my own children. We'll just have to be happy with the handful of seeds we have.
The grape tomato seeds I am currently fermenting are doing as they should (bubbling and molding on top), so I'm not entirely sure what I did wrong with the Roma seeds. I'm still waiting to see if they'll come up or not.