Jacob’s Invention

Suddenly find yourself learning from home? Well. you’re in good company–on the Farm, we’ve been learning from home for years!

Just the other day, the Farmer’s Wife learned you actually can have too much ice cream and Hannah learned that a pie needs a top or it get’s all dried out inside–you should’ve seen the Farmer trying to eat that!

Oh! And Jacob just came up with a brand new invention! Like all good inventions, it started with a problem. And it went something like this:

“Mom. Do know what’s the worst thing?”

Pauses her dusting. “What’s the worst thing, Jacob?”

Lifts a half-empty bag of chips into the air and takes one, dropping it into his mouth. “Hear that?”

She shakes her head. Was she supposed to have heard something?

“Nothing!” he grumbles. “And it was a new bag just yesterday!”

“Are you saying they’re stale?”

He frowns, shaking his head. “I’ve got to fix this.”

And so he does, getting right to work.

The Farmer’s Wife, always wanting to encourage the study of life sciences, does her part by buying several new bags of chips for the cause.

First Jacob tries closing a bag real tight and sealing with a rubber band.

The next morning he comes running down the stairs, eager to check his latest hypothesis.

The bag is opened and chip tested. The Farmer’s Wife leans in, waiting to hear the crunch.

There is none.

Jacob grunts. “Seriously?”

The Farmer’s Wife saves the bag from being tossed and gives the failed experiment to a very happy group of chickens, who like this type of science and hope Jacob is a long time at it.

 

The Farmer’s Wife finds Jacob sitting on his bed, thinking. She lets him be. Sometimes you just need to think things through.

Later, Jacob is seen in the living room with a new bag and a fresh gleam in his eyes.

“New idea?” his Mother asks.

“You know how it’s air that’s getting at those chips?”

She nods. Air. Can’t live without it, but it sure does a number on your fruits and veggies.

“Well, air is Oxygen, right? And what’s the opposite of Oxygen?”

If you’re thinking Carbon Dioxide, then you’re along the same lines as Jacob–you know the whole breathing, Oxygen/Carbon Dioxide exchange thing. And seeing as that the Farmer’s Wife is somewhat of a scientist herself, and knows all about such things, she continues to nod encouragingly.

“Well, what if instead of taking all the air out, I breath in Carbon Dioxide, then seal up the bag real tight?”

The Farmer’s Wife smiles. “It’s worth a try.”

Jacob gets right to work, emptying half the bag, you know, just to make sure there’s room for all that expelled air.

When it’s just the way he wants it, he calls his Mother back into the room. This experiment must have witnesses.

He takes a big breath in, holds the bag up to his face, sealing it there, and blows with all of his might. Quickly, he clamps the bag shut, and applies the rubber-band (like all true scientists, he’s careful to only change one variable).

“What was that?” his Mother asks in disgust. Because what you couldn’t see, but surely heard, was that the air for the blowing did NOT come from his mouth. Yes. it was just as you suspected. Jacob did indeed blow his nose into that bag of chips.

Jacob smiles and tosses the closed bag down. “Just making sure no one else eats them.”

Rest assured Jacob, no one will.

Life Lesson: Don’t eat an opened bag of chips. You have no idea what’s been done to them.