Victory gardens: A war-time hobby that’s back in fashion
The impulse to grow your own food and colorful plants seems only a natural remedy to the stress of difficult world events, especially when combined with copious amounts of alone time at home. Some see the current wave of planting as a call back to the Victory Gardens of WWII, via BBC – Travel .
It was late March when the UK lockdown was first announced. Around the same time, I ordered a seedling tray and two packets of “Cut ‘n’ Come Again” leafy greens: arugula, rucola, oriental mustard, pak choy and borecole. Nearly two months later, lockdown still hasn’t been lifted, but my tufty lettuce leaves have shot up. For billions, globally, the Covid-19 pandemic has spelt a period of deep uncertainty and stagnation, but watching green miracles occur in my vegetable patch has been reassuring. I’m not alone in thinking so.
Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.
Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Mu 1.2.0 Released, WSL Out of Beta and so much more! #CircuitPython @micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi
