Back when we had the last big rain on the island, Ted and I wandered around dipping nets into huge puddles to see what we could find.  Among mosquito larvae and dragonfly larvae, we found eggs and tiny tadpoles.  The tadpoles were about as long as a peppercorn, including the tail.  We returned almost everything to the wetlands, but kept 8 tadpoles to raise.  It turned out we saved them… the wetlands dried up long before they became frogs.  While this is part of nature, we were still glad we saved a few.

They were in a fishtank on the kitchen counter, and we started calling them radioactive because they grew so fast.  I googled “raising tadpoles,” and found a suggestion that frozen spinach was a good safe food, so we tried it.  We used some kale from our farm share that I had frozen in May.  We never actually saw the tadpoles eat the greens, but each day we returned and the kale was gone and the tadpoles were bigger, so we decided we must be doing something right.  Next time, I will take a photo every day, because it was completely fascinating.  Based on the frogs we were hearing at night, we guessed they were squirrel treefrogs, but we weren’t sure.

In one month, our tiny tadpoles grew to be the size of about an edamame bean.  They were also at all different stages of development– one had even become a frog, and climbed out of the water.  As we geared up for school, we decided that it wasn’t fair to subject tadpoles (or me) to a splosh-filled ferry ride… and besides, the frogs belong on the island.  So we released them to the creek right across from Chapel Pond, where we know their brethren hang out.