Day 57 - Marimo

- Marimo (cell phone picture) -

As part of a work promotion (at my second job, not the job I yell about headcount at) I was recently made aware of "marimo", or moss balls. Moss/algae balls are a Japanese plant that help keep fish tanks clean (amongst other hidden talents, I'm sure). One of the facts I read about them was, in order to keep their round shape, you can remove them from their tanks and roll them in the palms of your hands like cookie dough. This oddity made me want to seek out the marimo and see what they looked like.

I quickly sought out other marimo hunters, and found one lone container holding a golf ball sized, green fuzz ball. I stared at the moss ball in amazement as if it were going to do something magical as it lay in it's container. Observing is where I believed my marimo experience would end, however, I needed to conquer a fear today no matter how small!

I decided I would take the marimo out of it's container and help shape it as described in the rolling instructions I read earlier. As I removed the container lid, I was afraid the ball of moss would be slimy or that I might smush it, but no such thing occurred. I first poked at the ball and found my fingers flinch as if the little plant was going to bite me. Quickly moving past that silly thought, I picked up the marimo. The odd shaped ball felt like a solid batch of velvet in most places, and a bit like astro-turf in other spots. The best thing was, it wasn't slimy at all! In moments, I had rolled the little guy between my hands and placed it back into it's home for the night. Had it owned a little blanket, I probably would have tried to tuck it in for the night, too. Marimo fear conquered!