Pushki key to science projects </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 12:09 AM on Thursday, May 7, 2009

Pushki key to science projects

By McKibben Jackinsky
Staff writer

When Don Pitcher challenged his children -- Ziza, 10, and Rio, 7 -- to minimize the cost of their science projects, the two McNeil Canyon Elementary School students turned to something Homer has plenty of: pushki.

Also known as cow parsnip and wild celery, pushki has a less than favorable reputation for its aggressiveness and for the burns green stalks can cause to skin. Wisely using dried stalks, Ziza built a tower and Rio built a a boat.

Photo provided

Put to the ultimate test, Rio Pitcher's science project proves does exactly what he hoped it would do: float.

The first several days, the two harvested armloads of the abundant material, breaking off the rough ends of the long, dried stalks and cutting them to the sizes needed.

Following a design she'd sketched, Ziza used glue, a drill and wire to shape the pushki into six triangles. Then she built three upright supports by inserting the end of one stalk into the end of another. Each of the uprights was placed inside a corner of the evenly spaced triangles.

After three hours of steady work, the tower was raised, scraping the sky at 25 feet and held upright by guy-wires.

"It stayed up for about 15 hours and then the wind knocked it down," Ziza said. "We were hoping a bird would perch on it, but it didn't."

Too big to take to school, Ziza's teacher, Bill Noomah, came to her house to see the finished project.

"He really liked it," she said.

In a manner unintentionally reminiscent of Thor Heyerdahl's Kon Tiki, a raft made in 1947 of balsa wood, Rio's design was simple. More importantly, it was successful.

He divided the puski stalks into two bundles and tied each bundle together with string. The bundles were held apart by a platform constructed of two two-by-fours and plywood, which Rio secured to the puski with string. Once he crafted a simple paddle, the moment of truth awaited.

Using a friend's vehicle, the raft was transported to Homer Harbor. Wearing a life jacket, Rio stepped aboard -- and floated. Forty-five minutes later, with sister and dad also testing the craft's seaworthiness, it was still floating.

Don Pitcher

The completed tower, when stood on end, reaches high above designer and builder Ziza Pitcher's head.

"I was nervous. I thought it might sink," the young boat-builder said, adding, "It stayed up pretty well."

The raft rated a good review from Rio's teacher, Krista Etzwiler.

"She really liked it," he said.

Ziza claims no plans to build future towers. Rio intends to make boat-building a lifelong activity.

When it comes to science projects, the Pitchers have a flair for the unusual.

"The first year, Ziza built snowmen to see if there was a relationship between weight and how much water was in them," Don Pitcher said. "Last year we did a hovercraft using a vacuum cleaner."

For more pictures of Ziza and Rio's puski projects, visit Don Pitcher's blog on the Web, donpitcher.com/blog/.