Challenges: #PondathonII Round 5 Wrap-Up

Okay reading all the books for all the rewards is finally starting to get to me. 😛

Illustration of an orange fox wearing a straw hat, apron, and boots and carrying a teal basket. He has black mesh over his face to resemble a beekeeper's outfit. Art by @ArtFromAFriend

I definitely didn’t read as many books this round but still got some great reads in and I’m excited about our new garden! We have new friends! Which explains Spud’s new look…

In case you missed it, Pondathon II is a story-driven and gardening-themed readathon hosted and run by CW from The Quiet Pond. The aim of the readathon is to read books to earn plants and decorate your own little garden so that we can restore the forest together. Check out my intro post for more details!

As CW’s update describes, she will be stepping away from blogging and Pondathon will wrap up in June rather than at the end of the year.

You can follow along with Spud’s adventures through the link in the sidebar!

Books read

As always, books read for the side quest are noted with SQ.

Once Upon an Eid edited by S.K. Ali and Aisha Saeed (SQ)
The Deep by Rivers Solomon (SQ)
Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie (SQ)
Scratching River by Michelle Porter
The Tale of Jaja and Canti by Tobi Ogundiran
Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi, translated by Jonathan Wright (SQ)

Side Quest: Building Homes for Bugs with Varian

This round, the side quest promoted Autistic Pride Month and Ramadan. The prompts were to read books by autistic authors and Muslim authors for rewards that included insect hotels, bee hives, and butterfly houses. There was also a Bee-ing Caring badge for reading 3 books for the prompt and a secret achievement to earn little bugs for these homes!

An illustration of a fox wearing an apron and boots and carrying a basket and a rake. A small spade and watering can crossed with vines are beside the fox and all sit over a text box that identifies character, 'Sam (@spinesinaline), Spud, Keeper of Stories. Blog: SpinesInALine.wordpress.com. Character card & all art by @ArtFromAFriend, for the Pondathon only". At the bottom are 12 light purple circles with 5 filled in with badges. Badge designs include a pink and green rose, a bulb poking out of dirt, two red berries hanging off a green stem, a smiling tree, and a smiling flower with a bee resting on it.

Spud’s getting all their badges! And you can check out our new friends further below.

Bonus Quest: Another Rip in Space-Time

Once again we had a rip in space time with the chance to win some rewards from previous rounds. We were encouraged to read diverse books that were historical fiction or science fiction. I didn’t read any of these genres this month so didn’t get the chance for rewards but still fun to see what was making a comeback!

Round 5 Garden

We have lots of new critters around the garden these days and Spud the farmer fox has taken on a new hobby: beekeeping! Soon we’ll have honey for our tea visitors.

I had a lot of fun with this round’s rewards so I had to create two gardens, one with all the insect homes and one with a butterfly garden!

Illustration of a square terrarium garden against a purple background. Beehives, a butterfly home, and an insect home line the walls and white, blue, pink and sunflowers surround the garden. Bees, butterflies, and beetles fly around and rest on the flowers. An orange fox stands at the front wearing a hat and apron. Black mesh hangs from its hat to represent a beekeeper's hat. Text at top reads "Pondathon II, all art by @ArtFromAFriend for the Pondathon only".

Illustration of a round terrarium garden against a purple background. The garden has a tall green butterfly house and an arched insect home, as well as flowers in white, pink, and blue. Butterflies and bees fly all over the flowers. Text at the top reads "Pondathon II, all art by @ArtFromAFriend for the Pondathon only".

CW also had a special post this month: a garden showcase! Gardeners were invited to share their designs thus far and there are so many beautiful gardens. Give it a look and see if you can find Spud’s garden from a past round!