The Lab Notebook.
This is where I write down what I tried, what worked, and (most of the time) what totally broke. Wires that fell out. Rice in jars. Strawberries that sat there for a week. Real science is mostly failing, then figuring out why.
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Field research #31 Jul 5, 2026Volunteering at the 6 Stones Food Pantry
Earlier this month, I volunteered at 6 Stones. They gave me a job I didn't even know existed: husking corn. And I ended up staring at two boxes, one for good corn and one for bad, that told me exactly what EcoServe is really about.
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Field research #30 Jun 27, 2026Kidpreneur Day!
I just got back from Kidpreneur at Keller Farmers Market, and it went way better than I expected. Somewhere between 20 and 50 people stopped by, I SOLD OUT of my Label Decoders, and by the end I was down to my last 3 bag clips.
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Field research #29 Jun 20, 2026My Day at Science of Soccer!
We were a little bit late getting to the Sci-Tech Discovery Center. Okay, more than a little bit late. But 71 sign-ups, around 55 Label Decoders handed out, and one parent who told me they needed this project later, the whole day turned out way better than I expected.
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Experiment #28 Jun 4, 2026The Sensor I Couldn't Trust and the Surprise Hiding in My Own Gadget
One of my most important sensors couldn't be trusted! The good thing was, the answer was hiding in one of my current sensors.
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Field research #27 May 26, 2026I went back to Hurst on Tuesday and three more posters are up
Hurst Library is squeezing me into storytime. City Hall said no. The Rec Centre said no. But the Senior Activities Centre said YES, and then 6 Stones (which is GIGANTANORMOUS) said yes too.
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Field research #26 May 23, 2026My first day asking strangers if they want to help save food
My mom and I drove around DFW on Saturday asking libraries and farmers markets if they would help. 2 yeses, 2 maybes, 3 nos and 1 'no but try this even better thing.' Here's how it actually went.
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Debugging #25 Apr 22, 2026The LED that wouldn't light up (current debugging saga!)
I hooked up the ESP32, plugged in the power, and tried to make one tiny LED turn on. It didn't. I have been trying to figure out why for two days. Mom, help.
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Field research #21 Mar 30, 2026What I learned at Community Storehouse (4.5 volunteer hours)
I packed 200 food donation bags. I came home convinced that pantries don't need my sensor, but families could really use what it taught me.
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Experiment #24 Mar 19, 20267 hours of strawberries: the humidity surprise
The BME688's humidity reading rose 2.75 percentage points in a sealed container. That's the metabolic water released by microbes, which is an even earlier spoilage signal than gas.
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Hardware #17 Mar 1, 2026V5 is here: multi-sensor, Wi-Fi, and clean power at last
The biggest jump from V4 to V5 wasn't a new sensor. It was a tiny piece of plastic called a 7805 voltage regulator. Boring name. Huge difference.
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Hardware #13 Feb 25, 2026Adding the buzzer (because nobody watches an LED forever)
I figured out that nobody actually stares at the LED waiting for spoiled food. So I added a buzzer. It's loud. My mom does not love it. Sorry, mom.
Read the experiment - Debugging#11 Feb 18, 2026
Trivial Debugging: The Loose Wire Saga
I spent two weeks thinking my MQ4 was broken. It wasn't. The ground wire to my breadboard had pulled half a millimeter loose. Half a millimeter cost me ten experiments.
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Hardware #08 Feb 11, 2026Why my LCD only needs two wires (and how I2C works)
A 16x2 display normally takes 8 data wires. With a tiny I2C adapter on the back, it's down to 2. Same screen, same letters, six pins back.
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Hardware #06 Nov 9, 2025Two breadboards, one big ESP32 (and the gap that bit me)
The ESP32 is too wide to fit on one mini breadboard. So I pushed two together. Easy! Right? Right?? Plot twist: the power rails on the two boards don't talk to each other.
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Experiment #04 Oct 24, 2025How a sensor caught spoiled rice 8 hours before my nose could
I sealed 100g of basmati rice in a jar with the sensor on top. Started at 39.5 kΩ. By hour 12 it was already half of that, a clear spoilage signal. The alarm fired at hour 18. My nose? Didn't catch anything until hour 20.
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