Verona Strauss.comjust because life is fun! …

We spent this week learning all about potatoes! We joined the Potatoes for Schools campaign again and they sent us 3 Vales Emerald and 3 rocket potatoes to grow.

I grew potatoes last year and planted them again in March this year.

Mummy also signed up for Garden Organic’s “One pot pledge” and didn’t realise they would be sending her potatoes as well!

We’ve looked at different parts of potato plants and how they grow:

Different parts of a potato

We looked at what they need to grow strong and healthy and then I looked at the Eatwell plate to see if I’m eating balanced meals to grow strong and healthy too (I am!)

My eatwell plate

I made a potato timeline from 1570 when the potato arrived in Europe to 2008 when the United Nations declared the International year of the potato!

potato timeline - I added Beatrix potters and Daddy

We made mashed potatoes for lunch:

mashed potatoes for lunch with beans, broccoli and carrots - I made it all myself!

I looked at how potatoes get from field to fork and what sorts of potatoes are good for certain meals,

Then we went to a shop to see all different varieties of potatoes and the ways in which they are made into meals. We also looked at our own potatoes and measured them to see how well they are growing.

potato plants, three weeks old and just 10 cms across

We got all the information from the Potatoes for Schools teachers resources.

My favourite activity was doing my Eatwell plate; I really enjoyed doing that because I like drawing and found it easy to see how balanced my meals were. My least favourite activity was preparing the potatoes for cooking because I found the peeling so difficult and it took me ages to do so I got bored.

I’ve chosen to learn about honey bees next because May 3rd is the twelfth National honey week!

Learning all about bees - one of my favourite animals

last night I went to my RSPB Youth Wildlife Explorers Club to learn about bees.

We saw inside a hive which was like a wooden box with different layers. The two end layers contained honeycomb for the bees to eat. We saw eggs that the bees had laid; these would get fed for 3 days and then would be covered by a layer of silk cocoon and the bees would eat their way out.

After that we went to plant seeds so that we can attract bees into our garden. I planted sunflowers, candy tuft and cornflowers.

We went pond dipping and I caught two creatures (I can’t remember their name) and a little black beetles

Last of all we made an insect house; we each had an old yogurt pot. We had to find moss, grass, leaves and were given bamboo sticks to stuff in to attract insects into the pot. We could hunt for insects to put in there to attract others. I can lie this pot on its side in my garden.

Do you remember I had a butterfly Garden for my Birthday? Well they ALL grew, hatched and I released them on Saturday!

I loved taking care of them and it was really special to see them fly away. The last one to come out didn’t want to leave me. She sat on my hand for 5 minutes, telling me her name and saying thank you for looking after her, then she spread her wings in the sunshine and went looking for food.

Here’s what happened:

I got the kit on 24th march - 5 tiny, tiny caterpillars and a pot of special food.

3 April - 2 caterpillars have reached the top and started to make a chrysalis - it looks like cobwebs

10th April - all caterpillars have changed into chrysalids and are moved into the hatching net

14th April - 3 butterflies have hatched and I feed them oranges, apples, banana, flowers and sugared water every day

15th April - the last butterfly hatches; we get to watch it happening!

17th April - After feeding them for 3 days it's time to set them free.

The final one; StarDream doesn't want to leave!