Two great questions

We were going to plan out our planting calendar today, but two students asked excellent questions, and we spent the day talking about them.

1. How do seeds get into packets?
Seeds get into their packets when a farmer somewhere grows what you're looking for.  Then he or she has to wait for those plants to produce seeds. Then he puts those seeds into packets and sells them.

For example, sunflowers. When you plant a sunflower seed, it grows into a sunflower.  Then that sunflower produces seeds.  Then, you have to collect those seeds.  And then you can sell those seeds or replant them and start the cycle all over again.

2. If you plant seeds you saved, will you get more seeds?
The simple answer is yes because the seeds from that plant will regrow if you care for them correctly.

The real answer is more complicated because of hybrids.  A hybrid plant is a cross between two very different varieties of the same crop.  If you plant the seeds you collect from a hybrid plant,  you might get new plants, but you don't know what kind of plant you're going to get.

If you save the seeds from a non-hybrid plant, you can save them and plant them again.  We do this in our garden with beans and other crops.

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Preparing to market rose hip tea

Agriculture Task Force is preparing to sell our rose hip harvest.  As always, we will use the money we make to buy more supplies for our agriculture program.

Our idea is to make rose hip tea and give out free samples at the CJA African American Heritage Celebration on Thursday evening, February 20th.  Then we'll sell the rose hips and explain to people how to make this tasty and healthy beverage.

Javion and Lorne (grade 6) write out preparation instructions that will come with every purchase of rose hips.  Here's what they wrote:

Rose Hip Tea

1. Put 6 rose hips in 6 cups of water.

2. Boil for 5 minutes.

3. Pour in a mug.

4. Wait for tea to cool.

5. Add honey or sugar

6. Enjoy!

You can re-use rose hips up to three times.

Alzario (grade 8), Milaun (grade 6), and Ms. Lucy separate the stems and petals from dried rose hips, and select the best ones to sell.

Reflecting on Winter, and Uganda, and harvesting rose hips

I.  Mr. Dwyer asked us to go outside on a very cold and snowy day.  He made us stand still and quiet for fifteen seconds and think about winter.

Here are some of our thoughts:
Mr. Dwyer: When it's so cold and the snow is so deep, I'm reminded of what a miracle it is that anything can survive at all, yet right under the surface, life is getting ready to burst forth in spring.  It makes me feel grateful.
Cecil: A lot of things depend on winter, because some things can't grow in warmer seasons.
Ruler: I thought to myself, why do onions like the cold?  How do they survive this weather?  The color of the snow is so white, I had to look down because it was hurting my eyes.
Terrence: How do the onions grow in the snow and how are they still surviving?
Ms. Lucy: I think the snow is beautiful.  When there isn't snow, it looks brown and ugly in the winter, but with snow, the world is beautiful.
Marquis: With snow, you can go a lot of activities.  Have you ever seen snow falling down?  It looks pretty cool!

II.  Ms. Lucy brought us more pictures from her trip to Uganda, and told us facts about the country.  Here are some of our reactions:

Cecil:  One: I think it's interesting that they have to go a very long distance to get water, and that's very different from here.  Two: Unlike here, in Uganda it's always warm and things can grow all year round.  Looking at a picture of Ms. Lucy's daughter's backyard, it looks like you could get lost there and never come back!
Ruler: I want to live in Uganda because I like the view there.  Before I do, though, I have to beat every video game, because only 4% of Ugandans have electricity, so I wouldn't have a chance to play when I get there.
Terrence: What struck me most was the pictures of trees.  When I think of palm trees I think of Miami, but I've never seen anything like the trees in Ms Lucy's daughter's yard.

(disclaimer: this isn't her actual yard; it's someone else's in Kampala, but it looks a lot like this)

III. We harvested rose hips, which is best done in the winter.  We'll clean them, dry them, and make tea from them.  Then we'll sell it at the African American Heritage Celebration on February 20th.

Cecil: I thought it was painful and cold.  But it was for a good purpose.
Ruler: Harvesting rose hips was painful.  Rose hips have thorns.  Lots of them.  They say, "stay away from me, herbivores. If I go down, you're going down with me."  Do not try this at home.
Terrence: It was very cold out there, and I was surprised how the rose hips were still there in the winter.  I'm going to take some rose hips home and make tea with them.