17 March – Year 2 Gardening Visit to the Norfolk Showground
For the last 5 years our schools’ Gardening Club has taken part in the British Potato Council (BPC) Grow Your Own Potatoes Competition which involves (over a 3 month period) planting, growing and harvesting 2 varieties of seed potatoes (Rocket and Maris Piers) provided free by the BPC. See www.schools.potato.org.uk for more information. For the first time this year, the BPC are working with the Royal Norfolk Agricultural Association (RNAA) at the Norfolk Showground to provide a fun and educational environment through which our children can learn more about potatoes and help bring the ‘Grow Your Own Potato Challenge’ to life. The RNAA invited our Year 2 Gardening Club Members to visit the Norfolk Showground on 17th March (to plant our ‘Grow Your Own Potatoes’ and take part in learning sessions) and again on 25th June (to harvest our crop during the Royal Norfolk Show).
All of the current Year 2 Gardeners spent an amazing afternoon taking part in the following activities: ‘Farm to Shelf’ with Matt and William from Heygate Farms, ‘Do you know your potatoes?’ with Moya from FACE, Planting with Felicity and Pam and finally Potato Farmng/Machinery with Farmer Tim from Buxton Potatoes. The weather was lovely and sunny and we are all looking forward to our next visit in June. Go to www.mustardtv.co.uk and click on browse videos until you find ‘Not just small fries: School children plant potatoes at the Showground’ to see what we got up to!
