Ducklings and Spring Barley Down on the Farm

# Come join us down on the farm today

# Learn about nature along the way

# From seeds to crops and field to barn

# So much to do down on a farm

# Summer, autumn, winter, spring

# Ploughing, planting, harvesting

# With JB and Storm to lead the way

# Come join us down on the farm today. #

Hello, I'm JB, and welcome to Down On The Farm.

After the long winter months, spring is finally here.

Farmers are getting ready for the year ahead, so it's a busy time.

Now, while I help out on this farm, let's find out what Storm is up to.

There's nothing I love more than a delicious cup of tea,

so I've come to a farm in Scotland to find out how it's made.

Hi, Tam. Hi, Harris.

-Hi, Storm.

-Hi, Storm. Welcome to our tea farm in Perth.

Well, thank you very much.

Now, I thought that tea only grew in really warm places, like India -

not cold places like Scotland!

The weather in Scotland is perfect for growing tea.

I can see that -

there's lots of healthy-looking tea plants here.

There are even more tea plants outside.

Spring is harvest time, and Tam has picked some for us.

Would you like to help us make it into tea?

-Only if you'll show me how!

-Of course we will, Storm.

So now we have our freshly picked tea leaves,

what's the first thing we have to do?

We'll squash the leaves to break them up to release the flavour.

We fold the leaves into a clean cloth and scrunch them.

Right, I'm going to copy you, Harris.

It's a bit like how you would make bread when you knead the dough.

Let's see how we've done.

-They look suitably squashed.

-That looks pretty good.

Now we'll leave the leaves to rest under a cloth.

Tam has some other leaves ready for the next stage - rolling.

-Um...

-Am I doing it right?

No. Um, not exactly.

So, how do I do it?

Slow and steady.

You need to make sure the leaves are squished together like that.

This makes the tea leaves look nicer.

Now the leaves are ready to dry out.

If you spread them evenly on the tray,

we'll put them in the machine called a dehydrator.

Well, I think that looks nice and even.

So, this must be the dehydrator.

Yes, this machine is like a little oven.

It dries the leaves until they're nice and crispy.

-And how long does it take?

-It takes three days.

Three days for a cup of tea? That's an awfully long time to wait.

I know. But we've got some here that have been drying for a day

-and these leaves are finished.

-Wow, look at them!

-They look very dry and crispy, don't they, Harris?

-Yeah.

-So, there's only one thing left to do now.

-Make a cup of tea!

Delicious. Just what you need after a hard day's work -

-a refreshing cup of tea. Cheers!

-Cheers!

-Cheers!

Now, as we finish off these,

let's find out what else happens in spring.

JB: Spring is a special season of the year,

as it's a time when lots of wildlife is born.

Piglets, lambs,

kids and calves

are just some of the new arrivals that we often see in spring.

New life is happening in and around the water, too.

Fluffy ducklings take their first dip in calm rivers.

And frogspawn, laid by frogs in the winter,

gets ready to hatch as tadpoles in the spring.

When a tadpole hatches and gets bigger,

it develops a beautiful golden sheen.

And one of the first things to grow are their back legs

and then, their front legs.

On the inside, their bones start to form and their gills,

which help them to breathe underwater, change into lungs,

so they can breathe out of the water once turned into a frog.

This incredible change is called metamorphosis.

Today, I'm not on a farm.

Instead, I'm here in a school in the City of London.

The boys and girls here have a very special farm project

happening right inside their classroom,

which is extremely exciting.

-ALL:

-Storm, Storm, come in the classroom!

Let's go!

-So, what do we have here? What are these?

-They're eggs.

-And what's inside the eggs? ALL:

-Ducklings!

Ducklings?

What's this strange machine?

It's an incubator.

And what does an incubator do?

It keeps the eggs nice and warm to hatch.

Well, I cannot wait to see some of these baby ducklings.

While the children wait for the eggs in the incubator to hatch,

they've got some ducklings who have already hatched to look after.

Hi, everyone. So, what have you got to show me over here?

We have ducklings.

-And how old are they?

-Three days old.

They're just three days old? They look so tiny and so cute.

You have to be very careful holding them.

And how do you look after ducklings?

We need to give them food.

Perfect.

-Is there anything else they need?

-You need to give them water.

Excellent.

Well, I think you've all done a fantastic job.

I wonder how the eggs in the incubator are getting on.

It looks like they haven't hatched yet.

They've been in there for 27 days, but it could take a longer

before they're ready to break through the shell

with their beaks and wriggle out.

Thank you, guys. I've had a brilliant day

learning about the ducklings and seeing the eggs,

but because they'll take a while to hatch,

I need to go to another farm.

Do you promise to tell me if anything happens?

-ALL:

-Yes!

-Bye, guys.

Bye, Storm!

The boys and girls didn't have to wait long.

The ducklings were born three days later.

The children will help them grow big and strong

and then they'll go and live on a farm.

Now, let's enjoy our Easter poem.

Spring days made for fun

So come outside, enjoy the sun

Feel it shining on your face

As you run and hunt and chase

Breathe the air so blossom sweet

The grass is lush beneath your feet

Everything seems fresh and new

The animals, they feel it, too

Outside, at last, the cows run free

As if to say, "You can't catch me!"

Green leaves unfurl upon the trees

And hope is floating on the breeze

Spring is a time when lots of crops get planted.

It can get very busy,

so farmers love machines that help them do things more quickly.

Today, I'm finding out how this farm uses computers

to help them plant barley.

Barley is used to make lots of different types of food,

like bread and hot drinks.

Hmm... I'm looking for farmer Willie.

I think that might be him.

It looks like the tractor's driving itself!

-Hi, Willie.

-Hi, JB.

-Um, was your tractor just driving itself?

-It was.

It's no ordinary tractor - it steers itself.

How does it do that?

Satellites in the sky tell it where to go -

like sat nav in a car. It knows where the tractor is

and tells it to go in a straight line.

-That means it can plant barley in a straight line.

-Exactly.

It's done by a machine on the back of the tractor.

-Do you want to see it in action?

-Absolutely!

-OK, let's go.

-Let's go!

-OK.

You don't have to use your hands at all?

I'm driving the tractor with no hands at all.

The tractor does it itself, talks to the satellites in the sky,

keeps us driving nice and straight all day long.

Brilliant!

That computer is helping you plant the seeds?

The computer knows where we are in the field.

It tells the machine where to plant the seeds

so they grow nice and evenly.

The GPS, the computer and the seed drill all talk to each other

-and it all works out really well.

-Amazing.

Farmer Willie, thank you for showing me the hi-tech machinery

you use on your farm.

It makes my work quicker and easier,

and it only takes a day to plant a whole field of barley.

-And they look really cool.

-I think so, too.

I can't wait to see the barley when it's grown.

JB, you're welcome back any time.

Being out and about is so much fun,

so here's some tips for looking after the countryside.

In spring, the weather is better and it's time to play outside.

There are lots of inspects and mini beasts to look out for,

under rocks and under leaves.

It's really important to protect

all the little creatures and insects around us.

You can help by always putting things back where you find them

to keep them safe and snug.

Be kind when you're out and about.

STORM: At Easter time, many people give chocolate eggs

as a special gift.

This is Diana. She's a chocolatier,

which means she makes things out of chocolate.

Poppy and Shay have come to the chocolate factory to help.

We're making Easter eggs,

and we've got loads to do, so let's get started.

Chocolate grows on trees in hot countries in a big pod like this.

And inside the pod are cocoa beans.

This is the part of the bean we use to make chocolate - the nib.

If you squish your cocoa up and have a smell...

-What do you think they smell like?

-BOTH:

-Chocolate brownies.

They do smell like brownies.

Now we've got cocoa nibs, do you want to make some chocolate?

Yeah.

This machine is called a grinder.

It squashes the cocoa nibs to turn them into a smooth liquid.

-Then we add some melted cocoa butter.

-Brilliant.

Then something to make the chocolate sweet.

-Sugar?

-Sugar! Yeah, that's right.

To make milk chocolate, we add some milk powder,

which is like the milk we drink, but it's been dried out.

-Does that look really good?

-Yeah.

The chocolate goes into another machine

that heats it so it's really runny.

The warm chocolate is put into egg-shaped moulds,

which are then closed tight shut.

And next we need a machine called a spinner,

like this one.

It spins round so the chocolate only coats the sides of the moulds.

This means the eggs will be hollow.

After 15 minutes, the chocolate is cool and hard.

The last thing we have to do is decorate the eggs

to make them look really pretty.

I'm making mine for my big brother.

I'm making mine for my mum and dad and brother and sister.

I think you've worked really hard and you deserve a little treat,

so...would you like to try some?

-Mm!

-Mm!

Storm and I have had a brilliant time on the farm today.

If you want to have fun on your own farm,

go to the CBeebies website to play the Down On Your Farm game.

See you next time. Bye!

# Come join us down on the farm today

# Learn about nature along the way

# From seeds to crops and field to barn

# So much to do down on a farm

# Summer, autumn, winter, spring

# Ploughing, planting, harvesting

# With JB and Storm to lead the way

# Come join us down on the farm today. #