Potatoes and Buffalo Down on the Farm

# Come join us down on the farm today

# Learn about nature along the way

# From seeds to crops and fields to farms

# So much to do down on the 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.

In spring, lots of helpful insects and small creatures

start to appear outside.

Farmers like the worms, which help the soil,

and bees and butterflies, which help the plants and crops to grow.

So, while I help out, let's find out what Storm's up to.

I'm here in this gorgeous farm in Warwickshire to meet an animal that

looks a bit like a cow and even gets milked like a cow, but isn't a cow!

Do you have any idea what it might be?

Say hello to the buffalo.

These are known as water buffalo.

Normally, they're outside in the field or near water,

throwing mud over themselves,

but the spring weather is a little chilly, so, for now,

they're staying nice and cosy indoors.

Farmer James and his helpers, Harvey and Isaac,

look after lots of buffalo on their farm.

-Hi, guys.

-Hi, Storm.

So, what is the difference between cows and buffalo?

Buffalos' horns go down and back and then grow up.

-I can see they have all got beautiful horns, don't they?

-Yes.

What about their feet?

Their feet are bigger and wider.

Which must help them walk on the muddy ground.

Are there any other differences?

Buffalos are almost always black.

Of course, because cows come in lots of different colours, don't they?

Like brown, black, or white,

but I can see all these buffalos are the same colour.

Also buffalos' milk is a little bit different to cow's milk.

Why don't we take some of these buffalo into the milking area

-and find out more?

-Yeah.

-Let's go.

Here they come.

Farmer James guides the buffalo out of the barn and into the farmyard.

They're coming over to say hello, aren't they?

-Which one is your favourite?

-That one.

What would you call that buffalo?

Henry Monster.

I think Henry Monster is a great name for a buffalo.

Especially with those horns. They're huge.

And they're really friendly, aren't they?

Next, the buffalo are brought into the milking area.

The buffalo milk is pumped through these tubes and into a big vat.

Well, this buffalo milk looks much thicker than cow's milk.

It's a lot higher in something called butterfat, that makes it

really creamy and good for making lots of super-tasty foods.

Some of which we make right here on the farm.

I like the sound of that!

Now we've all washed our hands, we're ready to try

some of these tasty treats.

Ice cream, my favourite!

It's creamy and tasty.

And it's made from buffalo milk.

And pizza, my other favourite.

The cheese on the top of this pizza is made with buffalo mozzarella.

-It's some of the tastiest cheese around.

-That looks delicious.

Now, I've had a fantastic day learning all about buffalos and

how their milk can be used to make some of these tasty treats.

So, while we tuck in, why don't you find out

what else happens in spring?

One of the first signs of spring is the sound of lawn mowers

and the smell of freshly-cut grass.

Grass is the UK's biggest crop.

It carpets a lot of farmland in green and almost half of the land

is covered in it.

It comes in lots of different sizes and colours.

Some tall and fluffy,

and some even red.

It's there whether you live in the country or in the city,

and most of us see grass every day.

Grass is an important food source for many animals.

On farms, cows and sheep love to graze on it.

And horses and hares like to eat it, too.

Grass is also useful in other ways.

Slugs, worms, and ants like to hide in it.

And grasshoppers and wolf spiders live in it.

The longer the grass, the better.

It provides food and shelter to lots of different animals.

I've come to a school in London to meet some new friends who have asked

me to bring some food scraps along.

I've collected carrots, a banana peel and some tea bags.

I wonder what they're going to use these for?

Hi, everyone!

-ALL:

-Hello, Storm!

Now, I brought my food scraps along with me.

-What would you like me to do with them?

-Put them in our compost bin.

Just like a big recycling bin.

There we go. So, what happens to the scraps in here?

They get eaten by tiny, tiny bugs.

They break it all down.

What happens then?

-ALL:

-Compost!

The best compost is created when a mixture of green things,

like food scraps and grass cuttings, are mixed with brown things,

like egg shells and leaves.

Storm, we'd like to make a smaller composter called a wormery.

And will it be full of worms?

-ALL:

-Yes!

-Let's get started.

-Great!

We need some stones.

We need compost.

We need some sand.

We need wet paper.

We need a plastic bottle.

Now, we need to fill the bottles up, one layer at a time.

Sprinkle a bit more compost in there.

-That's nice.

-Finished.

I think there's something missing.

-ALL:

-Worms!

Worms, that's right.

Look! Here we go.

These little guys are amazing helpers.

As they burrow into the soil, they let in lots of air and water,

and their pee and poo is also very good for our gardens and plants.

It feels, like, slimy.

It's so stretchy.

It looks very cute.

It feels gooey.

Yeah, gooey.

So, what's the last thing we need to add to our wormeries?

-ALL:

-Food!

So, the worms will move all the way down through the layers,

mixing them up and breaking down the scraps to make compost.

Now, our wormeries are complete.

-ALL:

-Yay!

We can keep an eye on the worms and see how they make compost

and when they're finished, we can put them back into the garden.

Now, while we take a look at these hard-working worms

here is our spring poem about another very helpful creature.

A dab of colour flutters by

A gentle little butterfly

A joy to see, the first of spring

You dazzle me with shimmering wings

Appearing while the weather is fair

Soon others flutter in the air

Dancing, flitting, as they seek

A pretty flower with nectar sweet

Or a leaf to hide the eggs they lay

So caterpillars will hatch one day.

I'm in London on a rooftop car park, but not to park my car!

I'm here to meet a farmer called Sam and I've heard he's got

a very unusual farm up here.

But where is he?

JB, over here!

Hi, Sam.

Let's go and meet him.

-Hi, Sam.

-Hi, JB.

This is incredible.

I can't believe that that is a farm.

That's right. This is an old shipping container that used to be

for storing things on ships that we've recycled into an urban farm.

-Would you like to come and see what's going on inside?

-Absolutely.

Sam and his team are making clever use of space on this city rooftop.

Now, Sam, this is definitely different to other farms I visited.

-What's in here?

-These are our carp fish. They're really tasty,

and we use them as food for our customers,

-but they also help us grow food, too.

-But how do they do that?

Using fish to grow things like salads and herbs,

-it's called aquaponics.

-What's that?

Aquaponics means Sam uses fish poo or waste to grow plants in water.

instead of soil like other farms.

We farm our fish in these containers and they release their poo into the

water and this is a little bit of what it looks like.

Oh, yeah, I can see the white stuff, but how is that useful?

Well, the water contains lots of nutrients, which the plants need to

grow big and healthy and we take it up through that pipe,

-up to the plants above.

-Brilliant!

Would you like to see what the fish have been helping us grow

-up in the greenhouse?

-Absolutely, let's go.

-Great.

Wow.

So, this is your greenhouse. Well, it's lovely and warm up here.

That's right. We take the water from the fish tank downstairs and all the

light and warmth is provided by the greenhouse.

We've got lots of different things growing up here all year round.

Sam grows his plants upwards to save space.

All these plants wouldn't fit in here if they were on the ground.

-So what do you have growing at the moment?

-We've got babyleaf lettuce

and some chives and we can fit almost 400 plants in this space.

-Wow, that's incredible.

-Would you like to try some?

-Of course.

It's very fresh.

It's got a nutty taste to it.

Great. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Well, thanks Sam. What a farm!

-You're welcome, JB.

-It's in the middle of a city,

on a rooftop car park and everything grows with the help of fish.

Well, it's been brilliant learning about this farm,

but now it's time to find out what else happens in spring time.

In spring, it's time to get out and run about in the fresh air.

And enjoy lovely walks outside.

Remember to always stay on paths when you're out for a walk

to keep all the flowers and little animals safe this spring.

Be kind when you're out and about.

This is Britain's favourite vegetable.

The potato.

At this farm in Berwickshire,

they're getting ready to plant a new crop of potatoes.

This is Kerr. He's going to show us what he does.

Today, we're going to plant seed potatoes like these ones.

The best time to plant them is in the spring.

We use some special machines to prepare the soil.

The first machine ploughs the land and makes the ridges.

The next tractor has a machine attached to it called a de-stoner.

The de-stoner pulls up the earth from the ground

and sifts out all the stones.

The soil is thrown back onto the ground and the stones

are dropped to the side.

The seed potatoes are planted in the middle of these ridges,

just beneath the soil.

This will keep them warm and dry.

Now the ground is ready,

we need to plant the potatoes with our potato planter.

The potato planter lifts up the top of the earth on the ridge and places

the seed potatoes underneath.

Then, it drops the soil back on top

to protect the newly-planted potatoes.

These seed potatoes will take around five months to grow and we've got

lots more to plant today, so we'd better carry on.

Maybe you could come back in the summer,

when the potatoes are fully grown? Bye!

Storm and I have had an excellent time down on the farm

and we hope you've enjoyed it, too.

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 fields to farms

# So much to do down on the farm

# Summer, autumn, winter, spring

# Ploughing, planting, harvesting

# With JB and Storm to lead the way

# Come join us down on the farm today. #