Flowers and Quinoa 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 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 summer, farmers have lots to do looking after their animals and

the crops in their fields.

So, while I look after this farm, let's find out what Storm is up to.

Today, I've come to a pretty farm in Devon where they grow flowers

that aren't only beautiful, but also safe to eat.

Hi, Farmer Jan.

-Hi, Storm.

-This is absolutely beautiful.

-Thank you.

-Now, I know it's not normally safe to eat flowers and

plants in your garden, so what makes it safe to eat these?

You're quite right, you shouldn't normally eat flowers from

your garden, but these are special flowers that are safe to eat.

They're called edible flowers.

-Would you like to make some flowery treats?

-I certainly would.

And today, we've got Rory, Elsie, Max and Louis to help us pick.

Go on, pick that one, that's lovely.

We all listen to farmer Jan as she knows exactly which flowers are OK

to collect.

Time to head outside and pick some more.

So what's your favourite colour?

-Pink.

-Pink!

So shall we pick some of the pink ones?

That's a good one.

Now we've collected all the flowers we need,

it's time to make some tasty treats.

So, now we've collected all of these special, edible flowers,

what can we make with them?

Well, I think we should make a lovely nasturtium pesto to

dress our salad leaves.

First, we put in the nasturtiums,

then some pine nuts, a bit of cheese

and some oil.

Fantastic.

Then, we whizz it up.

And now it's ready to go on the salad.

So what are we going to do with the cornflowers that we've picked?

We're going to crystallise them and then pop them on the cake.

To crystallise the cornflowers,

we brush them with egg white to get them all sticky.

Then we sprinkle sugar on them.

Right, so we're going to leave these to dry now,

but here's some dry ones that we can use to decorate the cake.

This could be the prettiest cake I've ever seen.

Well, now all our tasty treats are prepared,

the only thing left to do is to try them, so tuck in.

While we enjoy these flowers that have been grown right here,

why don't we find out what else is grown in summer?

Lots of young birds and animals spend their first summer growing

fast and learning how to take care of themselves.

Fox cubs stay close to their mum

at first as she shows them how to hunt or find food.

By autumn, they will have to do this on their own.

Young stoats spend the summer with their family, too.

Play fighting with brothers and sisters

is the first step in learning to hunt.

Soon, they will have the strength and skills to attack real prey.

This little owl is only a few weeks old,

but is already living on its own.

In time, with lots of practice,

it will be able to hunt fast-moving voles.

But for now, juicy worms are much easier to catch.

Young rabbits have to learn how to escape danger.

Sensing a threat,

they dart off as quickly as they can into the safety of a burrow.

I've come to a busy community farm in Wiltshire where adults and

children learn how to work together and care for the animals.

I wonder what kind of animals I'll meet today.

ROOSTER CROWS

Hi, farmer Wendy. Now, these are some cool-looking chickens.

Hi, Storm. Yes, we have lots of different animals here and lots of

-teams that work with them. Would you like to meet some?

-I would.

That's good because when all the work is done, there's a surprise.

Now, that sounds exciting, I'd better get to work.

The first team are looking after the donkeys.

Hi, guys. So, who do we have here?

We have Petal and Maddy.

And what do we need to do?

BOTH: We have to groom them.

So, Kingsley, what do you use the donkeys for?

We're going to train them to pull a cart so people can have a ride.

We use a special harness with long reins so that the donkeys can get

used to pulling something and having something behind them.

-Come round, Maddy. Good girl.

-Come round this way.

Good girl, Maddy.

The donkey team have done a great job, but there's more work

to be done before I earn that special treat.

So, what do we have to do in the stables?

We have to take out the poo and all that straw.

That is the biggest shovel of hay I have ever seen.

Now we need to put clean straw in the stable.

Do you think the horses are going to like this?

Well, that's a good job done.

Yes, everyone has worked well together, that's all

-the jobs finished now.

-Does that mean what I think it means?

Yes, it's time for that special surprise.

The treat at the end of the day is

a ride with the farm's beautiful horses.

Come and ride on the cart with us.

Thanks very much, guys.

This is fantastic.

While we enjoy the rest of our ride,

let's find out what else happens in summer.

Summer fields, no longer bare

Golden crops are growing there

Nestled in the summer leaves

Sweet fruit is growing on the trees

Lawnmowers buzz on summer grass

It's cut, but grows back just as fast

Summer hedgerows grow thick and green

A place to feed or hide unseen

On dappled streams and glinting ponds

Are signets growing into swans

Summer calves and piglets, too

They're growing fast and so are you.

I have come to a farm in Shropshire to find out about this stuff.

It looks a bit like rice or couscous.

Do you know what it is?

-Hi, farmer Stephen.

-Hi, JB.

-Can you tell me what this is?

These are the seeds of a plant called quinoa and it's cooked and

eaten in a similar way to rice.

Can you show me how it grows?

It's growing in the field right now, why don't we go and have a look?

-Yes, please.

-Let's go.

So, this is a field of quinoa.

It's very green and luscious but it doesn't look like this.

-You're right.

-Actually, the seed grows within the flower throughout

the summer and is ready for harvest in the autumn.

The quinoa isn't ready to harvest yet,

but there are still plenty of jobs to do in the summer

and Emily and Austin are here to help. So what's first?

We've got to count how many plants are in the field.

That'll take a really long time.

It would! We only have to count the plants in a small area

to work out how many plants are in the entire field.

Let's start counting.

One, two, three,

four, five.

Counting plants means farmer Stephen knows how many he will have

-to harvest in the autumn.

-JB, you missed one.

-Oh, 15!

That's another 20.

Thanks, Austin.

We've just counted 120 plants in this area,

so how many does that mean are in the whole field?

It means we're going to have around 50 million plants

in the whole field.

-Wow.

-That's a lot of plants.

That's an massive number, isn't it? So what's our next job?

The next job for us to do is dig up a few plants

-and look at how healthy the roots are.

-Let's get digging.

-Go for it.

Quinoa is very good for us.

It contains lots of things our bodies need to grow

and stay healthy.

It's so good for us, it's called a super food.

What does a healthy root look like?

We're looking for a root that's long, white and straight.

Can you see the root yet?

There we go.

Well done.

-Now, what do you think of that root?

-That looks nice and healthy.

They are white and long and straight.

Looks like farmer Stephen's got a good crop of quinoa plants.

I've learned so much about quinoa today,

I'd love to come back in autumn and see it harvested.

You'd be very welcome.

-Do you think that'd be a good idea, guys?

-Yeah.

-YES!

While we keep checking these plants,

here's a top tip for when you're out and about this summer.

In summer, it's fun to go on walks in the countryside.

In farms and fields, there might be lots of animals around.

The field have gates and stiles to keep the animals safe.

Use the stiles and gates properly...

..climbing gates near the hinges, as it's safer and stronger.

Enjoy being out and about!

In spring we saw lots of vegetables being planted, like potatoes.

Now it's summer, we have come back to find out what farmer Kerr does

to look after the potatoes.

In the summertime, the potato fields look a lot different

to springtime.

There's now lots of green plants growing at the top of the ridges.

The plants grow straight from the seed potatoes

so I know the potatoes are growing in the ground.

Kerr checks all the plants in the field

to see how the potatoes are growing.

This plant has nice big green leaves.

This means the plant is healthy,

and so are the potatoes under the ground.

Because the potatoes won't grow properly if they get a disease,

Kerr and his team protect them by spraying the plants.

This is our special spraying machine.

It works a bit like a shower.

It sprays something called fungicide.

It's a liquid that stops disease growing on the potatoes.

Today I need to check the machine is working properly

so I've put some water in the tank to spray on the crops.

The tractor pulls the plant sprayer through the fields.

The water is pumped along the long arms of the spraying machine,

and shoots out over the plants.

It takes Kerr two days to spray the plants with fungicide.

He does this every week in summer to protect the plants

so the potatoes are ready for harvesting in the autumn.

Hopefully we'll be back then to see the fully grown potatoes.

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

Did you enjoy it, too? If you want to have fun with your own farm,

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

See you next time. Bye!