Seeds from SPACE

By Rowena

Last week, we had a very exciting delivery through the post- seeds from space! Daniel spotted the RHS Campaign for Gardening was giving away seeds that have been taken up to space by Tim Peake.

In September 2015, 2kg of seed was sent up to space to the International Space Station and stored there until Spring 2016, when they returned to Earth. They now have been distributed in packets of 100 to schools around the country to be grown alongside control seeds. There is a packet of 100 red seeds, and a packet of 100 blue seeds. We’re not sure which seeds are control and which have been to space, so the experiment is to see if, when they grow, a difference can be seen between space seeds and Earth seeds!

We have seeds from one of those packets! Actual space stuff!

As according to the instructions, we planted the seeds (thematically, rocket seeds) in boxes of soil, gave them a good water, and filled in the poster we had to record our results on. At the moment they’re being kept in the soon-to-be new library, but will be moved to East and West classrooms in due course, to be monitored by visiting schools and staff.

Carefully brushing the soil over the seeds

So what’s the point of it? Well, the experiment will show whether seeds are affected by being stored in space- which will be vital to know if we want to grow seeds on other planets one day. There’s a rigorous method that we had to follow so that our experiment is the same as everyone else who’s planting them. For the students planting seeds, this is a great opportunity to learn how to follow methods and justify why things are being done the way they are.

Sarah waters the seeds

Every few days we have to count how many seeds have germinated, and measure the height. At the end of the 6 weeks that the experiment is running over, our data will get put into a national database, and the results can be analysed. This data will be published to the public as well, which is very exciting.

The first few seeds have germinated already, so we are busy watering and waiting for the rest to sprout as well. Hopefully they’ll soon grow big and we can see if there are differences between the two packets!

 

Wild Art

By Rowena

Wednesday of Real Family Holidays found us making wild art in Templeton Woods and on the lawn. We started off with nature’s palettes, finding the different colours of spring…

Nature’s palettes

With all the colours of the rainbow found, we took inspiration from Andy Goldsworthy to create our own sculptures using what we could find on the grounds.

Fabulous sculptures on the lawn and in the woods

Beautiful!

Real Family Holidays

By Rowena

This week we have Real Family Holidays, where families can come and stay at Juniper Hall for a few days. We put on events in the mornings and afternoons, with time to explore the countryside inbetween.

Monday morning mammal traps was the first activity we had- Rory helpfully set up 15 mammal traps in the Ha-Ha and Templeton Woods which we went out and found.

Mammal traps

4 shut in each place rewarded us with lots of very bouncy mice and a scampering vole. It was easy to see how the two move differently to avoid different predators- mice jump high so they can’t be heard by owls, whereas voles scurry and hide to avoid being seen by kestrels. We also checked the reptile mats, which had lots more voles hiding underneath, a shrew, a toad and a small slow worm.

In the afternoon, we had fun with bushcraft, learning to use strike sticks and building small fires to boil nettle tea.

Today we have been up to Lodge Hill to build shelters. The sun is beautiful and warm, and some amazing shelters were built by the families staying, using the wood and leaf litter around Box Hill.

Some really inventive shelters!

This evening is campfire, and plans are underway for marshmallows, singing and stories… All of the fun!