Northern Ireland's children lend a hand to our future trees
During the autumn, Andy Smith from the Northern Ireland Tree Campaign visits school classes across Northern Ireland to give Autumn Seed Harvest Workshops for interested pupils and teachers. Generally speaking the workshop is meant to give an idea about the art of growing trees from seed. But it is also meant to be diverse and fun!
The kids learn about the importance of the trees and what they are used for. They always have clever questions to ask and are eager to share their own knowledge about and experiences with trees. When the children start to look around their classroom they suddenly discover a lot of things that are made from trees. The chairs they are sitting on, the desks they are leaning on and in the end, even the pencils they are using to write with.
They bear in mind the fruits as well, which serve the wildlife and as well as us, as food. Just think about what we are eating every now and then. How would we miss apples, oranges or particularly chocolate? However all fruit is not the same. Have you ever thought about it, that trees are bearing different kinds of fruits? A seed display shows the kids various types of fruits like berries, nuts, cones and pods, which contains the seeds inside.
But, as the pupils know, the trees also give us the vital oxygen we need to breathe.
When we think about it – trees are of such a huge importance. Here in Northern Ireland only a few percent of the land is covered with trees. From here we recognise the need to plant native trees in our surroundings.
And now the question arises – how can we grow trees from seeds? The practical part of the workshop starts, which the kids like the most, because now they are allowed to make a bit of a mess. The activity starts with clean buckets, clean sieves and a clean wooden masher and a class full of curious children. Each team of pupils is provided with a set of this equipment and a big handful of hawthorn berries and their task is to remove the flesh from the seed.
By doing so the seed’s ability to germinate is enhanced. Imagine how much time you would spend removing the flesh from each berry separately! That’s why the kids mash the berries with the wooden masher in the buckets and then clean the seeds several times with water by using the sieves. Finally the activity ends with dirty buckets, dirty sieves and dirty wooden mashers and with hundreds and hundreds of seeds and many smiling children!
After the workshop the seeds are taken back to our Tree Nursery, who are kind enough to trust the Northern Ireland Tree Campaign with the berries to use at the workshops in the first place. The Tree Nursery will grow the seeds into trees and, in a couple of years, hopefully the bulk of them will have grown into small trees!