Some time ago K and L decided that they would like to get Blue Peter badges (mostly because their friend C had got one) so we thought about what they could do and they sat down to write a letter each. We sent them off, K’s by post (with an accompanying picture, done in pastels) and L’s by email, with accompanying photos. Since we were sending things off for them I decided to type up and email one of J’s poems too, just to see if we could get all three of them a badge.
This was all long enough ago that we were starting to think of what else we could submit, since it seemed what we had sent was not going to get them a badge. Then today we realised that there were three little parcels sitting in the hall, obviously tucked safely to one side by Bob on Saturday when all the rest of us were out and then forgotten in the busy-ness of the weekend. L and K opened theirs to find a letter each plus a green badge for K (to show he’s interested in the environment) and a standard blue badge for L, along with a suggestion that she should look out for a programme on the Tudors coming soon 🙂 Since J’s parcel looks just the same, presumably his poem has also earned him a badge. K wants to tell the whole world, he is so excited, and we plan to spend the afternoon looking at all the places they can now get into for free – once their cards arrive to go with the badges, at least 😉
K’s letter:
I like to do gardening because it means that I get to use Daddy’s spade, which is fun. In my picture you can see some of the things we have planted this week. The grey pots have corn on the cob, which is very nice to eat but sometimes gets stuck in the gaps between my teeth. The red pot has tomato plants in it. I don’t like tomatoes, but they’re very nice in pasta sauce and my mum and dad like them. The black pot has carrots growing in it. I like carrots. According to a myth from World War Two carrots help you to see in the dark. Part of that is true – they do help your eyes because they have Vitamin A – but they don’t really help you see in the dark. The army just wanted the Germans to be tricked.
We’ve also planted some peas. We’re going to make a cardboard maze for them, because they like to grow towards the light. If you put a box over the pea plant with a hole to one side it will grow towards the hole where the light is shining through. Then you can put another layer with another hole the other side so the pea grows that way. We should get zig-zag pea plants! They have to have light and water and warmth. We tried growing some in dry soil and they didn’t grow. The ones we put in the dark grew but had yellow shoots instead of green. The best ones had damp soil and were kept in a warm light place.
L’s letter:
Every summer we go to a place called Kentwell Hall. We dress up and pretend to be Tudors. I live in the Cott (or cottage) with my Mummy and my little sister and we make pottage for people who are nearby. Pottage is made of lots of yummy vegetables which we call roots and worts. My little sister calls them “voots and vorts†and says they are “nummy!†My brothers go to the schoolroom, but this year my biggest brother won’t be there because he’s in France. They learn all sorts of things in the schoolroom, like heraldry (learning about shields) and how to write and spell like Tudors. One of my friends works in the Still Room, which is like a doctor’s. She makes medicine. I once had a splinter and had to go but she wasn’t there then.
I think it would be really cool if Blue Peter came with us to Kentwell this year, then you could make a tv programme there and everybody could see how good it is. You could try some pottage too!
