So be careful where you grow yours! This one took a lot of tugging before we could get it out.

If you think of other places where David shouldn’t grow vegetables please tell him. He was talking the other day about growing beans in his jeans. And you should see his hat… Watch this space Seed Agents!

You don’t want to read a story on an empty stomach.

One of the best things about going to festivals and making friends is seeing what people make of our Seed City stories…

For example, this lot did all sorts of funny things with THEIR books!

Although the sun was shining and the sky was blue we kept thinking it was raining vegetables. Every now and then a vegetable would seem to appear from thin air and land on somebody’s head!

More veg-hats! Or are those clouds actually raining vegetables?

Our Secret Seed Society story rug seated a lot of Seed Agent bottoms. It can be tiring walking around a festival all day, especially with a tomato on your head.

A tomato, a cob of corn and a cauliflower, having a chin-wag on our story-rug.

By the way, here’s a picture for for all you shy Seed Agents out there who might feel silly wearing veg-hats in big groups of people…

There are a lot stranger-looking people out there!

There's nothing better than a vegetable that you can wear.

Some larger-than-life vegetables were spotted strolling among the trees at Haselstock. We ran workshops growing mung-beans in jam jars and building funny scarecrows, like these ones:

The scarecrows are the ones on the left and the right of the picture. At least we think so...

Lots of Seed Agents were there to help us; they were dressed to impress – as a bear, as a butterfly, as a princess, as a knight, as a dragon… and of course as vegetables. We dress like vegetables every day.

Where do we find all these strangely-dressed children...

We spread out on the grass with all our equipment for making. But we were good and tidied up afterwards, promise… If you have a close look you can see that EVERYbody was lending a hand.

And if you look REALLY closely maybe you can do that crossword. Careful though - too much staring at a screen and you'll get square eyes!

A Jonagold, one of England's favourite apples.

September is a strong month for English apples. Apples can be crunchy, soft, sweet, sharp-tasting, huge, tiny, green, red… there are LOTS of different kinds. Just look at this website, it’s bursting with apple information and pictures!

Some of them have really strange names: if you’re called Martin you’d probably like to eat a Martin’s Custard…

… but if you’re hungry for bananas, don’t be fooled by the Winter Banana!

Where’s your apple from? If you don’t know, check the sticker. Did you know: some people collect fruit-stickers, and some of these collectors have very big collections.

These are Bramley apples, one of the most popular English cooking apples.

Mission: find a plum tree. Maybe you know someone who has one, but you don’t know that’s what it is. This website might help.

Tell us where it is and what the plums taste like. If you’re lucky you might find a wriggly maggot inside.

Eat the plums, don’t eat the maggots!

And it’s probably a good idea to wash them – the plums, not the maggots – first, (because you can’t wash them afterwards as they’ll be in your tummy).

The bugs and birds love plums so hurry up or there’ll be none left.

It’s a good time for plums. They grow fat and juicy, and you can get lots of types that taste and look different:

some plums are purple,

others are bright reddish colours,

and some are even GREEN! (although these are actually 'plumcots,' which are half plum and half apricot. They're orange inside.

Good luck with your plum-tree hunt! We’re looking forward to reading your emails and seeing your pictures.

By the way, our pictures of plums come from Down On The Allotment and The Waspy Redhead – so thank you to them!]]> http://www.secretseedsociety.com/seed-agent-news/mission-find-a-plum-tree.php/feed 0 http://www.secretseedsociety.com/seed-agent-news/dirty-dozen-cheat-sheet.php http://www.secretseedsociety.com/seed-agent-news/dirty-dozen-cheat-sheet.php#comments Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:15:30 +0000 amysecretseed http://www.secretseedsociety.com/?p=2193

If you want to be sure of pesticide-free fruit and veg but have a bad memory, here's a Cheat Sheet that'll remind you of the so-called Dirty Dozen.

Like a lot of people we really like Heidi Kenney’s Dirty Dozen Cheat Sheet, and not only because of the cute illustrations. It also helps you to remember which fruit and veg is important to buy organic.

Some absorb more pesticides than others, which you probably don’t want to be eating. Especially if you’re a pest..

Heidi is an origami expert, by the way. Origami is the art of folding paper to make beautiful sculptures. And if you’re wondering what origami has to do with fruit and vegetables click here and see!

Check out Holly posing with one of her chilli plants!

And here's Oliver standing in his home-made jungle.

As well as growing gigantic plants (which you can see in the picture), Holly and Oliver did some brilliant colouring in for us, which we loved. Thank you very much Seed Agents.

We know a bit about what Holly likes to eat. Her favourite veg is carrots and her mummy always makes extra for her! Make some for us too please…

Oliver likes carrots too, because they’re lovely and sweet. He also likes broadbeans: he’s actually grown his own. Great work Oliver! Taking the time to grow something means you probably will end up liking the taste of them too.

Holly’s going to be a terrific cook one day, and probably invent new kinds of pasta, which is one of her favourites. You should have come to our pasta-party the other day Holly, we had great fun. Oliver and Holly often make little cakes together with their Mum.

Rudi Radish is probably even redder than usual, from blushing! He’s blushing because Holly said that Rudi is her favourite Seed City character. Although we’re sure she loves the rest of you too, Seedizens…

Since growing broadbeans Oliver says his favourite character is Bruno Broadbean. But Holly and Oliver also grow: carrots, onions, celery, french-beans, lettuce, peppers, radish, courgettes, tomatoes and beetroot! That’s why they’re our Seed Agents of the Month.

What’s the only thing worse than finding a maggot in your food?

Finding half a maggot!

Yuk. Imagine that…

Look at these maggots having fun, doing a wriggly maggot dance inside a plum! It must be nice to be a maggot.

THE VEGETABLE ADVENTURE begins with the surprise delivery of a story and seed pack and a letter welcoming them to the Seed Agent Club. Throughout the year your chosen child (Seed Agent) will receive a total of 5 story and seed packs and exclusive members kit such as – Seed Agent Certificate, height chart, nutrition games, seed bomb kit, badges & membership card – barrow loads of excitement!

SECRET DELIVERY Sssh! Keep the delivery a secret, children love getting their own mail and it’s even better when it’s a surprise.

HOW TO ORDER This is a gift that keeps giving! For a one off fee of £30 the 5 packs and kit will be sent periodically throughout the year, nurturing your Seed Agents excitement and curiosity in growing and eating their own delicious food.

Click here to download your Seed Agent Annual Delivery Order Form.