Rathcormac N.S.

International year of the potato 2008.

In late February an unusual package arrived at our school.It contained two grow bags ,compost, a couple of seed potatoes and an information leaflet explaining the project which Agriaware had organised on a nationwide basis.Pupils from third and sixth classes planted the seed potato "colleen" and they had to record its progress until harvest time in early June. The project was a tremendous success as the children learned the history of potatoes,the hundreds of varieties available ,the nutritional value of potatoes and much more.Each class produced a scrapbook filled with stories,poetry, artwork ,wordsearches ,recipes and photographs of the plants development over the months .They also went to visit the local organic garden at the old school and the newly developed gardens at Lissadell house where they had over 160 varieties of potatoes growing especially in honour of the Year of the Potato.