Tales from the Green Valley - 9 & 10

The team works to fertilize and prepare the soil for planting.  May is a quiet time in the agricultural calendar.  Stuart and a charcoal burner work to make charcoal.  Charcoal burning powered the industrial revolution and is smoke free, lighter, and burns hotter.  Charcoal burners were a roaming profession.  They are a set of skilled workers.

Dairy production begins in May.  Chloe and Ruth work on milking the cows.  The milk is creamy and thicker, perfect for butter.  Duchess hasn't been milked much and it is proving to be a challenge for Chloe.  The milk they get isn't as much as they were expecting.

The pea field is getting close to done.  Alex is using a breast plow to help plow the field.  However he's not using his chest to plow.  They are using a special pea seed, it is an experiment.

For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom.  You can easily format these questions to your specifications.  All questions should fit onto one page after formatting.

You can find the link for the YouTube video here.

Tales from the Green Valley Episode 9 Questions:

1. What were they behind on?
2. What did they do to beef up the soil?
3. What is the advantage of charcoal?
4. When does dairy production start?
5. What type of plowing is tricky?
6. What was a professional craft?
7. How many acres of woods were burned in Iceland?
8. What did they use to make butter?
9. How long did it normally take to make butter?
10. What did Peter and Alex find in the field?

Tales from the Green Valley Episode 9 Answers:

1. What were they behind on? - Clearing triangle field
2. What did they do to beef up the soil? - Spread horse poo
3. What is the advantage of charcoal? - Lightweight, smokeless
4. When does dairy production start? - May
5. What type of plowing is tricky? - Breast plowing
6. What was a professional craft? - Charcoal burners
7. How many acres of woods were burned in Iceland? - 80 acres
8. What did they use to make butter? - Butter churn
9. How long did it normally take to make butter? - 20 Minutes
10. What did Peter and Alex find in the field? - Harrow and 1940’s plow
    

Tales from the Green Valley Episode 10
Ruth works in the Dairy while the boys work in the fields.  The boys work on shearing sheep, they were the most valuable asset to the farm.  Stuart, Alex, and Peter wash the sheep in the nearby pond.  They get as wet as the sheep they are washing.  Washing the sheep help makes the shearing process easier.

Working in the Dairy was a woman's work.  June was a good time of year for cheese making as well as a way to beat the heat.  Cows eat different grasses over the year which changes the flavors of the milk.  They make rennet and discuss the alternatives to it.

The dairy portion of the episode would be great to show in an agricultural class, Ruth and Chloe go through the process of cheese making without technology.

For use in the classroom: just highlight, copy and paste into a word document or a google document for use in the classroom.  You can easily format these questions to your specifications.  All questions should fit onto one page after formatting.

You can find the link for the YouTube video here.

Tales from the Green Valley Episode 10 Questions:

1. When did the farmers wife change dairy production from butter to cheese?
   
2. What did Alex do with the sheep?
3. What did Ruth and Chloe make in the dairy?
4. What does milk do over the course of the year?
5. Why does milk change over the year?
6. What alternatives were there for rennet?
7. What separates from the curds?
   
8. How long would it take to sheer sheep?
9. What did Alex use to sheer the sheep?
10. What did Ruth first make?

Tales from the Green Valley Episode 10 Answers:

1. When did the farmers wife change dairy production from butter to cheese? - June
2. What did Alex do with the sheep? - Wash the sheep
3. What did Ruth and Chloe make in the dairy? - cheese
4. What does milk do over the course of the year? - change
5. Why does milk change over the year? - Due to the grass
6. What alternatives were there for rennet? - Nettles, lemon juice, vinegar
7. What separates from the curds? - Whey
8. How long would it take to sheer sheep? - An hour
9. What did Alex use to sheer the sheep? - Hand sheers
10. What did Ruth first make? - Cottage cheese