At the science table, the Kohavim children have been investigating some very interesting potatoes. They have used hand lenses to take a closer look at the potatoes and have even made observational drawings. They described the potatoes as having white, spiky parts. The potatoes have also sparked some hypothesizing: Are these potatoes edible? Are these potatoes growing? If we cut off the "spiky" part, can we eat the potatoes? The scientist in the Kohavim class will get to the bottom of these perplexing potatoes.
Everyone knows that the latkes we eat on Chanukah are made from potatoes, but this Chanukah I got to see where the potatoes used to make Israeli latkes are grown! I am spending Chanukah in Israel this year and I visited a special place I used to live on (in Israel) called a kibbutz. A kibbutz is a farm run by lots of families who work together growing and making things. One of the things this kibbutz grows is potatoes and I got to see how the potatoes are harvested, just in time to be turned into the latkes we like to eat!
As the Unicorns know from their potatoes plants in class, potatoes are grown in the ground. On farms in Israel potatoes are grown just the same way we grow them in our class. Here on kibbutz though, there are huge fields containing 1,000s and 1,000s of potatoes. When the potatoes are ready to eat, they are dug up by special tractors and go by truck to the kibbutz, where they are washed and put into bags for sale in Israeli supermarkets. The potatoes I saw in the fields today will soon be on hundreds of Jewish families tables later this week. Maybe if there lucky, some of these kibbutz potatoes will be fried into tasty golden brown potato pancakes for kids to enjoy, just like we enjoy them at home.
