If you "Leaf" me now...

Maramataka

Our moon is in Hoata, a good day for in the māra.

Hina is still on her return so our nights are still dark, these times are good to be spent at home, reflecting, learning and spending time with whānau. Again the perfect time to be online learning.

What does a leaf actually do?

I finally understand how our trees and plant life keep our air clean

I knew trees took the carbon dioxide in our air and gave us cleaner oxygen, I never knew the magic that took place to do it though.

All the leaves on all the plant life work like our lungs but in the opposite direction. 

We inhale oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide; leaves inhale carbon dioxide and release oxygen.

On the rough underside of a leaf there are these microscopic sausage like guard cells that open and close called stomatas. when they are full of water (from the roots) they swell and create an opening drawing in the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Add this to the water drawn up, the sun's energy absorbed and the green chlorophyll in the plant cells and we have photosynthesis which cleans our air and creates glucose to feed the plant. And this happen on every leaf of every plant.

Lungs are vital for our own survival which means that our nature around us is just as vital, I am going to fill all available living space with house plants.

Fun fact: The spines on a cactus are evolved leaves.

An Onion is a Swollen Leaf...?!

Plants have modifications that give themselves an edge, an advantage when out fending for themselves in nature.

These modifications could be how food is stored, how water is stored and how they reproduce.

A bulb is a stem modification so when we are eating onion, shallots and even garlic we are essentially eating their leaves, onion salad anyone?

Ginger is also a modified stem, this type is a rhizome a swollen stem that sends roots and shoots from this underground stem, like the runners from a strawberry plant (stolon) but underground.

Potatoes are stem tubers, thick fleshy underground stems whereas kūmara is a tuberous root that looks like a stem tuber.

I've always struggled to understand Rongo-mā-Tane being the atua of cultivated food and Haumia-Tiketike being the atua of uncultivated food. I never understood the difference of cultivated and uncultivated, relying on the fact that Haumia was connected to the fern and Rongo connected to the kūmara. Learning these stem modifications make it a little clearer. Uncultivated is the Rhizome, or the starchy fern root that is usually associated with Haumia. It grows how and where it wants, 'wild'. 

Cultivated is the tubers, kūmara is usually associated with Rongo. Tubers are less 'wild', in a sense more predictable, you know what to expect when you dig this kai up.

The kūmara or sweet potato has also recently "officially" connected us as māori, polynesians, to our indigenous brothers and sisters of Central and South Americas. Which is huge and a fact that motivates me to look in to the DNA testing that most genealogical places offer these days.

My task for this module is to sprout a potato and plant it. This will involve a trip to mitre10, a wrangle of the toddler so it is not high on my priority list to complete today.

I have grown potatoes in the past, once in the past... We had a small harvest... 

My Grandad on the other hand is a prolific potato producer so I may need to call on his knowledge for tips on an epic haul. I am sure kids grow them in buckets with great results...