First Years, Lesson Three

Landon walked into the Herbology greenhouse rather early for his third lesson of the semester with the first years. Last lesson had been quite fun and he was surprised with how successful each of his students were with the treasure hunt. Lucky for them, they would be going outside today and he was very excited to see how well they would do with their first harvest. They seemed like a trusty bunch and so he was confident that today's lesson was going to be yet another success.

"Morning first years!" Professor Carter exclaimed when he was sure everyone had taken their seat. "We are going to jump right into it today so there is plenty of time for the fun stuff. What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Halloween?" Landon pointed to a student near the back of the room. "Pumpkins!" they said excitedly, already beginning to get an idea of what they were going to be doing. "Yes, exactly right! 3 points to your house. We will be planting some pumpkins today. As I said before, I would like to get right into it, so..." With a flick of his wand, Landon watched as the board began writing notes by itself. "Once you've finished copying down these notes, come with me outside."

* The Pumpkin is believed to have originated in North America, where the Native Americans dried strips of Pumpkin and wove them into mats.

* The original name for the pumpkin was Pepon, which was Greek for large melon.

* The Pumpkin is widely known for being served at feasts as Pumpkin Pie, but its notoriety comes from its established tradition at Halloween.

* Pumpkins can also be used to celebrate good harvest, and at Christmas and thanksgiving where it is typically roasted.

After everyone was finally done copying down the notes, the professor slipped on his leather black gloves and walked outside with them. His tools, a spade, a watering can, and a rake were waiting for him at his section. The dirt looked ripe and eager for planting which Landon smiled at as he observed where his students would be working. Each station was in the shape of a huge rectangle. Landon pulled a bag of Pumpkins seeds from the inside of his robes and gave each of his students a seed for their own use. "Be sure your soil is tilled, or rather soft. I have tilled the soil already so that shouldn't really be a problem. Your pumpkins are to be in the ground and ready to grow by the end of today's lesson."

Landon flicked out his wand, "Watch what I do. You will be doing this in regular labour." A smile formed on his face. His spade hovered in the air. "Get down on your knees, since it's easier to reach the dirt. Take your spade and dig a small hole in the ground and drop the seed into the hole." His spade did exactly that, and Landon dropped the seed into the hole. "Refill the hole and then pat the soil lightly and don't compact it." Landon's spade gently patted the ground like he instructed. "Now, give it a generous amount of water." His watering can poured water over the dirt. "And now do exactly as I did."

After everyone was finished, Landon smiled. As much as he wanted to teach them the muggle way of planting, he knew that they couldn't wait too long until harvest, so he took out his wand once again and spoke to his students. "Now, in order for the pumpkins to grow a bit faster, a spell will need to be involved. Please take out your wands and repeat after me." Landon waited until all of his students had retrieved their wands and stated clearly, "Sementis medicates." He then waved his wand in a loop over his planted pumpkin seed. The sprout emerged from the ground, thickened into a vine, twining and extending its vine, waiting for the others to grow. A small bud flowered, then bloomed yellow before the petals fell away and a small, light coloured melon was clinging to the vine. "Great job guys!" the man exclaimed when he looked around to see that everyone had successfully practiced the spell. "Once you are all packed up, you may leave. Have a good week!"

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Assignment: RP the lesson. First poster please answer the question. For extra credit you may write a paragraph about the pumpkin.

 

[Alana Cosgrove]

The previous Herbology lesson had been fun, Alana had been able to find an egg in her pallet, she just had to practically empty it of its dirt onto the surrounding floor in order to achieve that. Thankfully that hadn’t been much an issue with Professor Carter whom she suspected was used to having to clean up the greenhouse after a group of first years had been let loose in it.

Professor Carter wasted little time getting the lesson started and posed a question to the class pretty early on asking them what they thought about when they heard Halloween. Alana thought about sweets of costumes but given this was Herbology she had an idea of what the answer was. “Pumpkins! She said excitedly, confident in her answer as it was the only realistic one.

Professor Carter explained they would be planting pumpkins but first they had some notes to copy down. Alana took out a sheet of parchment and quickly jotted down the notes from the board. Once she and the other students were done Professor Carter led them outside for the main portion of the lesson. She watched him as he demonstrated how they should go about planting their pumpkins, digging a hole, plant the seed, replace the dirt and pat it down before watering generously. It seemed pretty simple. She followed the instructions and the process he showed them until she had her own pumpkin seed planted in the ground and proceeded to water it generously. Once the normal planting was complete there was another step Professor Carter instructed them to complete. Alana took out her wand and held it over where she had planted her pumpkin. “Sementis medicates,”

Once the lesson was over Alana head back inside to grab her things and made her way out of the greenhouse once Professor Carter properly dismissed them.

 

[Rosalind Montgomery]

Rosalind wandered down to the greenhouse, a little skip in her step. She wondered what they'd be learning about today. She took her seat, and got out her supplies, ready for whatever the lesson would hold. Last lesson had been fun and practical and she'd enjoyed it a lot. It turned out they were learning about pumpkins, which Rosalind didn't think was the most exciting thing to learn about but she didn't express this in anyway, simply took down the notes and then followed the professor outside.

She watched the professor, though this wasn't something foreign to her at all. Almost on instinct, she followed the steps he had done perfectly. Planting pumpkins was something she'd done for years, after all. But then they learned a new spell - one she'd seen her dad use before but obviously had never had the opportunity to learn herself. "Sementis medicates," she pronounced, and watched with interest as the plant accelerated its growth. It was actually a really useful spell to learn, Rosalind noted, and couldn't wait until she was able to use it on her own garden at home, though that might be a while. Once done, Rosalind went back to the castle. She'd kind of hoped they'd be learning more about magical plants but there was plenty of time for that. This was only her first year, after all.