Seeds – The Unsung Heroes

4 September 2025

Looking back on what the CRR School Programme has achieved so far in 2025, and seeing the little veld flowers popping up in the Egoli Granite Grasslands even before the first rains, I am reminded just how important our lessons on seeds have been. This topic may not seem quite as exciting as water, history, or geology, but without seeds—where would we be?

In April, we explored seeds during our monthly Wild Crew outing. Around the same time, Angela, a teacher of the Grade 6 class at The Mountain Cambridge School in Hartbeespoort, invited us to present at their eco-event. From our list of topics, Angela chose Seeds. A good choice indeed!

We set up in the school hall with microscopes, samples, posters, and other paraphernalia. After introducing ourselves and giving an overview of the topic, we took the children out into their own school gardens—which, by the way, are beautiful—and sent them on a foraging mission to collect as many different seeds as they could find.

There is no better way to learn about nature than by being outdoors and experiencing it firsthand. The children thoroughly enjoyed their little seed treasure hunt and were pleasantly surprised by how many different varieties they managed to collect. Back in the hall, they examined their finds under the microscopes and created posters illustrating the many ingenious ways nature disperses seeds in the wild.

The final lesson? Never underestimate the little things in life.

All in all, it was a delightful morning spent with passionate teachers, determined to raise a responsible and informed next generation, and well-mannered children with a genuine thirst for learning.