It’s been another wonderful month of visits here at Jamie’s Farm Bath!
During half-term, we hosted a fantastic group of young men with experience of displacement from the Bath and North East Somerset Local Authority. They engaged in hard work (nettle slashing, caring for lambs, and moving cows) and enjoyed downtime playing dominoes and cooking delicious meals.
We welcomed back students from Thomas Knyvett College for their second visit this year. We witnessed their growing confidence and resilience, with the group showing care for each other and the animals.
Our long-standing partner, St George’s Catholic School, brought a group ready to embrace the experience. They cooked, connected with the animals, pushed their comfort zones, and got creative in the art room and on the piano.
Thamesmead School visited for the first time with older pupils mentoring their younger peers with compassion and patience. Their self-belief grew as they discovered new skills on the farm.
We also hosted King Solomon Academy, another of our long-standing partners, with Year 8 pupils combining summer fun with hard work and enthusiasm.
Our legacy work is an exciting way for us to support schools to maintain momentum for young people beyond the farm. We love finding out about the group’s progress both in the weeks and months after their visit, and seeing them again allows us to remind them of all they achieved on the farm. We feel very privileged to have our Oasis Farm Waterloo as a space to host follow-ups with groups who get to once again experience the magic of a farm environment much closer to home. This is where we were able to see the young people of Holland Park School again and it felt really special to see them light up again while working with animals and remembering their time on our farm in Bath.
This month, we also revisited pupils at Chelsea Academy, Kensington Aldridge Academy, Lampton Academy, and Northolt High School. Bringing animals, including our therapy dog Bella and chicks, added excitement to these visits.
Being able to see these incredible young people back in their school environment helps bridge that gap between how they saw themselves on the farm and how they feel in school to empower them, with school support, to really fulfil their potential. We really value all the hard work from visiting staff to continue supporting young people back in school as this is the crucial piece of the puzzle to keep the momentum going.
The farm has been a hive of activity with some new arrivals. We welcomed a new group of chickens – not only are they great fun to care for but they are also providing us with lots of tasty eggs for all of the cooking taking place in our busy kitchen. New chicks have also joined us and they are already the stars of feeding rounds! We had an exciting delivery of two young female Saddleback pigs who have happily made themselves at home on the farm. All our lambs have been vaccinated and drenched for worms to keep them nice and healthy. Our herbal leys and kale on our fields are coming along nicely and we have been very busy completing nearly 100 acres of silage!
Our produce garden is abundant, with groups enjoying the mindfulness and hard work of picking gooseberries, strawberries, and red currants. This season offers a perfect time for young people to visit and find purpose in farm jobs.
We’re grateful for the amazing volunteers this month: Gavin, Georgie, Ellie, and Victoria. Their energy and dedication have been invaluable. Special thanks to our garden volunteers, Julie and Lucy, whose efforts help us manage our growing garden. Sarah, our wonderful volunteer who typically supports our operations team, joined us for a day of delivery with the young people this month. It was fantastic to have her calm presence in the art space, supporting the group. We are so fortunate to have wonderful people in the community willing to give their time to help out on the farm and we really cannot thank them enough for all that they do.
