Over the course of November, we’ve been lucky enough to host visits from three of our most valued partner schools, and one school who we’re just starting to work with. As the nights draw in, it’s been lovely to see so much activity and joy on the farm – and a lot of jumping in muddy puddles!
Oasis Academy Shirley Park joined us from Croydon, with a wonderful group of year 7s getting stuck straight in to every job we asked them to do. Despite only being a few months into secondary school, they didn’t let themselves be held back as they cracked on and worked really hard – and even helped is make a video for our Christmas fundraising campaign.
The young people from Bohunt Liphook brought a similar diligent energy to the farm, bonding with the horses and working particularly hard in the kitchen.
Heathside school had a great week on the farm, and it was lovely to see a familiar face from one of last year’s visits come back for her second week on the farm. While most young people are only able to come once, it’s sometimes lovely to welcome a Jamie’s Farmer back to the farm in a more mentoring capacity, something that helped everyone to thrive.
We’ve been popping back in to various schools that came to the farm earlier in the term over the past few weeks. Matt, our Visit Coordinator, went to see the young farmers from Sacred Heart School, whilst Sam, our Head of Farm, saw the group from Mulberry School for Girls. Here, he was a given a wonderful welcome and all the young people were keen to come straight back to the farm.
It’s pretty muddy on the farm, but that’s not stopping us. It’s very busy, with animals moving around all over the place. This year, we’re experimenting for the first time with bale grazing, which will allow us to leave the cattle out in the field for much longer, rather than bringing them into the barn. This is better for the livestock’s welfare, and we’re loving getting young people involved with this new process. A massive shout out to our farmer Charlotte for keeping on innovating and always pushing things forward.
It’s a great month to celebrate two of our brilliant kitchen volunteers, Alison and Eva. Both Alison and Eva come and support with our kitchen sessions once a week, making sure that the young chefs are on track to make delicious and hearty food to feed us all. Both of them bring such joy to our kitchen, whether whipping up a cake, masterminding a macaroni cheese, or curating a fabulous kitchen playlist, all the young people love to work with them.
