Autumn is well underway, and our visiting groups have been treated to a wonderful display of seasonal colours around our farm and in our woodland. It’s also a time of change on the farm, with our Farm Manager Charlotte enjoying some great successes at market with our lambs and calves, and some new livestock joining us, including Terrence the turkey and Nessie the pony. We also bid a fond farewell to our beloved bull Gus, who has left us for another farm but will always be a part of our extended family!
Since September, we have hosted young people from across the Southeast, each of whom have left a fantastic impression on us. Oasis Academy Coulsdon were our first visiting group of the new academic year and were particularly impressive in the kitchen, with their success culminating in the best roast potatoes ever tasted on the farm. We were then joined by a group of young people from Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch, who made a huge impression despite being a small cohort. Our Thursday evening bonfire was particularly memorable, with some fantastic singing around the fire.
Varndean School were with us during a week where we needed to do a lot of sheep work, and it was great to see our young farmers getting stuck in to help Charlotte sort and select the lambs that needed to go off to market. We really enjoyed having one of our most local partners, Priory School Lewes, with us for their first ever Jamie’s Farm residential. The whole team was incredibly committed and hard-working. In particular, we were very grateful for their help in the building of a bridge as part of a new path into our woods, which opens up a big new area of the farm to all our visiting groups.
Finally, this month we welcomed a group from BACA in Brighton, who brought huge amounts of energy and joy to the farm and were treated to the first of our own Jamie’s Farm sausages, which were a great hit! This month has also seen us opening the farm up for visiting groups at weekends for the first time. This included a group of fantastic young people from the East Sussex Foster Care Association spending four weekends in our woods, cooking on the fire and getting on with farm jobs. It certainly has been busy!
