We’ve had a lovely start to the academic year and it’s been great to welcome visiting groups to the farm again.
We kicked off the new school year with a visit from St Mark’s Church of England School, who were the first visiting group to try milking our jersey cow, Penny. The young people showed great teamwork throughout the week and left the farm feeling purposeful and ready to get stuck into the school year.
Next, we were joined by a group from Garston Manor. This group of young people showed us great togetherness and the resilience to help out with a very long list of important jobs. Despite some poor weather, the group enjoyed playing on our swing, playing games during our daily walks and brining a sense of fund and adventure to all the activities they tried during their time with us.
Students from PACA had a brilliant week on the farm. They were brilliant at helping us to run the farm, and completed lots of important tasks such as painting the dairy, building a natural fence for our pigs and taking care of the new chicks!
We enjoyed a special moment with one of our visiting young people this month, which really stood out. Having reflected in a check-in that they “finally realised it’s okay to feel good about myself”, they went on to perform a song to the whole group in from of the campfire. The rest of the group couldn’t help but join in.
We recently had a lovely follow-up visit with The Hummingbird Project at their centre in Brighton. It was great to catch up with the group of young women who visited the farm back in July, and to see how they are getting on. We shared a delicious meal and presented them with certificates and cucumbers they had planted during their week on the farm! It was amazing to hear that young people have made substantial changes since their time with us, ranging from taking up running before school every day to applying for further education.
We’re excited to welcome our volunteers, Eva and Jenny, back to the farm. They’ve brought amazing energy and support for our visiting young people and it’s a pleasure to have them in the team again.
We’ve had lots of new arrivals on the farm this month. Three new Boer goats and for Large White pigs have joined our ranks. We also have another 21 Sussex chicks that hatched on the farm recently and are being well looked after by our visiting young people. Charlotte, our Farm Manager, has also been drilling fields for herbal ley, and generally making sure we’re in a good place moving into winter. Finally, we’ve begun pasteurising the milk from our Jersey cow and we’re looking forward to making butter, ice cream, and more!
