This month we have taken our remaining two primary schools out and about for their first farm visits, as part of the Weaving Farms, Land, People & Planet project.
First up, we hosted Edgar Sewter Primary School at Broad Oak Farm in Bramfield, exploring this multifaceted site, with its therapeutic and commercial livestock, crops, ponds and meadows.
Our expert Gaina worked alongside Amanda from Broad Oak Farm to share key skills and knowledge in relation to the farm’s animals and their purpose in our modern landscape. They mixed feed, met some four legged friends and chatted tags, tails and a whole lot more. Our director Carrie worked with Mark who manages the farm, to share the importance of healthy hedgerows, crops and ponds for carbon storage and connectivity. They explored pond history while meeting water boatmen and caddisfly larvae and played hedgerow connectivity games while learning the time it takes for a pea to make it from the field to our freezer!
Later in the month, we took Ilketshall St Lawrence Primary School to Brights Farm in Bramfield, with lush, diverse meadows, beautiful hedges, commercial cattle and camping strips – another diverse site for our schools to explore.
Ecologist, Fe worked alongside our volunteer Ed Flaxman to share insight into healthy hedges and how to support them with lessons in propagation, soil sampling and species IDing. Our farmer Shauna was joined by Carrie and the kind help from volunteers Mark and Matt to meet the cows and discover the diversity of birds and plants that call Brights Farm home.
Not only have these visits created space for children to access farms and nature, but they have enabled many new opportunities to learn. The excitement for new knowledge has been a joy to witness:
‘I now know how important hedges are and they are better without gaps’
‘I learnt what taking a ‘cutting’ means and that Chiff Chaff says its name!’
‘I learnt that the tag on a Cow’s ear is its passport.’
One child asked ‘What is a pond?’ – and left not just knowing what a pond is, but why they exist in Suffolk in the first place, as well as now knowing how to ID things that live within them!
We can’t wait for all our pupils to visit another 3 farms in July for a whole load more!
