Today was Open Farm Sunday and last year we simply went to the nearest farm which was at Lancing College (posh private boarding school up the road from us), this year I arranged for us to go to an organic farm. It was a bit further away but whilst Lancing College farm was great for the Old McDonalds farm experience with all the classic farmyard animals this looked to be far more interesting and educational.
And it was 🙂
The farm is pretty big and has been owned by the family for 9 years during which time they have made it organic and focused on all sorts of interesting farming methods such as crop rotation, creating hedgerows, field margins and beetle banks and building up their flock of sheep. They had created a trail around the fields with information sheets along the way and regardless of Davies and Scarlett I learnt a hell of a lot! Actually Davies was pretty interested in it all too and as he knew very little about farming anyway and organic farming seems so much more logical – based on working with nature rather than blowing it all away with chemicals it was a nice introduction for him. I had decided we wouldn’t need wellies (well actually I don’t have any wellies, something I really must remedy) and actually we didn’t but the last bit of the field was long grass which was irritating both children’s ankles (they both have hayfever and get rashy with prolonged contact to cut or long grass) so I gave Scarlett a piggyback and Ady gave Davies a shoulder carry. I was just thinking it wouldn’t be too long before they were too big / far too averse to the idea for it to happen anymore when cgf twittered something along similar lines.
Back at the ‘welcomming field’ we had the picnic we’d brought along with paying just £1.50 for massive amounts of organic salad, an organic burger and organic tea, coffee and fruit juice (spot the pattern?) from the hueg woodburning in troughs barbecue they had going on. The children went off to play with the lambs.
There was then a sheep shearing demonstration and talk which was interesting too with loads of great questions asked by the various children who were all there and had organised themselves between them into height order so they could all see ok :).
We then left and spotted signs for another open farm just along the road open for another hour or so. We decided we would have a look and chatted about different dairy produce (it was a dairy farm). It was a very different, more ‘commercial’ set up with stalls selling various things from honey produce (got some lovely lip balm for £1) to chicken runs. We got various posters and booklets about farming and then went to try cheeses and buy some icecream. As the woman infront of me at the icecream stall was chatting and I was eavesdropping I realised it was the dairy farm featured in the ice cream challenge show on The Apprentice. And as they were selling the toffee apple flavour as featured I had to choose that one really :).
We came home and the children played in the garden with the chickens, Ady dozed on the sofa and I cooked dinner (retiring the garden with book and glass of wine for times inbetween checking on it). Ady bathed the children and I served up roast beef.
The children went to bed, I watched the season finale of Lost and Ady had a long bath. It’s been a nice weekend :).
It does indeed sound as if it was a very nice weekend 🙂
I was jealous of the ice cream. You twittered it when I was really hot and bothered and could just have eaten an ice cream, any flavour! Actually it was the other flavour I really wanted to try though, can’t remember what it was now!
Avocado!
You’re having lovely weekends at the moment aren’t you? Sounds like you’re really enjoying them.
The only farm open around here was the one we went to a few weeks ago when they were having a lambing open day, and the children weren’t keen on going back so soon, even to watch sheep shearing and have a go at making scarecrows. Maybe next year. Yours sound really good.