was today so I booked us into the two farms we visited last year again as we’d enjoyed them both. First was Brickpitts Organic farm which is an organic sheep farm with some arable organic farming too. It was nice to see how well they’re doing and that since last year they’ve bought another 25 acres of fields from a retiring neighbour and are adding to their business. I really like their ethics and ideas and it’s so nice to see someone succeeding given the gloom and doom about small businesses and what to many would be considered a luxury product.
They were more organised this year and we managed to have a chat with both husband and wife which was nice. We arrived and were greeted by the wife and spent some time stroking some orphaned lambs before having a chat with a woman from a woodland charity who recommended the field study council for more information – dropping link here to follow up for myself. Then we took the farm trail round some of their land that they’d marked out with regular signs giving information about what you could see.
We all learnt lots about hedges, crop rotation, organic farming and admired their new rainwater harvesting system. Scarlett found a pheasants egg which I correctly identified (Ady is loving his internet phone for checking to see if I’m right about things on the go ;)) and an ear tag from one of the sheep next to a fence. Davies had the best spot though of a baby deer, really tiny and still wobbly of leg lying in the long grass while all the crowds wandered past. The husband (farmer husband, not the deer husband) came along and we chatted to him for a bit about badger holes and mentioned the deer and he said it happens often when the doe gives birth in a field with gates and hedges and the baby can’t get out until it’s big enough to jump over the hedge so it stays in the field, hidden in the grass while it’s mother goes off for food each day and then returns to it again later until it is big enough to leap over the hedge.
We finished the trail and had another look at the orphaned lambs as they were letting the children go into their pen to cuddle them.
Scarlett took the ear tag and the egg to show the wife who was really good at chatting to her for ages about both and took the tag so she’d know which sheep needed a replacement and explained the code on one side was the farms’ number and the code on the other side was the indivdual sheep’s number and she even knew that one by name. When I got an email back to confirm we were going to that farm today she had remembered either my name or email address from last year and knew we were HEors and said they do educational visits etc if I wanted to arrange one. I will email her to thank her for today and see what sort of thing they offer and put it out to see who is interested in visiting. Having seen her in action today I think it could be really good :).
We then did some felting bracelets using merino wool and wet felting in soapy water. I got a bit roped in as the woman running it heard me comparing it to needle felting with Davies and Scarlett and talking about the different ways of felting and how they get the same results so I ended up with a small crowd too :). We’re all now sporting felted bracelets and I might have another go at them with some of my wool.
Finally we watched some sheep shearing before moving onto the next farm which was literally round the corner.
This one, The Old Dairy is much more commercial and ‘Day Trip to the Farm’y, which is still very good but not quite so charming somehow as meeting the real farmers who seriously farm and just open their doors once a year. There was a farm trail round their sheep, pigs, goats, ducks and chickens which we more or less followed. We admired their very pretty bantams and then got something to eat as we were all hungry. Davies and I went for a hog roast in a roll which was actually a bit disappointing as it was very fatty and bitty although it was after 2pm so coming to the end of lunchtime I guess. We ate that watching a woman with a spinning wheel and then Davies and Scarlett made paper sheep on a stall for a local agricultural college while Ady and I tried some cheeses and Ady (who is lovely :)) bought me a halfpint of local cider which was very welcome :). The ice cream seller had run out of icecreams so we went into the tiny farm shop there in search of some and found not only icecreams but also some fertilised bantams eggs for sale of the ones we’d been admiring. At £3 for 6 eggs we thought it was worth a go and have bought some home to put into the incubator tomorrow along with a few of our own eggs too :).
We came home and Ady got dinner on and the children had a very annoying half an hour of being needy when I just wanted to sit down and relax. Eventually they went off to have a bath so I got some peace 🙂 Dinner was lovely and I then read a bit more of the latest Charlie Small book before packing them off to bed so I could have a speedy bath before The Apprentice. It didn’t work and they were both still bobbing about til much later but the intention was there.
Today Davies learnt about silage (what it’s made from, what it’s used for) and that you shouldn’t release balloons off as they can be harmful to wildlife. He also liked one of the facts from the farm that there can be up to 10 million bacteria in one gram of soil.
Scarlett learnt how to identify a pheasant egg and about chimpanzee’s tea parties (after I ranted her over table manners :lol:).
Ady learnt a load of stuff about foxgloves including that they are poisonous to most wildlife, can be used to treat heart problems (I already knew that from Clan of the Cave Bear :lol:) but not why they are called foxgloves.
I learnt quite a bit about hedges and what papyrus is (Oh how I’ll miss Margaret!).
you didn’t follow our foxglove saga at school last year then? Foxgloves growing in strawberry bed right next to main entrance, bad combination meaning I spent an afternoon digging them all out. Not going to forget that in a hurry!