As you'd expect, the 'community' forms a crucial part of what we do at The Community Farm.
Our latest update gives you a flavour of how we've been helping members of our local community get involved with the farm - from primary school pupils to a firm of lawyers!
Schools visiting The Community Farm
On 26th January we had our first school visit of the year. Years 2 and 4 of Ashton Vale Primary School came along to learn all about what we do at the farm.Ashton Vale Primary arranged the visit as part of the Food For Life school awards scheme they are involved with. The Food For Life programme aims to transform food culture - making healthy, tasty and nutritious meals the norm for all to enjoy, reconnecting people with where food comes from, teaching them how it’s grown and cooked, and understanding the importance of well-sourced ingredients.
The aim of this visit was to introduce the theme of farming as a topic in class. After lunch we worked with the children to sow carrots and salad into small pots. The children then took the plants home to nurture. Hopefully, in about eight weeks, the children will be able to harvest these vegetables.
We’re looking forward welcoming more school groups to the farm as the year progresses. Spring is a great time to visit, as activities at the farm gain pace, the soil warms and the new season’s crops begin to grow.
For a teachers’ pack and more information about school visits, please contact our Community Learning Officer, Darran McLane: or visit http://www.thecommunityfarm.co.uk/learning/schools/
Outreach for schools
Also in January, we started working with Southville Primary School in Bristol, as part of our community outreach programme.Southville Primary, also a Food For Life school, is a recipient of the new Mayor’s Healthy Schools Award set up to celebrate schools that consistently demonstrate high standards in helping pupils understand how to improve their health and wellbeing. Southville Primary is one of only eight schools in Bristol to attain this award.
The school has recently developed a garden area. The Community Farm is helping staff at the school to gain the skills to run a gardening club.
If you would like to find out more about schools outreach or you need help developing your school’s garden, please contact our Community Learning Officer, Darran McLane: or visit http://www.thecommunityfarm.co.uk/learning/schools/
Corporate team building and employee volunteering
The Community Farm’s corporate team building and employee volunteering activities have been given a real boost recently, with a promotional video.The video follows a group of staff from Burgess Salmon as they spent an away day volunteering at The Community Farm, exchanging the confines of their office for fresh air and farm fields. It gives a great introduction to our away days for employees and we hope it will encourage other groups from workplaces around Bath and Bristol to come along and get stuck in!
Gabriel Gilson created the promotional video, one of a number of great photographs and videos he has produced for us. Thank you Gabriel for volunteering your time and talents to this!
The Community Farm has a recently established a Learning Field – an area of the farm that is for use by groups of children, school groups and vulnerable adults. Companies can opt to sponsor a farm visit by one of these groups so they can benefit from our Learning Field.
For more information about corporate team building, employee volunteering or sponsoring another group to visit the farm, please contact our Community Learning Officer, Darran McLane: or visit http://www.thecommunityfarm.co.uk/volunteering/away_days/
