SMILE 2011 & Open Farm Sunday

SMILE (Students Motivate Innovative Learning through Enterprise.) 2011

2011 celebration day was upon us .Clare George  is an IT Lecturer at Bridgend College and has received the ‘Most Enterprising Teacher Award 2009' approached me to help with a planting workshop for the day.

The theme this year was "the plight of the Bumble Bee" and details of the winning song by Dolau Primary will be published shortly it will be available to download from i tunes and we are hoping for a no 1 it is brilliant :-)

We watched the Video Logs and songs which were produced with the students of Bridgend college a great time was had by all by the looks of things.

There were 7 workshops and we were all kept busy in the sunshine at Kenfig Nature reserve. We made recycled newspaper pots in which we put some salad leaf seeds to grow, the pupils were very knowledgable about bees and their importance in life.This was a great opportunity to tell the pupils and teachers about Open Farm Sunday and I gave them the details of the farms in their areas this weekend.

For more details of Farms in your area contact Open Farm Sunday

 Congratulations to Litchard Primary who made the winning Bumble Bee design that was built by the apprentices in the engineering Department of Bridgend college.

This now has a permanent place at Kenfig Nature Reserve and we hope it attracts more bees to the reserve ;-)

Also congratulations to Llanilltyd Fawr Primary that won the video log it was buzzing with entertainment

The Planting workshop was well attended and the schools recieved goodie bags to return to school with seeds for their gardens and learned how to make bee habitats from the other workshops.

 

Also the day would not have been complete without Clare on the Hooter

Don't forget the big day with LEAF on Sunday

 Open Farm Sunday

Discover Life on a British Farm June 12th 2011

Bridgend ESDGC Conference Tondu Primary

Our Welsh Farm had a brilliant day at the ESDGC conference we were one of many stalls promoting this subject at Tondu Primary School.

The Opening speech was made by James Fletcher, a climate change champion in 2008 from Pengam , Caerphilly . He is currently studying a BA in Politics and International Relations at Reading University. An inspirational speaker and we will watch this space for more news..............

a clip below from 2008

This was followed by Steve Lambert who shared some of his experiences of best practice as part of the Sustainable Development Team in BCBC. All this and more was shared with teachers at the end of the conference as a resource DVD.

Thanks to all the teachers who visited "Our Welsh Farm" in the IT suite and if anyone missed us and would like to get in touch please do.

Don't forget to visit Open Farm Sunday to find a farm near you.  Grab your wellies and visit a Farm on June 12th 2011!

February- Sheep in waiting! Open Farm Sunday is coming!!

Our Welsh Farm is getting prepared for lambing lots happening in the next few months. Spring is on its way all sheep have been scanned and results good despite the cruel winter we have had.

We are hosting a french agricultural college group on the 9th of March they want to experience rural Wales. I hope they enjoy must get out the phrase book!!

Lambing will begin at the end of March and we will be lucky to have the expertise of a Bristol Uni Vet student  learning from both sides will be a great experience.

News

I am now Welsh coordinator for Open Farm Sunday an initiative of LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming).

LEAF brings farmers and consumers together to raise

awareness of how farmers are working in harmony with nature to produce good food with environmental care.

After the success of "Care for your Food We Do!" the theme this year is " Discover Life on British Farms" If you wish to find out where you can visit a farm on Open Farm Sunday June 12th 2011 please visit the website Open Farm Sunday .
If you are a farmer and would like to get involved or just thinking about it please attend one of the workshops which are being held across the UK in March/April. Please have a look OFS workshops. Attending a workshop will give you all the hints and tips you need to host a success event and could make up your mind!



Open Farm Sunday

Did you see us in the South Wales Echo and the Farmers Guardian.

Open Farm Sunday 2009 at Lakeside Farm Park
“Care about your food? We Do”

The day before was a washout with floods cutting some local farmers off!! Fortunately the day dawned and the rain stopped with an appearance of the sun which brought in about 350 people during the day.

This year we had “Ask a Young Farmer” and a big thank you to Llantrisant YFC for helping us. They were superb and answered lots of questions and were quite at home with the public. We called it revision for those with their GCSEs this year! Good luck for your exams everyone. Lyn and Rhidian also walked the nature trail with Lyn giving a full explanation of trees and plants on our farm along with their history. Russell is hoping some of the boy’s will be confident to shear next year as some of them have just passed their proficiency with the wool board. The public were very impressed with all of them commenting on their knowledge and manners.

The tractor and trailer rides started and the hourly rate went out of the window we had 7 jam packed trailer rides Russell had people queuing all day.
Everyone saw the display of sheep, watched them being sheared, and lambs weighed and the comparison of birth weight to now. Back at Lakeside they were able to see our wool washed, Michelle gave us a great spinning demonstration and also brought some of her knitted products from our sheep.
We had Cressida from Bridgend RDP and Helen from Glamorgan WFU pan frying our lamb chops and mincing lamb to make burgers we also were giving away cawl this was made from our lamb breast and the Abercerdin School food co op vegetable bag. They used the school’s fruit co op bag to make smoothies and fruit salad.
Thanks to Julie and Geoff Thomas with their interactive Simply the Best Training display and doubling up into other jobs through out the day. Claire from Milestone activities and a member of Glamorgan WFU gave people a Nordic walking taster session through our recently harvested fields, Bridgend Farmers Market had a presence with neighbours Charles and Gill Morgan with Bethesda butter and welsh cheeses many thanks to them

Some of the Comments:
“Very interesting and educational for the whole family”
“Very interesting, Cawl excellent, kids really enjoyed themselves”
“The staff have been brilliant any questions have been no trouble, very friendly & welcome. Very good range of animals and demonstrations from smoothie making to sheep shearing recommend this event!”

A huge thanks to everyone that participated and sponsored the day, we couldn’t have done it without the cooperation of friends, neighbours and family.
Llantrisant YFC
Glamorgan WFU
Simply the Best training: www.simplythebesttc.co.uk
Milestone activities: www.milestoneactivities.co.uk
Michelle: www.woollywumpkins.co.uk
Bridgend Farmers Market
Bridgend RDP

Also thanks to LEAF for the support and resource pack, the seeds seemed the most popular this year. Lots more budding farmers!
Open Farm Sunday 2010 -June 13th

Here we are again 1 year on not knowing what to expect. All of us up at 6.00 a.m. to get all the quizzes printed off and animals into the shed for the display.
New this year “Ask the Farmer” Geoff Thomas (brother in law) from Down to Earth series HTV and Kath Morgan from a neighbouring farm along with Bill Edwards (Grampy) were there to answer any questions in the sheep shed. Russ again did the shearing demo and the quiz had a match the fleece to the breed of Ram which most people got right with a little help from the experts.
We had some stalls from Bridgend farmers market, Glamorgan Women’s Food and farming Union promoting British Cheese with lots of tasters and selling freshly squeezed orange and lemon juice. Our RSPB volunteer John Ramsey was here to give people lots of info and we displayed our map and list of birds from the survey he did last year.
Claire Harris gave some Nordic walking Tasters in the main hall which we were grateful for as the downpour meant the tractor and trailer ride stopped for a few hours and people needed entertaining for.Communities first had a stand showing what regeneration work had been going on in the ward of Blackmill.
The weather held out until 1.30 when the heavens opened and we had a down pour, this made inside very busy and the restaurant was packed with people eating Sunday lunch. The lamb served on the menu was very local!!
The tractor and trailer ride took everyone from Lakeside via the deer pen to the sheep shed where we had a display of sheep & rams, Aberdeen Angus cows our goat kids Millie and Molly with ducks, ducklings, chicks and goslings to be seen. The shearing demo was also there along with our “pen of Farmers.”
Many thanks to everyone who helped and contributed to making this day such a success we couldn’t have done it without you. Please look out for us on the “Down to Earth” programme on ITV Wales between 5.00 & 6.00pm Sundays from 15th June. See you next year!!- June 7th 2009.
Thanks to LEAF and their sponsors for the resources provided and also to our local sponsors FUW, NFU Cymru and Hybu Cig Cymru, Leanne from Garden village post office for the balloon display and John our Chef for the tasters.

Back to normal after Open Farm Sunday!

Hi just recovered from Open Farm Sunday, we ran tractor and trailer trips all day, lots of questions and interested people. Family and neighbours roped in to help out. My son 14 did the tour guide on the trailer and Rose produced her foal 3 days before and was a great attraction. Russell drove his tractor and the end of the trip he and Geoff (brother in law) gave a shearing demo and wound the wool. The visitors pushed for more sheep to be sheared and we wondered how many we would have left for our contracters on Wednesday!! But it was a glorious day and the sheep were very happy after the haircut!

My daughter 11 on the day worked hard giving out the feedback forms and nature quizes, the free pens, pencils, keyrings we had had donated by NPower renewables, NFU, FUW and Hybu Cig Cymru also all the resources we had through LEAF from their sponsers.Thanks to everyone.

Glamorgan WFU were well represented, Lynette made smoothies with locally produced fruit and milk and advertised her "Food for Thought project". My sister Julie Caerlan Farm brought her Simply the Best Training Company stand and the children loved trying on the Chainsaw protective clothes and helmet and she answered lots of questions on farm life , environmental projects they run on their farm and was recruiting for Women Food & Farming Union.

John Ramsey our RSPB man gave up his Sunday to tell everyone about the birds found on our farm and their habitats.

the Bridgend Farmers Market was represented by neighbours Charles & Gill Morgan from Gellifeddgaer Farm and their produce sold out rapidly.

One of our young fishermen pulled out a 5lb 12oz rainbow trout which made his day.

The cafe was busy serving our home grown welsh lamb rolls and some local welsh beef thanks to Jacqueline ( mother), Ada & Clair, they all were worn out at the end of the day and didn't see much of the weather.

The weather was perfect, the day went well back to fishing, children's parties and shearing!