The weather was kind for our Spring school visits this year, and we’ve hosted a range of visitors, from students training to be chefs at college to early years children venturing outdoors to explore their natural world.
During our visits for Penair and Truro College, students were hands-on, using herbs from the salad garden to make seasonal salsa verde and cooking flatbreads on the firepit. They made Mergez sausages in our butchery and learned much from Jack about how our farm-to-fork ethos works and how varied meat products like sausages can be. Both teachers and students enjoyed these sessions and shared how much they had learned about how important it is to know where our food comes from and how it is raised!
As always whatever the time of year there are jobs to do and our visit with Newlyn East school’s year 6 class harnessed their energy to plant hedgerow trees for our new Mowhay Field Garden. This group along with Shortlanesend School also had visits that timed perfectly to see and stroke the new lambs in Spindle barn as well as feed our friendly new arrivals the Tamworth pigs who were enjoying rootling up an area of field ready for our new asparagus beds.
The pigs and lambs were enjoyed by all our other schools too, Penryn College, Bosvigo, Goonhavern and Polruan. Each school’s visit offering slightly different activities depending on their learning priorities.
Penryn’s students enjoyed their honey cakes made with Nancarrow honey and experimented with their own honey and ricotta combinations decorating their creations with edible flowers from the greenhouse. Goonhavern’s plant topic led to an activity exploring seed germination with peas and children taking their own pea plant home to grow. Lifecycles and baby animals are perfect topics for the farm in spring and children from Bosvigo and Polruan enjoyed learning about nesting birds and creating their own nest made of clay and natural materials to take home.
With lunches by the pond and even a picnic in the orchard it was a season of visits to remember and we are very much looking forward to our summer visits and the positive energy children bring each time they come.
