We were fortunate enough to receive a grant from Sustain – the alliance for better food and farming, to take 16 children, aged between 8 and 14, 2 young volunteers and 4 adults, to visit the award winning Sheepdrove Organic Farm in Berkshire.  This event was one of the most rewarding days of my long working life.

As we had an early start we had packed loads of egg and cress sandwiches, cheese straws, oat cookies and lots of fruit for breakfast on the coach (not a crisp or fizzy drink in sight and no grumbles).  Jo, one of the young volunteers, put Shrek 2 on screen immediately after the food was demolished so a very peaceful journey was had by all.

On arrival at the farm we were very warmly greeted by the staff in the beautiful main building and treated to another mid morning feast. We then began our tour of the farm with, Jason Ball and Maxine Parsons, our informative guides.  Whilst waiting for the huge trailer to be checked Jason gave us a brief history of the farm and explained in a simple way, easily understood by our young group, what organic  production means to the food that’s grown and the animals reared on the farm as well as to the environment. He showed hundreds of tiny creatures which he collected by swishing a huge net through tall grasses and explained how these tiny insects were important to our eco system. Some of the children touched the insects and were amazed to see so many collected, as if by magic, in just a few seconds. We stood on a little hill and Jason pointed out the different areas of the vast farm land dotted with carefree animals and their housing which we were about to explore. Much to the coach driver’s relief he was invited by Maxine to join the tour and have lunch with us all.

The tractor tour was a great success. We were all amazed at the beauty of the landscape and the sight of so many different animals. Jason and Maxine explained loads about the various wildlife habitats growing in amongst the fields which the animals fed on for extra nutrients. It wasn’t just grass that they ate. We saw lots of happy pigs, goats, sheep, cows and a couple of bulls near the top of a hill having a head to head scuffle. Onof the children said, ‘they’re playing rugby’.

The children, as well as us adults, were constantly amazed at what we saw and learnt a great deal as we jostled along in the trailer.  In particular it brought home to the children the reality of why we try to use organic, whole natural food in the GFM kitchen as much as possible.

Lunch was another resounding success. We had a special meal of Traditional Chicken Pie, a choice of vegetables including perfect roast potatoes, all from the kitchen garden and home made crusty bread followed by loganberry pie and fresh cream from the cows we had just seen.  This was all served in the beautiful gallery of the restaurant which overlooked the fabulous, colourful herb garden. Because of the caring attention of the Sheepdrove staff the children realised that all this had been specially prepared for them and to our surprise, even the fussy eaters cleared their plates and behaved incredibly well. We had comments as we clinked glasses of water together like, ‘I wish we had our school here’ and ‘Can we come again? I want to stay here forever’. One of the 13 year olds said out loud ‘I’m gonna bring my kids here when I’m older’.

We bought a few organic chickens to cook in our GFM kitchen before we left. Goodbyes took ages. Old McDonald Had A Farm was sang often on the journey home by those who could stay awake.

A few days later we had a big cook-in day using the Sheepdrove organic chickens.  All the children, in relays of 4, helped to prepare a Lemon and Orange Roast Chicken dinner and Apple and Blackberry Crumble for 24 people.
The experience of the farm visit was still very much alive in the minds of all who went on the trip.  We will do our best to visit Sheepdrove in the Spring for lambing.

All children deserve to know where our food comes from and how it is produced and how to cook so that in the future they can make informed, healthy choices for themselves and the world we live in.  More projects should be funded to help enlighten and stimulate our young people to learn more about the environment, food production and what 'Fair Trade' means. It’s not enough to go on about it.  Get them out there on the land to experience the reality. Get them mucking in. That way they will be able to make more sense of all this fuss about what we should and shouldn’t eat.

Evelyn Findlater September 2008