Food for Thought on Farm Visit 🥕

Pupils and teachers from Weeke Primary School in Winchester left us with plenty of food for thought after a return visit to our working smallholding.

The school’s eco-team – with two representatives from each year group – came along to see how we grow our fruit and vegetables here at Boaz, at Hill Farm in Sutton Scotney.

During their morning with us, they collected freshly laid eggs from our free-range flock and met our resident donkeys and sheep.

Our head of horticulture, Andy Brooks, showed the youngsters around our large allotment garden, with its raised beds and polytunnels full of fruit and vegetables, alongside colourful flowers to attract bees and other pollinators.

The children also discovered how our members are helping to protect one of Britain’s most endangered species – the hazel dormouse – by making nesting boxes in our woodwork sessions. These bespoke boxes were commissioned by Stockbridge-based Wild Earth Ecology, and we can make more to order.

Teacher Jennifer O’Shea said: “It’s been great to return to Boaz with a different set of eco-representatives this year. The people who work at Boaz are wonderful for showing us around, explaining what they do and how things work. The children were totally engaged and asked some great questions. We are going back to the school to think about what we currently grow and to make plans for more raised beds for planting.”

One year three pupil added: “Our trip to Boaz was brilliant. We got to collect eggs from the chickens. I loved meeting the donkeys, Dave and Dominic. Boaz makes great use of what they grow – they make cards from the wool, jam from the berries and sell the eggs they collect.”

Days like these are some of our favourites – sharing what we do with curious young visitors and seeing the farm through their eyes. We can’t wait to welcome them back!