FOOD AND FARMING DAYS: WHEN CHILDREN RECONNECT WITH THE FOOD THEY EAT
After a two year wait, we have been absolutely delighted to be able to invite schools back to our Ewerby Thorpe Farm for our Food and Farming Days. This is where children roll up their sleeves and get stuck in to some really great activities that get them genuinely excited about where their food comes from, how’s it grown and see their school meals being prepared.
The children love the tour of our busy working kitchen and seeing where all their school meals are made – the big pots of steaming sauces and pasta, the huge utensils we have to use and all the fresh vegetables that have to be chopped every day. It definitely lights a spark in them and hopefully makes them just that little bit more excited about the food they eat at school too.
As we deliver our school meals to the schools, it’s important to us that the children come and meet the team who work so hard preparing and cooking their food fresh every day and to see just how much work goes into each and every dish.
All the fun of the farm
On our Food and Farming Days we also look to encourage children to reconnect with where their food comes from. We want them to get excited about fresh, in season food that is locally grown on Lincolnshire farms. We take them round our farm and show them just how everything works, how the crops grow and of course all the big pieces of farming equipment we need to keep the farm running.
The joy of home-grown and home-cooked food
We believe that every child should have the opportunity to see how food grows, to grow your own food and cook your own food, but we also understand that this is not always possible at home. A day on with us, gives every child the chance to experience these things on a working farm and in a fun and inspiring way.
We plant seeds in pots they decorate themselves, which they then take home to watch grow – we hope then that they will try the tomatoes or beans they grow! We head into the kitchen, don aprons and get covered in flour as we all learn to make and decorate bread together which is then baked ready for the children to take home and share with their family.
We want to help them understand how to make good food choices now and for years to come. Food choices that will help keep them healthy and our planet healthy too.
