Open Farm Sunday

For the last two years we have been visiting Open Farm Sunday, this time of year farms across the country open their doors to members of the public, to get a taste of what the do, try and encourage people to buy local and so you can see what goes in to farming.

Manor Organic Farm in Long Whatton just outside of Loughborough is as the name suggests, an organic farm, this means that they can't use any chemicals on the land and it is all natural. As we walked through the fields Graham the farmer explained to us about how, instead of using weed killer to control unwanted plants, they have introduced a beetle that eats, dock leaves. They are a big problem within the cow fields and the cows don't eat them. We also got to see a sheep dog herding the sheep into a pen, very fascinating how it works and the different commands.

We got to learn about bees and how they make the hives, breed and make the honey. It was a really interesting talk and we all learnt a lot. We knew bee's were special anyway but the whole cycle of a bee is amazing, getting to see inside a beehive was also pretty special.

There was sheep shearing too, it was amazing to see the fleece come off in one go and then to touch the fleece, you could feel the lanolin in it which makes the water run off when they are out in the rain (I had always wondered why we'd never seen a soggy sheep). It was really fascinating, sad though that the farmers don't get much for the fleeces, about the same as it costs them to shear them. Surely for the cost of proper wool items you'd expect they'd get more!

The children both had a great time, learning about the different areas of farming, getting to know the animals and playing on the old tyres that made up the playground.

It was a really great day, we got to try some of the farms fabulous produce from the BBQ stand and the children both had a go at bread making, lots of fun and they got to eat their creation once it had been cooked.

If you didn't get chance to go on a Open Farm Sunday trip this year then do look out for it next year, it's a really great idea to help members of the public have an understanding of the time and effort that goes into farming.

We prefer to buy our meat from local farm shops, simply because the meat is so much better but we are also supporting a small business and our very important farmers.

Linking up to Country Kids on Coombe Mill and Magic Moments on The Olivers Madhouse.