Just before the Easter holidays began, I was asked if I could go along as a “responsible adult” to accompany a class outing from the school where I regularly volunteer as part of my committment to social responsibility.
Not only was this a fun day out on a breezy sping day – who could fail to be cheered up by all those enthusiastic small people running from one new thing to another? – but it also demonstrated another way in which a social responsibility exercise can give all-round benefits.
We set off on a coach from the school, full of 7 to 9 year-olds and their teachers. Our first stop was a local nature reserve where volunteers from the Country Trust met us. Now the Country Trust mainly works with schools from towns and cities. However, a local member had sensibly realised that even in our small, rural community it’s not all that easy for children to have as much direct experience of wildlife and farming as was the case a generation ago. Many of their families have moved out from the towns, farming employs far fewer people, and so many villagers have little or no involvement with, or knowledge of, where their food comes from despite living right next to the fields.
Footprints
So the first task was to make plaster casts of animal footprints. The children were shown how to make the footprints first, using real animal feet (carefully preserved from animals which had died naturally and with wooden handles for the squeamish!). Then they mixed up some lovely, sloppy plaster and poured it in to set. Nothing like a bit of sloppy plaster to get the day off to a cheerfully messy start. While the prints were setting, we set off with the rangers to walk through the reserve and see what we could find. A great idea they had was to provide each child with a small paper bag, and suggest that they look for something hard, something soft and something very new. This meant that they all looked closely at their surroundings and were keen to talk about what they found. “Highlights” of the walk were the discovery of a dead rabbit, a badger footprint and a badger toilet!
Adding to the interest of the day, the reserve is close to the site of the Battle of Bosworth (where Richard III died – “a horse, my kingdom for a horse…”) and there is a splendid banner on top of the (possible) battlefield hill, and markers to show where the different armies are thought to have set up their camps.
After a packed lunch and the fun of supervising 30 children washing their hands, it was back on the coach to hop along the road to a real farm.
Down On The Farm
The farmer had kindly agreed to let the children visit the farm. He had already hosted a number of visits organised by the Country Trust so had a good routine going. Most of the time was spent admiring the cattle, which were still in their winter shelters. He provided a good explanation of the life-cycle of the herd, from birth to sale for meat. As an extra bonus, we were lucky enough to see a new-born calf which had arrived in the night. The farmer showed the children how he has to put tags in the calf’s ears to ensure traceability. Each member of the herd has a unique identity which follows it through its life and even off to those supermarkets which now allow you to trace your food!
The children were fascinated by the whole thing. There was a big chorus of “erghh!” when the ear tags went in but it was obvious that the calf wasn’t bothered by them afterwards. Quite a few of the class knew that their hamburgers came from cattle but clearly some hadn’t thought about it at all.
How Does The Farmer Benefit?
It’s easy to see what the children gained from this experience – plenty of input for science, geography, even social topics. But what about the farmer?
Well, I’m sure that he also enjoyed watching the enthusiasm of the children as I did. But just being reminded of what’s good about the job you do doesn’t justify taking an afternoon out of your work on its own.
The farmer has actually achieved quite a lot. In an industrialised society, most people are very distant from the source of their food. They hear about “the environment” or “the countryside” and they are abstract concepts – the ice cap melting is a long way off and food is something you get from a supermarket, isn’t it? There is a widely-held belief that the countryside is there to look pretty as you drive through it, and during the animal health incidents we’ve suffered in recent years too many people complained about restricted access to the countryside, not understanding the reasons behind it. What this farmer and people like him are doing is to make the country and farming real to the children who visit. They leave understanding that their burger or steak starts off as an animal, cared for by a real person. They understand that the animals need food and bedding, and that the fields that look so pretty are actually part of the process of “making” their food. Next time those children hear about “the farmers” on the news, they will have a mental picture of a real person and remember the sights and sounds of the farm. Farming will have become real.
It’s a good idea to educate your consumers. What a perfect outcome when you can all have a fun time while it’s happening!
You can read more about the benefits of community involvement on my website,
