Today Year 5 had a brilliant trip out of the class to Gold Hill Organic Farm in Blandford! As part of our Sow, Grow and Farm project, it was an amazing opportunity to see a market farm in action, and what a busy place it is!

To begin with, we were split into 4 groups and rotated around a series of activities experiencing the life and jobs needed on a market farm. We explored the polytunnels to see how vegetables and salads can be grown out of season in a cultured climate. We also got to have a sneaky try of some of the produce! Rocket, spinach and red chard anyone?!

Then we had fun digging carrots and looking for root fly – this is a crop pest which can destroy entire crops of carrots. The children also had a chance to sample some of these delicious, organic, straight form the ground vegetables with a lot of orange mouths heading home!

We also had the chance to see a bug trap set up to capture beetles to stop the destroying the crops, a simple device with a buried jar, vinegar and bananas!

Finally, we had the chance to be a real farmer and do some planting. We planted some green beans and lettuce seedlings! We were even allowed to bring the beans home, so keep an eye out for news of their growth later in the year!

Part of the farm is home to some other businesses and as a treat, we had the chance to see a glass blower in action and watch her make a Christmas bauble of our colour choices.

After a hearty lunch we headed to the woodland which is also part of the farm and took part in a Spring Scavenger hunt looking for catkins, new buds, lichen twigs, mole hills and leaf skeletons. Have a look at what we found below!

School trips are such a valuable way to really see and experience in the real world what we learn in our projects in the class and today was no exception.  We also couldn’t do these trips without help, thank you to Mrs Aitken and Ms. Atkinson for joining us today and taking part in the trip with us.

Well done also to Year 5 who listened and engaged in all the activities with such enthusiasm!

“I really enjoyed trying the salads I haven’t eaten before!”

“Bug hunting and using the magnifying glasses was so fun!”

“It was great to plant the seeds, I can’t wait to see them grow!”