The Expert Day is held annually in the Discover Farming Classroom and is organised by the Discover Farming’s Education Co-ordinator, Katie Vining. The event aims to give children in years 5/6 of primary school a greater understanding of food and farming and the benefits of fresh produce by connecting them with agriculture experts that they cannot easily access within the ‘normal’ school curriculum. Local primary Schools are invited to attend, this year fifty-eight children attended – twenty-six from St Mary’s School Beaminster and thirty-two from Salway Ash Primary School. The pupils were split into four groups and spent time with each ‘Expert’ during the day.
The guest ‘Experts’ were:
Joy Michaud from Seaspring Seeds, West Bexington. Joy described what is involved in growing chillies, talked about the different varieties, the difference between chillies and peppers and how the heat of chillies is measured using Scoville Heat Units (SHU). The children were also given the opportunity to taste different variety.
Sarah Choudhury from the Taj Mahal Restaurant, Bridport. Using vegetables growing in the fields at Washingpool Farm and from the shop as well as chillies from Seaspring Seeds, Sarah and the children made a vegetable curry. The children helped to prepare and chop the vegetables, cook the curry with Sarah and then enjoyed eating it.
Nick Gray, Dorset Wildlife Trust. Nick discussed old and new farming methods and the ways they can benefit biodiversity. He took the pupils pond dipping and talked about the huge array wildlife that the ponds support and the importance it has to the ecosystem and habitat around it.
Francis Buglers, Beaminster The team from Buglers explained the role of the tractor in farming and how it has developed over time enabling better performance, precision, and flexibility . The pupils were introduced to many of the new features, like GPS, which help to make tractors easier to use and more efficient for farmers. They also demonstrated the use of a power harrow, used to improve the soil structure by breaking up, refining, and distributing the soil, in the potato field. The stray potatoes turned up during the demonstration were given to the children to take home!
A few pupils comments on the day:
“I didn’t think I was going to enjoy today because I thought it would be boring. It was so not boring. I loved everything we did – especially the cooking.”
“I didn’t know so much of what I was taught today and had not thought about it either. I liked how so much of what we eat can be grown near to us.”
“My favourite bit was the cooking. I was not looking forward to it because I do not like ‘curry’, but I found out I loved this. I liked the making of it and then I had two helpings of the finished meal because it was so delicious. I think I’ll try more new things.”
Feedback from the day from the teachers:
“It was a very well organised day. The children loved it and learnt a lot. They particularly enjoyed tasting chillies, making and eating vegetable curry, finding out about tractors and being able to take a potato home!” said teacher, Elizabeth Smith, Salway Ash Primary School.
“The experts all engaged with the children in a way that they could understand and even the school adults learnt lots of new things from the day. Watching the children all totally immersed with the learning was glorious” said teacher, Rebecca Kenway, St Mary’s Primary School, Beaminster.
Commenting, Discover Farming, Education Co-ordinator Katie Vining said:
“The feedback received from both the schoolteachers and their students has been extremely complimentary. They all thoroughly enjoyed the day and the variety of activities. A very big thank you to all our ‘experts’ and helpers who gave up their time to help Discover Farming really promote hands on learning about food, farming and the countryside around us.”
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