The first family event took place at CoFarm Cambridge last week in which local children - with their cousins, parents and grandparents - learnt about nature-friendly farming, planted vegetables and cooked around a campfire.
The Family Fun Day on Thursday 3 June was organised by Abbey People in collaboration with CoFarm Cambridge, and saw 42 children and 29 adults over two sessions get stuck-in with co-farming tasks such as weeding, watering, sowing and planting. Despite the farm’s gardeners, Dominic Walsh and Peter Wrapson, planning tasks with children in mind, the work achieved on the day was equivalent to a typical adult co-farming session – with the families making a really positive contribution to the farm during the busiest season of the year.
As well as gardening, families enjoyed lots of fun activities which Abbey People had planned. Everybody gathered round a campfire in the farm’s new orchard to cook tasty, sweet flatbreads – with those made by the kids having a jam/syrup to dough ratio of at least 2:1!
Cambridge City Council had their Community Engagement Team there throughout the day with a stand and wildlife-themed craft activities, such as decorating cotton bags with nature pictures.
Families also heard about how the farm – which does not use chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers – works with nature to produce great food. Dominic and Peter explained how cover crops are used to enrich the soil and attract beneficial insects; how the tadpoles growing in the ponds will soon grow into frogs patrolling the farm looking for slugs and snails to eat before they get a chance to eat the crops; and how other insects, birds and small mammals that eat pests are encouraged to the farm through building bug houses and planting wildflower meadows, hedgerows and a heritage orchard.
Several parents said their children would have been cooped up indoors in front of a screen on a typical half term Thursday. Instead, they were busy spotting wildlife in and around the farm and on the guided nature walk along Coldham’s Brook, a rare and important chalk stream beside the farm. The children learnt about the different types of insects and animals that live there – and the new habitats and nature corridors created for them at CoFarm.
Others commented on how peaceful and tranquil the farm is – saying it feels like a lovely place to be. And, as the four acres of wildflower meadows, orchard trees and vegetable plants grow, the farm will continue to become more beautiful for families and local residents to enjoy and immerse themselves in nature.
Gavin Shelton, CoFarm Foundation’s founder and CEO, said: “It was just wonderful to be able to welcome and involve local families in co-farming. The children planted potatoes and sowed lots of different vegetable seeds and we hope that they will come back and enjoy harvesting and eating them later in the season.
"It was also fantastic to deepen our collaboration with local charity Abbey People, who recruited all of the families and did a great job of organising the day. We're so delighted that everyone enjoyed themselves so much. We clearly have some very promising young co-farmers in Abbey who will keep their very own farm going well into the future!"
Nicky Shepard, CEO of Abbey People, added: “We’ve been working closely with the team at CoFarm Cambridge through our Food Hub for the last year and we’ve been itching to get going with community events. The team and I are really pleased to have co-created such a successful first event.
“We had great feedback from the families who came, they all really enjoyed themselves and some even made new friends. We will definitely be looking for opportunities to partner on events like this again in the future, so watch this space!”
The event was made possible with funding from Cambridgeshire Skills via the Adult Education Budget Community Learning Grant from Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA).
