West Town Farm - Farm News

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Meat Box Scheme

We have tried for the past two years to run an occasional farm shop with "fresh meat weeks" once a month. Support has been fantastic considering the time and effort that had to made by the customer. Getting to the farm at a certain time once a month can be difficult for even our greatest supporters. However this system cannot continue as being a small farm we need to look at ways to be efficient and guarantee our produce is sold. It is very difficult to spend you time raising animals to the best standards and for them to not be valued in our food system. I dread to think of the waste that supermarkets have. Our meat box is the perfect solution for us to keep providing local food for local people. As you will see the farm has a strong educational element and it is important that when we are taking people around the farm they see the whole story from farm to plate. Please see our meat box page for more information.

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Education Visits 2010

So far this year we have had over 40 free educational visits from schools and local community groups. An impressive total of over 600 visitors to the farm and the height of summer is still to come. Natural England help to fund these free visit which make it possible for schools and groups to visit the farm and learning about farming, food and the countryside. Education visits do bring a real sense of satisfaction to our days here as for some children being here is a total new experience for them. They may have visited petting farms but never a working farm producing food. OrganicARTS as always help assist these visits and provide an extra element of arts and experiential learning.

Some comments from this years visits:
‘Children were very enthusiastic and a new experience for many’ Newtown Primary
‘A really valuable and interesting visit. Discussions were engaging and interesting.’ West Exe Technology College
‘The children have already asked if they can come again.’ Ide Pre School
‘Would definitely do this again – excellent tour, very interactive, we loved it!’ Exeter Fostering Team
‘Great trip with lovely activities organised just at the right level for the children’s interests’ St Matthews Preschool

Over the last month children have been busy planting pumpkins helping our wwoofers, Silvio and Sara, who have also been busy getting the pumpkins out to the field.

Silvio Sara

Our two P's

Phillip our new stockman has been busy sorting out our organic pig system. He is very keen for the herd to grow and will be working over the next few months on a breeding programme that will produce quality pork for our meat boxes. It is also essential that our pigs are friendly as people like to get very close to them. Here he is with Jerry who we hope will have produced a litter of piglets by October.

Phillip with the pigs

Obama and Simon

Obama and Simon have been at the farm for sometime now and they are a great asset by providing help with day to day activities and inspiring the farm with the possibilities of disabled access. Simon is a master welder and is constantly creating contraptions for Obama to use for Exeter Community Supported Agriculture and wheelchair access and of course Obama’s presence is always welcomed with enthusiasm by the school children. This is the new piece of machinery to help weed the pumpkins.

Obama

West Town Farm