Cranedale 2013 Day 2
Breakfast was at 8.15am and the children were all up and
ready for the “Full Monty” of bacon, sausage, hash browns, beans and egg. For those still hungry, there was also a
selection of cereals, toast, fruit and juice.
The morning was spent in glorious sunshine at Ruth’s
farm. Ruth is a local farmer who has a
mixed farm. Rapeseed, wheat and barley
are grown on the arable land. English
long horned cattle are raised on the other fields at the farm. The children were given a very honest lesson
in cattle rearing. Victoria learned that
cows raised for meat were not named but others were given names according to
the year that they were born. All last year’s
cows had names beginning with R. This
year S. We met Ruby, Rose and Rhubarb in
one field and Sky, Silk and Strawberry in another. Miss V’s favourite was cow number 47329 who
was on his way to Marks and Spencer for their speciality meat market. It was a very informative morning and I’m
sure we have all learned a bit more about where our food comes from now.
Lunch was eaten at the farm.
The sandwiches ordered the day before were swiftly eaten by most
although Tatziana was disappointed to find jam in her donut. Mr Britten was less disappointed and gladly
accepted Tatziana’s jam filled delight.
Let’s hope that someone finds something to dislike about their Hula
Hoops tomorrow.
As part of a government scheme, part of Ruth’s farm is left
fallow to allow the land to recover.
Other parts are used to create environment friendly strips of land that
encourage insects and keep birds from the precious cash crops. The children spent time in these areas
collecting a variety of different invertebrates. Sarah was disgusted by the pooters. They are a method of insect collection that
involves sucking the poor little blighters up through a straw. Another method involved sweeping the ground
with a large net and depositing the insects in a tray to observe and
classify. The favourite method of the
day was worm charming. Using a metal rod
and a variety of different dance moves, the children attempted to encourage the
worms to the surface. Cameron tried “The
Stomp”, Pip tried “Gangnam Style” and Lois had some “Moves like Jagger”. Unfortunately, the worms were not easily
enticed and in the end Jessie P tried to “Kebab” them using the metal rod.
Evening meal was leek soup, pasta bake, salad, garlic bread,
fruit salad, cream, cheese, biscuits and grapes.
After all that, the children played games around the centre
including a photograph hunt, a mini beast shopping list and a running game
which involved performing a variety of actions pretending to be
mini-beasts. Katie’s woodlouse was imaginative,
Anushka’s dragonfly creative and Jessica’s slug was a sight to behold.
Things we found out today:
1.
There is
nothing more content than a bull in a field of twenty heifers.
2.
Worms are not fans of modern music.
3.
Not all cows have names.
4.
Buying Rapeseed oil is a very good way of
supporting British farming.
Tomorrow we are going up onto the North Yorkshire Moors for
the day. Fingers crossed for good
weather as there is little opportunity for shelter.
