As the months of hard graft pay off with an abundance of food, the forest garden harvest isn’t just shared with our volunteers enjoying their workday meals but by all the extra visitors we have at this time of year.
Our 30th Anniversary Open Day was packed to the rafters with friends old and new but it was just one example of what we do.
Summer is a time when we really get to celebrate our links with Moulsecoomb Primary and other local community groups.
Year 1 kicked it off, harvesting their garlic they planted six months earlier, going on fruit and veg hunts and enjoying freshly cooked cheesy garlic bread cooked over our outdoor griddle. It was also time to fire up the pizza oven for Year 4 and a goodbye slice or two with Year 6.
We work once a week at Moulsecoomb Primary delivering outdoor education focusing mainly on Year 4. This work got put to the test when 10 of them became teachers for the day, as pupils from across the city visited the school as part of the official launch of Moulsecoomb becoming a South Downs National Park Ambassador school. One of just three schools across the whole National Park. Moulsecoomb was built as a garden estate and thanks to a former visionary head the school grounds have become a stunning place for children to enjoy and learn, and a haven for wildlife.
We also had a couple of after school visits to the garden from Little Green Pig who do fantastic work encouraging pupils to experiment with all kinds of writing, from poems and stories to journalism, script-writing and comic books.
Then finally it was our summer scheme, where nearly 40 children from the school came up for two days exploring the nearby woods, camp building, art, pizza making, pond dipping, archery and scoffing fruit and cucumbers.
Part of our success has been building strong links in an area, where for whatever reason, children often miss out. This commitment to one place means we can build longer term relationships and deep learning rather than some tick box hour or so on the environment.
We know the children and their parents. Some children we worked with all those years ago are now the parents bringing their kids to our holiday schemes, making us feel as pre-historic as the fossils they find in the woods.
