Category Archives: Outdoor Work

A bit of peas and quiet

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By Katie McBride, Teacher of Biology

Growing season is well underway in the ODW vegetable patch. Maintaining or improving biodiversity is always at the forefront of our minds whenever we change or impact the land. With the veg patch, we try to incorporate companion planting to maximise our yield and help reduce pests naturally. Planting carrots next to our onions helps to work symbiotically to reduce carrot flies and onion flies on the respective crops, for example. Equally, we try to grow all our crops chemical free, so all our manure is provided by our own livestock and vulnerable shoots are protected with snug woollen wraps to deter slugs and snails. 

When selecting potential plants, we try not only to think of what will be good to use in the Bakehouse, but also to incorporate plants which serve a purpose in nature. Leaving beds of nettles and dandelions not only provide us with edible plants, but are also vital early food sources for bees and habitats for butterfly and moth larvae. Similarly, our circle of sunflowers will provide a beautiful vista of glorious colour and then fade back to an important natural bird feeder throughout the Autumn, and green manure can be turned back into the beds that have been rested.

We are ever mindful of the multitude of organisms we share our land with, and aim to provide suitable habitats for everything from fungi to tawny owls. Hence in the veg beds you might find the occasional decaying log alongside a line of beetroots, providing a great mix of fungi and habitats for the beautiful stag beetles, and our greenhouse has a resident slow worm who helps to keep the snail population in check!

Staying pesticide free allows us to ensure that nature thrives where it can, and we do not pass issues on up the food chains within our ecosystem. It is not without its battles and frustrations of losing crops at times. Knowing that residing in our garden are the leopard slugs that help break down decaying matter, hedgehogs on snail patrol and robins waiting for us to uncover any centipedes makes it all feel much more of a team effort, and allows us to see the funny side when the shameless blackbirds pluck out our freshly planted shallots and proceed to play their own game of volleyball with them!

We still need to hold our breath when watering the tomatoes with a large scoop of comfrey tea, but the rewards will be reaped with a hopefully bumper crop later in the year. We hope that on Parents’ Day you might take a moment to wander through the veg garden, or pop into the ODW Farm Shop to sample and buy some of our produce. Whether you have a hugely productive market garden or simply a basil plant on the kitchen windowsill, we hope you get as much enjoyment from your moments of gardening as we do.

Volunteering as a Parish Councillor

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By Andrew Martin, Head of Outdoor Work

I don’t really know a lot about politics and I have never expressed an interest in it, but last summer I was delighted to be elected onto Steep Parish Council. It’s not the start of a new career – or a midlife crisis – but a way of getting to know the community I have lived in for eight years, and trying to help it in some small way.

Most people have heard about the famous ‘Jackie Weaver’ moment during a lockdown council meeting (if you haven’t, YouTube it). We haven’t had anything quite so dramatic, but sometimes it’s not far off! What I have seen though has been really humbling. I’m in awe of the time and effort that my fellow councillors put into their roles. It is a voluntary role and we officially meet once a month, but it is all the work that goes on between meetings that I’m not sure many people are aware of. I’m limited in what I can do, and volunteer for only one area, which is encouraging the young people in the community to be seen, and to take an active role in it.

On Tuesday 8 March I spent the morning with five students from Bedales, pressure washing the play equipment on the common. They had a great time removing the dirt that had built up over the years and the equipment is now ready for a coat of wood preserver, which we hope to do in the Summer Term. Pressure washing the swing set is next on our to-do list.

On Thursday 24 March we were back on the common for the morning with four different groups of students. With the help of my colleagues Stu Barilli and Katie McBride, we planted 34 trees complete with tree guards and supporting stakes. This was funded with a grant from East Hampshire District Council, with the aim of replanting the area which has suffered from ash dieback.

Our students got a great deal from it; they connected with something outside Bedales, they contributed something to their community, and learnt a bit about tree planting along the way.

Outdoor Work hosts Small Shepherds’ Club

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By Kirsten Houser, Assistant Farm Manager

In the wake of Storm Eunice, we were very happy and surprised to welcome over 30 visitors, head-to-toe in waterproofs, to visit our lambing shed on a grey and rainy Saturday afternoon. ‘Preparation for Lambing’ is an annual event run by the Small Shepherds’ Club, a fantastic organisation providing practical help and advice for small scale sheep keepers in the southern counties. Each year a different shepherd hosts the members, some new to lambing and others with years of experience under their belts, and this year Bedales was asked. The aim of the event is to demonstrate our system for managing the lambing shed, equipment we have on standby, essential bits and bobs to make lambing life easier and lessons learnt from our years of birthing baby sheep!

The joy of an event like this is that knowledge is shared so generously between members, and it provided a great opportunity to reflect on how we lamb here at school, and also gave us a gentle nudge to get everything tidied up and organised ready for the first of our 20 ewes to give birth after half term. Outdoor Work students did a fantastic job clearing out the Black Barn and making up pens in the maternity suite, and we received many compliments on the farm and surrounding school estate – even in it’s post-storm raincloud.

We discussed lambing bag essentials (prolapse spoon anyone?!) and the importance of colostrum in the first few hours of a lamb’s life, heat lamps, ewe nutrition and the many many uses of baler twine. We showed off our ‘lambing board’ – a dizzying chart of numbers and notes on an old whiteboard – not high tech but indispensable for keeping note of progress with lambing, any sheep who have needed assistance or medication and anything else to keep an eye on. The afternoon was topped off with cake and tea in the Outdoor Work barnyard, and a display of student work, knitted and woven items from the flock’s wool, and a tour of the spinning room. 

Over the next couple of weeks Andrew and I, along with our students, will take turns to watch over the flock at night, during the day and at dawn, and we take great pride in sharing what we do with visitors inside and outside of the school community. Lambing is easily the most exciting time of year for us on the Bedales farm, and though it is undeniably stressful and tiring, it never fails to be magical as well. Look out for an article in next week’s Saturday Bulletin from our BAC students, with news of all the new arrivals, including baby goats and surprise quadruplet lambs!

Forging ahead with Outdoor Work projects

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By Jo Cole, Outdoor Work technician

On a chilly Saturday in January I stepped out of my normal role of laying fires, checking tools, stocks and equipment in the forge and joined some of our Block 5 and Sixth Form students for a day with our visiting blacksmith, Lucille Scott from Little Duck Forge. 

The students aim was to work on their projects; mine was to learn a few basic techniques and make some latches for the barn doors.

There are no thermometers, gauges or apps indicating the temperature of the forges. Instead you have to learn to watch the colour of the coals and read the heat to judge the ‘just right’ moment to remove the work. Remove it too soon and you tire yourself out trying to hammer steel that is cold and won’t give. But leave it too long and you risk burning away the steel – and your efforts so far – entirely.   

I didn’t take me long to realise that it is pretty hard work! Once hot, the steel is only malleable for a very short time. I needed to plan ahead to ensure I had the right tools immediately to hand and to rapidly speed up my decision making.

As I worked away trying to encourage the steel to yield to my will, I was inspired by the students around me. In the few months they have been learning they have absorbed a deeper understanding of blacksmithing than perhaps they realise, both through Lucille’s teaching and their own experiences. 

They moved with ease round the forge, choosing the correct tools for the work in hand. They worked swiftly and adeptly, asking advice only where needed. The complexity of the shapes they were tackling was impressive.

Projects underway included an outdoor cooking tripod, a cutlery set and jewellery. They also include legacy panels inspired by the Bedales estate, which will be galvanised and possibility even gilded in places, before being set into the new timber-framed archway by the study in Outdoor Work. 

Spurred on by the students’ work, I ploughed on. Sometimes with ease, but frequently not! By the end of the day I was definitely quicker and the correct technique was starting to click.

Many thanks to Lucille, Beau, Lila, Lucy and Rosie for sharing their day with me.   

Only 43 sleeps to go…!

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By Andrew Martin, Head of Outdoor Work

Last week we had another memorable evening in the Bakehouse, making our famous Christmas puddings with our 6.1 Living with the Land students and their guests. It’s always a shock to hear Christmas music so early in the year, but the big day is only 43 days away!

There was stirring, singing, chatting, zesting and lots of Christmas cheer as we spent the evening making 115 puddings, kindly steamed the next day by the wonderful Matt Potts and his catering team.

Pardon the pun, but these puddings usually sell like hot cakes, so if you’d like to get one, make your way over to our farm shop beside the Bakehouse as soon as possible where they’re ready and ribboned up for Christmas.

As I’m sure most of you are aware, Outdoor Work is run as a cottage industry as well as a department within the school. This unique position allows us to offer you a selection of homemade goods, most of which have been made by students, whenever possible using produce grown here.

This year, you’ll find preserves and honey, as well as sheepskins from our own Jacob flock, each one boasting its own unique, distinctive pattern. We also have a new range of shawls, scarves and blankets from our Jacob fleece, all woven for us at Melin Teifi in Wales. These make brilliant Christmas gifts; allowing the recipient to take a bit of Bedales with them, wherever they go.

All profits are ploughed back into Outdoor Work, so please take a good look; staff, students and animals greatly appreciate your support. A very merry, very premature Christmas from all of us in Outdoor Work!

Standing for Steep Parish Council

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By Andrew Martin, Head of Outdoor Work

Bedales has a long and proud association with Steep Parish Council. Over the years many members of our Bedalian community have been elected councillors and this year I am currently in the running to join them…

For the last seven years I’ve lived on the Bedales estate where I manage the school farm and teach Outdoor Work. Steep is where I live and work and where my children go to school.

One of the key things I teach our students is how to live and work together. Whilst we devote much time to environmental aspects such as animal husbandry, farm-to-fork education, planting hedgerows, growing, land management and traditional craftsmanship, we also look at the social aspects too. These include how to live respectfully and happily in a close-knit community.

It has been a difficult few years for our village. Not just because of the pandemic, but also because of deep rifts over the Church Road land and the proposed development which has divided this wonderful Steep community of ours, which Bedales is very much part of.

Sitting on my couch getting cross with a Brazilian president about the Amazon rain forest is easy. Taking the time to meet with the parish council in a public consultation about the future of a patch of land requires some degree of effort. However if we encourage our students to ask questions, challenge ideas, to consider alternative views, listen to others and develop their own thinking. Then certainly I need to live what I preach…

I think I could contribute to an effective, sustainable solution, however there is a lot more to our community than this one, polarising issue.

For example, what could we do for our amazing Steep School? What could we do about traffic calming and making the roads safer? Access to green spaces? Strengthening the relationship between the schools, nurseries, and local residents? How could we build relationships between the young and the old?

I would like to help bring the community together, which is why I’m asking people to vote for me in the forthcoming Steep Parish elections.

I have a deep commitment to this community and a strong desire to see it come back together. I would love to be given the chance to make a difference in it. I believe I could put this experience to great use on the parish council.

Only a small number of you may be eligible to vote in these elections, however every little helps. Vote for me on July 15!

Outdoor Work Summer update

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By Andrew Martin, Head of Outdoor Work

It’s only been two months since my last update on the farm, yet it seems a small lifetime ago as so much has happened. We finished our first wave of lambing just in time for the Easter holidays, which produced a healthy flock of 22 new lambs. As the majority of these lambs are Jacob ewes crossed with a Southdown ram, they should reach a finished weight this autumn and will be ready for sale then.

We are currently mid-way through our second wave of lambing with our Jacob sheep, which has also produced 22 lambs (and counting). These are currently in Butts field, on the right as you drive into school. Our pure Jacob flock differs greatly from the earlier flock as they are much slower growers. They have a unique fleece and are a beautiful breed to work with.

Each year during lambing we hope to find the next star ewe lamb who has all the desired traits that make up the strict characteristics of a pure Jacob. All those who don’t quite make the cut and all the males are kept for about 14-18 months before they reach their desired size and weight. Teaching our students about where meat comes from and how long it takes to produce it is integral to discussions about food, the choices we make, and the impact those choices have on our environment.

Our beautiful Dexter herd arrived in March and has been a great hit with the students. One of the primary reasons for getting them was to build on the therapeutic side of animal husbandry. The cows have gone from being a little wary at the start, to being friendly and interested in us. They are all happy on a halter (most days!) and walk really well with their student handlers. We have the cows grazing alongside our ewes and lambs which makes a beautiful sight.

On 11 April, Favour, our pregnant Dexter cow had to have an emergency caesarean. Her calf was presenting in such a way that she could not deliver it herself. It is at least 25 years since I’ve seen the procedure carried out and it was as dramatic and impressive to witness as I first remember. Unfortunately, despite the amazing skills of the vet, the calf was stillborn. Favour was heroic throughout and is making a speedy recovery.

For years now we have been slowly developing the large field opposite the Dunhurst entrance (part of which was a football pitch). Over the Easter break we made the biggest change yet and thanks to a local contractor we split the field into four smaller fields averaging 3.2 acres each. Between each field we have left a corridor for hedging and trees to be planted.

There is enough space for around 1700 hedge plants and 30 trees, six of which we have already planted. This area alone will create much needed habitat for dwindling wildlife. One of the new fields is naturally wet and has the potential to be developed into a habitat that will support many more plant and animal species. (I can see a whole school effort on the cards!!)

Elsewhere on the farm, we have now sold 15 of the 18 piglets born earlier in spring. The pigs go to local families and village pig syndicates who rear them over a six-eight month period. We have also over seeded a small field with a herbal ley for the first time, this is to create a more diverse environment within our field and to provide more mineral and trace elements to the pasture as well as medicinal qualities for our livestock. As the soil warms up and the trees and hedgerows fill out we are looking forward to the beauty that the land provides on our very own farm.

April has proved to be a very challenging month. There has been a record number of frosty mornings and no rain to kick start the grass growth we so desperately depend on at this time of year. It’s not often you hear farmers praying for rain, but if you listen really carefully this year you just might!

We are still on the look out for a pony or donkey. If you hear of any safe, reliable animals (preferably one that can pull a cart, although not essential), please do let us know. 

For the latest updates from Outdoor Work, make sure you’re following us on Instagram and Twitter.

Reflections – height of spring, coming of summer

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By Feline Charpentier, 6.2 Houseparent and Teacher of Outdoor Work

Beltane is the third of the eight festivals our Celtic ancestors marked the year with. They divided the year into the two solstices, at the beginning and half way points of the year, and the two equinoxes. The four cross-quarters, the fire festivals, marked the changing energies between those times. It enabled them to tune into the land around them, to mark the turning of the wheel, and to feel the flow of energy from the earth a little more acutely. This helped them mark the passage of time, to plan ahead and reflect, consciously observing the shifting of energies around and within them.

Beltane celebrates the height of spring, and the coming of summer. It is the spring cross quarter, and the fire festival that marks the earth’s building energy. It was a time when people would celebrate the fertility of the land, and marked the beginning of the ‘merry month’, when people would wear green to honour the earth’s new colour, and nature in all its glory. The morning after the Beltane fire would be May Day, or Calan Mai in Wales, and villagers would gather to dance around the may pole, symbolising the union of male and female energies.

This time is a celebration of fertility in all its forms, and it would have been a time for weddings and couples to be celebrated. Our ancestors saw this as the time when the oak king fell in love with the May queen. She would be depicted as a pregnant bride, a mythological manifestation of earth’s potent fertility.

Beltane literally means ‘bright fire’, and the night would be marked with flame. Bel is one of the most ancient of the Celtic gods, associated with fire and flame, and the power of the sun to fuel all life on earth. All the fires in the village would be extinguished, and one big bonfire, the Tein-Eigin, the ‘need fire’, would be lit, often in the fields around the village. These flames were seen as sacred, and people would revere them, using the flames to relight their own hearth the next day.

This is one of the examples of ancient superstitions having its roots in solid science: villagers would drive their livestock through the cooling embers, to ward off ‘evil spirits’. Effectively what this also did was kill off potential microbes in the hooves of the cattle and sheep which would have accumulated over the winter.

Beltane sits at the opposite point of the wheel of the year to Samhain, and is therefore a time when the world is at a significant turning point. The earth’s energy is at its most potent, and we can see this all around us. The trees are covered in the green fuzz of new leaves, the flowers in the hedgerows and meadows are in full bloom. Buttercups, bluebells, wood anemones, self heal, tiny purple violets and wild strawberries are everywhere. The sound of birds and nests full of chicks in trees and rooves, and lambs bouncing in the fields accompanies walks around our beautiful school, which really comes into its own at this time of year.

On Living with the Land, our Sixth Form course in Outdoor Work, we are investing in the year ahead, and reaping the rewards of tuning into the landscape around us. We are busy planting out vegetable seedlings in the garden, as well as foraging in the fields, hedgerows and woods. We have been learning about all the different ways living with the land at this time of year can bring significant health benefits, using herbs and wild foods to boost our diet, appreciating the feel of the sun on our skin after months of grey and cold. It is no wonder our ancestors regarded this time of year as sacred and charged with potent life force.

This Beltane is an opportunity for us all to light a flame, whether a huge bonfire or small candle, and to feel reverence for all life. The flames can be symbolic of burning away all that we need to let go of, and fuelling our energies for what lies ahead. Why not think about what you wish for, and of what you must let go of for that to happen. Write it down and commit it to the flames. Make a crown of green leaves, stay out late or wake up early, watch the sun rise and make plans for the summer ahead. Tune in to the earth’s energies, try to live in harmony with it. Experience how truly privileged we are to be inhabitants and stewards of this incredible planet.

Butser Ancient Farm usually hold one of the best Beltane fire festivals in the UK and are hosting an online version this year. Find out more here.

Here comes the Spring

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By Feline Charpentier, 6.2 Houseparent and Teacher of Outdoor Work

Ostara, or the spring equinox, falls this Saturday, and marks the first point of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. It marks the moment when the sun crosses the equator line, and heads north. It is also known as the vernal equinox, ver in latin meaning spring – think verdant, youthful, fresh. Day and night are of equal length, and from then on our days begin to lengthen. All around us nature is coming alive, and there are signs of this life everywhere we look, from the lambs in the fields to the buds on the trees. The daffodils on Emma’s walk are just beginning to show off their glorious egg yolk yellow. The sound of birdsong is hard to miss everywhere in school!

Ostara, from the Germanic goddess Oestre, and the root of the word Oestrogen, the hormone which stimulates ovulation, was how our ancestors marked the spring, and saw the end of winter. It is a time of perfect balance, of finding harmony, between the dark and the light, the inner and outer, between intuition and the rational.

It is a time where embracing male and female energies, regardless of gender, can be full of potential, and give life to new ideas and ways of seeing the world. It is often in the state of harmony, and balance, that true change can occur. It is a time when all those gentle hopes we had at Imbolc might be beginning to come to fruition. When we can truly look forward, not back.

Two of the symbols we still mark this time of year with, the hare and the egg, have their origins at least in part in the ancient festival of Ostara. The goddess Oestre was often depicted as having the head of a hare, a symbol of immortality and rebirth. There are many versions of the story where she changed a bird into a hare to have as her companion. Eggs were thus given and received as gifts, as potent symbols of life and the fertility of the earth. The yolk and the white representing the perfect harmony of life.

Ostara is a wonderful time to literally, and figuratively, plant seeds for the year ahead. Having more time in the day to do all those jobs we wait all winter to begin is so energising, and there is a spring in the step of those you meet on walks. On our sixth form course we have been planning our planting for the year ahead, choosing seeds and imagining the bounty in the autumn.

Spring clean your space, ridding it of the cloak of winter, and face the summer ahead with fresh eyes. Bring buds into your home to see life burst forth, paint eggs, spend the day outdoors enjoying the longer daylight and fresh air. Why not revisit the intentions made at Imbolc, and step forth boldly into the light. Now is the time we may see them bloom. Celebrate the different aspects of your being, the balance that exists, noticing how we all live harmoniously with one another most of the time, even through crisis and hardship. There is so much to look forward to.

Jacob sheep wool blankets available to buy

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By Marcella Craven, ODW Tutor Technician

Many of you may have seen the beautiful blankets and shawls sold in the Outdoor Work shop here at Bedales. We currently have large blankets (202cm x 149cm, £200) and medium blankets (142cm x 149cm, £120), as well as two wraps/shawls (£70) and balls of Jacob yarn, double knitting weight, in cream, dark brown and oatmeal (£4 per 50g ball) available to buy. To put in an order, please email outdoorwork@bedales.org.uk.

We thought you might like to know a little more about the work and process that goes into producing these unique items. The blankets and shawls are made from Jacob sheep wool, produced from our rare breed flock which numbers approximately 48 breeding ewes and lambs. Jacob sheep fleece is brilliant for weaving purposes as they produce different colours of wool which allow a natural coloured end product which has not been dyed in anyway.  The staple length of the wool is also excellent which makes it really popular among spinners.

Every year we hire a professional shearer to shear our flock. Shearing day usually takes place in June and is always popular with our students and our sheep, who enjoy getting a haircut once the weather warms up! It takes us around two years before we have enough wool fibre to make it worthwhile sending it to be processed into yarn.

Once shorn from the sheep, the fleeces are rolled and stored ready for our students to help sort the fleeces. They take away any old, matted or ruined wool from the fleece and separate the fleece into colours, white, brown and mixed colour wool. It’s a great way to learn about the qualities of raw wool, it’s many uses and feel the lanolin on their hands. This year we collected 132kg of white wool, 81kg of brown wool and 33kg of mixed colour wool (once spun this will be grey).

The wool is then rammed into large fibre sacks, which are sent to The Natural Fibre Company based in Cornwall.  They scour (wash) the wool and set up their spinning machines so that once spun and oiled the returned product is only the unique wool we have sent to them.

The mill make three products for us, spun yarn to knit with, washed and carded fibre to spin with at school and spun yarn to weave with. Once spun and on a cone, the weaving wool is sent off again.  This time it travels to Wales to the Melin Teifi Wool Mill in Dyfed, Ceredigion.  Here it is handwoven into the blankets, wraps and scarves which you would recognise from the ODW shop.

The effort, care, process and craftsmanship that goes into making these products ensures that the end result is totally air mile free, British made, and 100% Bedalian.

To celebrate lambing season and to mark the end of term, we are offering you the chance to WIN a medium blanket worth £120! Find out how to enter on Bedales’ Instagram page here.