'Rufus and Sarah's Farm Walk' - Alison Brown

Alison Brown will be familiar to many from her sessions at the GA Conference and also the GTE Conference where she has shared her research. She was teaching in Suffolk when I first met her.

Alison grew up on a farm, and completed a PhD related to her agricultural background. 

She now lives on a farm in the North Wessex Downs National Landscape and has been involved in supporting young people knowing more about farming and where their food comes from, and the importance of nature friendly farming.

She has now published a book which captures some of her thinking around farming and sustainability for a young audience.

It has been illustrated by Helen Scholes, who has been sharing some illustrations on her Instagram account ahead of publication.

The book is designed for KS2 children to teach them about sustainable farming practices, and involves a walk around a working farm.

It has a map of the farm on the inside of the covers which folds out so that you can follow the route - I always appreciate this in books - and meets some of the KS1&2 geography and science curriculum guidelines.

Downland Farming is based on a family farm of 178 acres (72 hectares). It has been farmed by the family for over 100 years.

It is located on the Berkshire Downs. This rolling chalk downland landscape is part of the North Wessex Downs National Landscape. The landscape has a long history of farming and settlement. The way in which the land has been farmed has evolved over the centuries.

The book follows Sarah as she walks her dog Rufus around the farm.

There are lovely illustrations of plants and animals to be found on the farm to ensure that the nature words that Robert MacFarlane was worried were being lost are given due attention.

One warning sign was when the 2007 Oxford Junior Dictionary dropped forty commons words like acorn, bluebell, and dandelion, to be replaced with words like blog, broadband, bullet-point and voicemail.

The book explains some farming terminology, e,g, what is meant by a mixed farm.

Glossary boxes are included on some pages to help reinforce these words but they are not obtrusive.

We learn that the orchard needs fencing to keep deer out who may damage the bark of the fruit trees; that clover enriches the soil but also provides flowers for pollinating beneficial insects; that hedgerows are important habitats as well as field boundaries; that field boundaries planted with wildflowers provide extra biodiversity; or that farmers live alongside wild animals such as hares that may choose to make their home there.

After the walk around the farm has finished, a section towards the end of the book explains crop rotation and provides ID guides for some of the butterflies and birds on the farm.

The book costs £7.99 on the website. 

The website contains useful information to supplement the book. A tab at the top 'Nature friendly farming' provides detailed information on several of the methods used on the farm, which also feature in the book, e.g. flower-rich margins and beetle banks.

If you are in the area, the farm also offers a chance to visit for students from Reception to Year 13, all of whom receive instruction and education from Alison.

A farm study here will engage students with the surrounding environment and make deeper place connections to support well-being. There is scope to develop activities to foster curiosity, develop knowledge, vocabulary and understanding of the countryside. The farm can tailor activities to suit young people from Key Stages 1 to 5 from supporting literacy and numeracy to carrying out geography and environmental science work.

The visits are bespoke to the group’s learning needs. They are run by a qualified teacher who is CEVAS certified and by a farmer. The farm staff will introduce you to our nature friendly farming methods which support nature and build biodiversity alongside producing food.

e.g.

Older pupils can investigate soil health through carrying out worm counts, testing soil pH, looking at the soil structure. Pupils are encouraged to work in groups to evaluate the farm’s contribution to enhancing biodiversity. Pitfall traps can be set in a transect across and field to enable pupils to count the number of insects at different locations. Quadrats are available to measure the numbers of different flowers in flower-rich margins across the farm. The pupils will be equipped with data that can be graphically portrayed and further analysed.

The book has been published by Download Farming Books

Paperback, 38pp

ISBN: 9 -781068-423208

The North Wessex Downlands is one of the UK's National Landscapes (previously known as AONBs or Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty).

Each of these places has a logo and the one for the North Wessex Downlands is based on the nearby Uffington White Horse.

I am hoping to pop in to the farm at some point in the future.

It is part of the Nature Friendly Farming Network.

The book can be purchased from the shop on the website. 

This also has more images of the book and its contents.

If you are considering purchasing a class set of copies for educational purposes there is also a form on the website where you can find out about discounts on larger orders too. This would certainly make a good class reader for the KS2 age group who are studying agriculture or food production.

Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of the book by Alison herself.