This year we have been experimenting with growing vegetables alongside the usual crops in the school plots. With the help of various classes we have planted potatoes, carrots, beetroot, radishes and spinach which are being used in the cafe and shop just now, and hopefully by us in the autumn. 

We have had lots of fun on Field to Fork Fridays exploring wild things around the Estate, but have taken a break over the summer. The next Field to Fork Friday will be on 26th August with a session for those not yet at school from 10.30 -12 noon, and for those at primary school and their younger siblings from 2 - 3.30 pm.

It has been great to welcome so many classes and schools back to the Hirsel for a visit over the summer term. Everyone was obviously overjoyed to be able to be beyond the school gates again - we had lots of very excited children enjoying learning in a different setting. 

Over recent months we have introduced Field to Fork Fridays, a once a month session for families with pre-school or school age children to engage with nature and spend some time together outdoors. For more information email sally.fleming@daestates.co.uk.

At last we have embraced the technology and are now live on Facebook and Instagram. You will find us our Facebook page is Field to Fork The Hirsel and Instagram fieldtoforkhirsel as well as on our YouTube channel Field to Fork, The Hirsel

Please do follow and share!

We were thrilled to be part of the amazing Christmas Fair at the Hirsel on Saturday with full uptake of our children's workshops making Christmas Wreaths and Twig Decorations from foraged natural materials. If you missed it, videos showing how can be found below!

Edenside P1 and P1/2 visited recently to learn about food and farming, the crops grown and the foods they make as well as making their own healthy pizzas. So good to be able to do what we are passionate about again! Thank you Edenside!

Recently, we helped all 3 classes at Scremerston First School prepare (and enjoy eating!) some healthy snacks on a Bonfire Night theme - Fruit Rockets, Carrot Hummus Bonfires and Pizza Puff Pinwheels! This, our second termly visit, aims to help encourage healthier snacking and support the growing of food in the school garden. 

It was so good to be back welcoming classes to Field to Fork over the last 2 weeks. Thank you Spittal First School for bringing the whole school over 6 days. We had such fun!

Enter into the excitment and anticipation of the Harvest with our recently launched video on the cereal harvest at the Hirsel. Close up shots and drone footage show what's involved in bringing home the wheat, barley and oats which will become our food. 

https://youtu.be/i2MQSlRlo0E

Harvest has begun once again - a busy and important time on the Hirsel farms. Check out the 'Farming' topic in Activities and Resources for support around where our food comes from and how it is produced.

With the start of the new session, we are very much hoping we can welcome you back! In preparation the classroom has had a spruce up and new activities and resources have been created including the Activities and Resources section, with videos, here on our website. 

Check out our latest videos within 'Healthy Cooking, Healthy Eating' of the Activities and Resources section below which show how to make 3 quick, straightforward and nutrious recipes using local or UK grown produce of this winter season. 

Learn more about what happens in nature in this glorious autumn season with all its treasures and be creative too:

'Make a Story Stick' : https://youtu.be/Bam0wUUkSuA

'Autumn Treasures' : https://youtu.be/dW3viidUlx4

'How trees disperse their seeds' : https://youtu.be/SIqAIL1uM3M

Autumn is such an amazing time of year and wherever you are there are signs to spot. Take a look at our 'Autumn at the Hirsel' video then see what you can spot in your local area

https://youtu.be/02eFsXwLeW0

While we are sadly not able to welcome classes to the Hirsel, it's great to see youngsters engaging with our weekly challenges at home. The 'Things to do with Sticks' theme prompted some fantastic creations with stick towers, names written in sticks, some mathsy things, tied picture frames and cheesy sticks to eat. Well done to all, its great to see your imaginative ideas. More photos can be seen in the gallery

As with everyone else our summer term plans have gone by the board - just when bookings were coming in well, Coronavirus put a spanner in the works! However all is not lost as we have plenty ideas for activities which can be done at home, outdoors, in the garden or out on daily walks to explore the world around us. Each week we are emailing out around 5 themed activities suitable for any age and almost anywhere - a recipe is often included. To receive these activities contact sally.fleming@daestates.co.uk. We hope they are useful and enjoyable, helping youngsters to connect to our amazing natural world and appreciate what is on their doorstep.

This autumn we hosted two Estate Days for High School year groups in conjunction with RHET. On the first we welcomed around 60 S2 pupils from Jedburgh Grammar School while the following day 90 S3 pupils from the Berwickshire High School took part. The youngsters explored various aspects of estate life through a forestry workshop provided by Fountain Forestry, a river life session by The Tweed Foundation, farming provided by Alistair Hodge and Lesley Mason of RHET, the Douglas Fold of Highland Cattle by Allan Telford, gamekeeping by Craig Birkett the gamekeeper, in which he showed them how to prepare pheasant for the table, and ourselves at Field to Fork baking bread and cooking and tasting the pheasant gougons! The pupils had a fantastic day, huge thanks to our providers, and took home with them a tree sapling kindly donated by Cheviot Trees. 

We are thrilled (as you can see!) to have been announced winners of the Scottish Land and Estates 2018 'Helping it Happen' education award at a ceremony held at the Balmoral Hotel, Edinburgh recently. We have always been very proud of what we offer at Field to Fork but it is fantastic to have the huge commitment of the Estate, who fund this project, acknowledged at a National level. We are grateful to schools for their support and hope we can continue to develop what we do in order to connect more children to what goes on in the countryside and where their food comes from.  

Click on the topics to download teaching plans, worksheets and videos.