For Clunes students, a highly-anticipated event on the calendar every term is Farm Visit Day. They gain so much value from visiting farms in the local area, taking their learning from these experiences to their academic work at Clunes and beyond.
Important issues around sustainability, conscious consumerism, connection with land and ethics are raised during these excursions. Students are challenged with difficult questions about where their food comes from, the impact of food production and, most importantly, how the choices that individuals make can action positive change.
Last month it was Group 99’s turn. They split off into three groups and each went to a different farm.
Fifth generation potato farmers Frank and Colleen from Stephens family farm helped the students develop their skills in chip preparation, peeling and cutting the potatoes by hand. Precision was the theme of the session! They learnt about growing and harvesting crops, taking new knowledge away from the experience.
‘It was great to meet the farm owners, Colleen and Frank,’ says Sam from House 4. ‘I enjoyed walking through the paddocks and getting to clean one of the big tractors.’
Honest Eggs Co. run a regenerative egg farming practice - a type of holistic farming that mimics the movement of nature. They teach the importance of supply and demand, not just in terms of egg production but in the way that the farm can only hold as much stock as it can feed. No outside feed is brought to the farm and the animals naturally fertilise the pastures. Our students loved holding and patting the laying hens, and the admiration between them seemed mutual!
Jonai Farms operates as a residential community of agroecologists with a focus on working with the seasons and reducing their environmental footprint. Students are put to work at Jonai and enjoy getting their hands dirty. ‘For a city boy, it was good to get a different perspective about farming life,’ says Max from House 4. ‘I loved the lunch, but also just being able to appreciate the views and the landscape was unreal.’
Our students return from the Farm Visits with a sense of gratitude – for the people who make the excursions meaningful and for the processes by which they produce the food. They see this as an opportunity that they get to do rather than have to do, contributing to a valuable experience for all.
