Spring 2024 newsletter
By sam dodd
After a long hiatus, a very warm welcome to our first newsletter in quite a while. We now aim to send out a regular newsletter to our subscribers every two months. Many thanks to our editor, Sam Dodd.
This one for Spring highlights a few ways in which our city farm is hugely important for urban wildlife, acting as a home for nature. A space that can inspire people to connect with nature and the outdoors. City Farms continue to provide important services to over half a million London residents each year, evolving to meet the changing needs of our communities. As pressure on space and services in the capital increase these green havens are more important than ever.
The Farm is open to visitors from Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00am to 4:30pm. Do come down, we look forward to seeing you.
Phil Nichols: Chief Executive, Spitalfields City Farm
SPRING FESTIVAL! Happenings from our April Fundraiser
On Saturday 6th April, after an amazing effort from our wonderful volunteers and Education Manager Kirsten, we hosted a Spring Festival. There was an Easter Egg hunt for children (45 participants!) – thanks to Anne for her brilliant clues – and for those who missed it, the inaugural session of Chicken Poo bingo, where our beautiful and funny rescue hens (plus Jack) were kind enough to humour us. There was a numbered grid on the floor, surrounded by a small enclosure into which we placed the hens. Visitors then placed their bets on which number will be pooed on! The price was £2 per square, all proceeds going towards the posh chicken feed our girls demanded after for their labour.
Arms, our brilliant new Education Intern, sourced some generous donated prizes from local businesses – bowling for two at All Star Brick Lane, a book voucher from Brick Lane Bookshop, a plant from Jen’s Plants, and a voucher for London Terrariums. We also held a plant sale with multiple varieties of tomato, kale, peas, herbs, chard, kale, sweet peas, and lettuce; ran colouring in sessions; and sold out of salad bags!
All in all we raised £450, on a windy but mild day, and visitors had a great time.
To read more about the event and enjoy some more fabulous photos, click here for a blog post Arms wrote. Enjoy!
IN-FOCUS! Farmer interview on our rare breed Castlemilk Moorit breeding programme + lambtastic photoblog
This edition, we have an In-Focus piece on Castlemilk Moorits and the breeding programme at Spitalfields, including how our farmers care for the ewes and lambs, the tupping and birthing process, the history of this rare breed both in the UK and at our farm, and more. Just click through to IN-FOCUS: SPRING.
Here we also have a great photoblog on the four new lambs we recently welcomed into the world, written by our Education Intern, Arms - give it a read and a share.
Image credit: Aminah Shabir (our talented Education Intern) @aminah_shabir_photography
CONSERVATION! Great Crested Newts & Licencing Efforts
Recently, team members Kirsten Houser and Sam Dodd completed the first stage of their licence training for the handling, surveying, and habitat conservation of our resident Great Crested Newt population. This native species of newt is highly protected in European law, meaning only individuals licenced by the government agency Natural England are permitted to carry out any of the above activities in areas where GCNs are thought to reside.
We are very lucky to have this species calling our farm home - they have been with us for decades. Froglife UK have always played a huge part in helping us to conserve their habitat here, with Kirsten and Sam working towards taking this process forward in the future. To learn more about this fascinating species, including why they're protected and what the threats to their habitats are, here is an interesting BBC Wildlife article.
Image: John from London Amphibian & Reptile Group (LARG) on a site visit in April 2024. Look at this beauty!
FUNDRAISER! George’s Marathon
One of our recent Team Challenge volunteers from TransRe completed the Paris Marathon on 7 April, in aid of the Farm. He finished the course in 3:44 and has so far raised over £800! George said:
“I recently participated in a volunteer day at the farm through my workplace, and was really inspired by this fantastic space in the middle of the city. Working to help build some of the fixed structures at the farm, learning about the rich wildlife habitats created and the important work done with local schoolchildren, I was really taken with how much good the farm does for the local community, with very limited resources. Even after one day there, it was clear how much the farm means to the staff, volunteers and visitors, and the experience really stayed with me. I learned about the campaign to purchase a new van, so that the farm could reach those in the community who are unable to make it there in person, and I felt compelled to do something to help!”
Please consider supporting George with a pledge, and help buy our new very much needed van! We desperately need to collect feed, run mobile farms and outreach to schools, care homes and more, and transport our equipment, without the associated costs of constant van hire.
Thanks so much to George for inspiring us all, and congratulations on your finish, from all the staff and volunteers at SCF.
That's it for this edition! See you at the farm soon.