Families Go Wild in the Farmyard!

Families Go Wild was busy today, with lots of volunteers, old and new coming along to volunteer and spend time at the farm.

The first thing we did was get the tools we needed to work in the show paddock. We swiftly got to work, and did a good job working together.

We had the first half of the show paddock swept in no time! We then made our way to the other side, herding the sheep into the half of the paddock we had just cleaned.

Although we had herded the sheep into the other half, Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Yoshi and Toad, the Bantam Sebrights were basking in the sun in the part of the paddock we were cleaning.

Once we had cleared the second half of the show paddock, we had some time cuddling Mario, a farm favourite of many of our volunteers! For some people it was their first time holding him (or a chicken for that matter!) and they really liked it! Our volunteers said he felt very soft.

Once we had taken turns to hold Mario, all the volunteers gathered together for a meeting.

We talked about how we should behave around and treat the animals, and why. We agreed that we should respect them and allow them to be happy and not scared. This means talking quietly and not shouting, walking instead of running, and not bothering or holding the animals when they don’t want to be held.

We also talked about how we should treat each other when we’re at the farm. We agreed to some rules we had written already at a previous meeting, and added that we should take turns in activities.

Speaking of taking turns, the next thing we did was get out Peanut and Pickle, the ferrets, and took turns holding and walking them around the grass circle in the farmyard. They climbed the fences and scurried through gaps, but our volunteers were good at catching them and putting them back in the middle of the circle.