FDB Charity Working Days
FDB give their employees two charity days per year to spend helping a charity of their choice. Last week a team of 9 used theirs to help Magdalen Farm, a charity who host fun, educational trips for children and people with additional needs. Guests can partake in a range of activities from picking vegetables for their own fresh soup to shelter building and fire-lighting skills to art-based nature activities.
Our job, however, was a bit more like hard work. A couple of us began the day cleaning out the chickens while the others started on de-weeding the gooseberry beds and trimming back the branches. Once the de-weeding was complete it was time for the fragrant portion of the day, spreading the manure! There were a few close calls but fortunately everybody stayed on their feet.
Then it was time for a short break with some delicious flapjack before heading back out to the vegetable patch. Here we dismantled the old kale, cabbage and potato beds, de-weeded them and transported the boards down to the barn. Others spread more manure amongst other vegetables and helped tidy up the rest of the field before heading back inside for a nice bit of lunch.
The afternoon kicked off with finishing the jobs we’d started in the morning before going into the barn to create signs for the vegetables and sorting the apples to either be fed to the pigs or turned into juice.
Finally, the time came for the best part of the day; feeding the animals. We met 11 little piglets, offspring from Hermione and Harry Trotter, a beautiful steed named Daisy and, my personal favourites, seven lovely little goats.
Overall it was a great day helping at the farm. They have a lovely set up and we were lucky enough to be there on the same day as one of the charities they cater for. The staff are lovely, really welcoming and clearly love their job.
Many of us are looking forward to going back and helping them some more. If you would like to help, they have other volunteer days throughout the year. Visit Magdalen Farm to sign up.
