On Monday when we came to the guest house, we made our beds. After that we went to the farm by a covered wagon. Then the guides showed us their pigs, piglets, sow, boar, cows, calves, hens, roosters, sheep, lamb, rabbit, goats and ducks. Then we ate lasagne. After that we swept the street with brooms and shovels. The leaves were carried away in wheelbarrows. In the afternoon we had dinner and drove back to the guest house.
On Tuesday we got up in the morning and drove to the farm. We did our jobs we had got on Monday. After that we had breakfast. Then we had workshops till lunchtime. We had two hours of free time and went to a playground. Then we had tea and after that we worked in our groups again until dinner. After that we drove to the guest house. Some of us went shopping or played board games.
On Wednesday we got up at 6.30 am. Then we drove to the farm and did our jobs again. After one hour we had breakfast and after that we had workshops. After lunch we went to another playground. Then we did our jobs again and drove back to the guest house.
On Thursday after getting up we drove to the farm. We had to do a little theatre play in the evening. So we shouldn’t let this out of our minds while we did our jobs, had breakfast, had some free time and did the workshops. Then we ate lunch (spaghetti). We had some free time, then ate waffles, did our jobs, ate bread for supper and drove to the guest house. Then we did these little theatre things, after that most of us went upstairs and went to bed.
On Friday nothing really happened. We woke up, packed everything, drove to the farm, did our jobs one last time, ate breakfast, talked about some things, drove home (guest house), took our suitcases and drove home (home).
For our jobs on the farm in the mornings and in the afternoons there were four groups: housekeeping, cows, pigs and chickens. In these groups we worked for 1 ½ hours before breakfast and for 1 ½ hours before supper. Then there were workshops every morning before lunch: housekeeping, bee keeping, pig keeping, dairy products, farm products, electricity, coffee production.
Our groups
Housekeeping
In the morning we prepared breakfast. First, we cut bread, cheese and vegetables. Then we made fruit yoghurt. We mixed the homemade yoghurt with fruit syrup. Next two children put the food on the plates. After that we prepared the buffet. In the workshops other children prepared lunch. In the afternoon we prepared supper. We cut bread, cold cut, cheese and vegetables again. The children poured juice from the bottles into the juice dispenser. We washed and sorted the cutlery. Then we prepared the buffet.
The cow group
We made two groups. The first group prepared the food for the calves. The other group prepared the food for the milk cows. We brought the cows to their milking boxes. Then we cleaned the udders and we got the first milk out by hand before we attached the milking machine. After the milking we cleaned the milk chamber. Then we brought the cows back to their boxes. After that we cleaned the stable floor. Finally, we brought the cows to the meadow. In the evenings we drove the cows from the meadow back to the cow shed. Sometimes we mucked out the boxes. We all liked the calf Arielle. It was so cute.
The pig group
There was a sow, her name was Caro, there was a boar, his name was Elver, and there were four young pigs. The race was “Bunte Bentheimer”. First, we prepared the pigfeed (corn, nuts, apples and sometimes leftovers) Then we fed the pigs that. After that we got a broom, a shovel, a pitchfork and two or three wheelbarrows. We opened the pigs gate and let one pig out. After that we mucked out the pigsty, cleared it from the pig dung and the old straw. Then we put the broom, the shovel and the pitchfork away. We still needed the wheelbarrows for the new straw. Then we gave the pigs water, sometimes some students of the cow group came and gave the pigs some milk, pigs love milk. After that we gave them fresh straw. Finally, we opened the pigs gate and let the one pig in again. When we caressed the pigs they danced 😀.
The pig group also took care of the goats 😀. At 8 am we went to the goats and gave them food (herbal muesli) and fresh water and a wheelbarrow of hay. At 6 pm we went to the goats again and gave them the same. There were sheep in the meadow, too, but we fed them in a workshop. There were four goats, one was a baby goat.
The chicken group
In the morning we put the food into the feeding bowl and prepared the water for the water bowl. Then we mucked out the hen house. After that we had breakfast. In the afternoon we put the food into the feeding bowl again and prepared the water for the water bowl. After that we collected the eggs and counted and cleaned them. We weighed them and put them into the egg boxes. After that we drove the goose from the meadow back to their shed. We loved to hold the hens in our arms and to cuddle with them.
The bee
They are very interesting animals. The bee family is a bee colony. And the names are queen bee, bee and drone. The home is a bee hive. The bees eat honey, flower pollen and the queen bee eats royal honey. The bees’ products are bee wax and honey. The colours are yellow and black, and the wings are small and narrow and transparent.