We also began to plant vegetables once our new raised bed was full up with fresh compost. We used the surface of the soil as our first lesson in measuring area. The importance of knowing this mathematical method was immediately apparent as it helped us decide how many rows of vegetables we could grow. Over time we hope to be able to taste our own fresh food just out of the earth.

Alongisde all the practiucal work we read stories of pioneering (a real insight into how much hard work actually living off the land can be), wrote about what we’d learned using our own words, writing frames, diagrams, poems and mind maps, and had fun debating various issues like organic versus industrial farming and veganism versus happy meat.

Through this hands-on immersive block, typical of Steiner education, we aim to give children rich experiences that will last for life, and lessons that are valuable to every human being, so they:

• Know where food comes from
• Experience the magic of planting a seed that is transformed by earth, water, air and sun
• Understand the level of care and labour it takes to grow food so we develop a respect for food and do not waste it
• See farmers in terms of the incredible importance of their work for human life
• Learn how to grow and harvest food so it can be enjoyed as nourishing food
• Feel a sense of gratitude for how food keeps us strong, and a direct experience of the abundance of nature that sustains plant, animal and human life on the earth