Leo's Arrival & Halloween Fun at Bale's Farm

Happy Halloween and welcome back! This week we have welcomed a new friend to Bale’s Farm, Leo! He is a 14 year old Connemara and is a gentle giant. He is a fantastic new addition to our farm and has enjoyed meeting our other horses and ponies. Some of our learners have already met Leo and his calm nature has meant that they are already beginning to feel confident to groom him.

The young people at Bale’s Farm have returned to the farm with excitement and enthusiasm for the term ahead. We have kicked off the term by celebrating Halloween with pumpkin carving. After choosing a pumpkin from our very own allotment, our learners have taken time to carefully plan out their designs before sketching them onto the vegetables. Drawing on a round pumpkin proved to be a tricky challenge for everyone and made us focus on the way we were holding our pens and how we could keep our marks steady.

As the weather has turned chilly we decided that we needed a warm treat to heat us up. We came together as a team to make some pumpkin soup on a campfire, using the flesh from the pumpkins we carved. The young people took on different roles, we had: a ‘Chief Fire Lighter’, a ‘Fire Safety Marshall’ and a ‘Head Chef’! We are immensely impressed at how keen the learners were to take on the responsibility of their new roles. It takes a long time to cook on a campfire and everyone showed patience as they stayed in character whilst we watched the soup begin to boil.