Another astounding success from our Winter Holiday and Food club funded by Department for Education, through Gloucester County Council.

Massive thanks to all the staff and families who were a part of the club, and to Dave the Farmer for his continued support of our project!

Once again we ran the club from the Rewild Permaculture Allotment at Noxon Farm. It was free, open to all, and included healthy whole foods supplied from local organic producers wherever possible. The places booked up really quickly again - we ran two sessions, morning and afternoon with families able to book for all day too.

We used the Rewild Project Geodome which was paid for by our funders: Forester’s Forest and put up by our amazing participants who come to our open access Land Skills Day every Thursday.

We looked after 15-20 children aged 5-14 each session, with the children being fully involved in all aspects of the day, from helping Scott to light the fire in the geodome every morning so that we had a warm dry space to gather, eat and craft together, to preparing the meals, snacks and doing jobs around the garden.

Our day followed a similar rhythm to the summer programme, based around heritage and nature based craft activities and preparing wholesome food together. Each day started with a circle time to come together, learning names, playing games, eating a morning snack of warm porridge and fruit, and of course talking about poo!! The toilet at our allotment is a compost loo, which is a brand new experience for some children and a big part of permaculture is no waste - we think our poo is a valuable resource which is one of the ways we are not separate from nature but a part of of the cycle of carbon - and not forgetting our wee too - children are encouraged to ‘wild wee’ finding themselves a quiet spot if they feel comfortable to - this provides nitrogen to plants and trees - another valuable nutrient which will help to grow next years apples!!

We have lots of free and large scale play activities available for children as well as the crafts, including lots of guttering for water play or giant Mable run, sand, wood chip pile to dig and climb in, mud kitchen, real tool area. It was amazing seeing some of the younger children getting stuck in with hammers and nails and even the cordless drill - our makeshift bench is now decorated with holes - no more pooling with rainwater!!

Each morning we offered a simple garden / nature based craft such as making bird feeders by smearing peanut butter onto card, then dipping into bird seed - this is great practice spreading with a knife.

We also planted garlic bulbs into pots for the children to grow on at home, as well as planting them around the allotment.

Afternoon times we focussed on the theme of solstice - painting story stones and telling a collective story in our afternoon circle, just as our ancestors would have gathered around the fire telling stories in years gone by. Day 2 Fleen worked with the children to melt bees wax and carefully poured it into walnut shells to create magical miniature floating candles - a reminder to keep nurturing the inner light inside. Day 3 we baked chapatis over an open fire in the morning, and afternoon we folded tissue paper to make window transparencies, which proved quite a tricky challenge - maybe next time we will use slightly thicker paper (and have been advised to dip into wax for longevity!) Day 4 We planted more bulbs and made more candles as it was such a hit!

Here are some of our favourite pictures - Hope you can join us for the Easter Holiday and Food Scheme - we are hoping to increase our capacity by running a Rekindle Youth Holiday Scheme at Kensley sheds for 11-16 year olds as well as the Wildings 5-14’s Programme at Noxon.