Looking Closer

Canned puppet!

kevinisca — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 06:59:16 +0000

Mr Rabbit in the watering can!
A test blog post from my aged phone.

Beetroot

kevinisca — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 06:46:51 +0000

Fresh from the field and then scrubbed, grated, baked, printed, modelled, told … all in the life of a shillingford vegetable

Clay and Cows!

kevinisca — Tue, 18 May 2010 22:41:16 +0000

Interesting project starting at the farm creating 1000 cows for Devon Open Studios in September. It should be quite a sight! Of course any connection to Gormley’s A Field for the British Isles is purely deliberate.

I am looking at a mix of cow folk tales and myths from around the world, along with digging up clay from the fields, observing cows closely and modelling cow forms. The pictures come from a session with Newtown Primary’s Year 1s. Such a good sense of concentration! They were a pleasure to work with.

Rabbit Puppet

kevinisca — Sat, 08 May 2010 22:51:06 +0000

I finally got to make a new puppet this week. It has been a long time and the familiar feeling of stitching life into fabric at 1 in the morning was good to return to! Rabbit has no name at present but held the focus of the children at Beacon Heath and Whipton Surestart Centres. There is a great simplicity in the act of unwrapping a puppet with children, waking it and then, in this case, feeding it with salad leaves. Once we had worked out that plastic was really not going to work that is!! I am going to use Rabbit as a focus for the Children’s Centre work I am doing with Love Local Food. Don’t tell Martyn at Shillingford Organics though as I am not sure rabbits are particularly welcome in the polytunnel!

Badger Mind Maps!

kevinisca — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:58:35 +0000

Mind maps are an interesting way of gathering, linking and presenting ideas and information. Here is an one supporting the Badger Tails session. Check this page for more information and how to contribute your ideas.

What do we know about badgers?

tree creatures and the permeability of clay

kevinisca — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:32:58 +0000

Withycombe Raleigh Primary came to West Town to explore soils and clay on the farm. We tracked our journey using a satellite image, waded through the stream, crossed muddy fields and ended up at Tree Henge.
There is a really good link to be made with Science and Art! Along the journey we stopped to observe first hand, in the hand and a very muddy hand it was by the end! Particles, organic matter, rock, pebble and permeability all emerged as a working vocabulary. Tea strainers allowed us to test permeability out in the field and answer the question “Why was the water staying in the Tree Henge’s moat?” Then clay became a resource for creation as we mixed different colours, added gathered materials and finally our Tree Creatures guarding the trees. I hope that, by the end, the children had a far deeper understanding of what clay is.
This is part of a developing series of stories about the resources we have on the farm. Wood, Water, Pumpkins, Pigs and more all have their story to tell of change and use through direct experience. Certainly this process is a good learning opportunity for me!

Full Pot!

kevinisca — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:04:41 +0000

Take one very large stew pot, a collection of vegetable stories and an enthusiastic Priory Primary School, mix them all up and finish up with soup for 170, a retelling of stories and four rather beautiful banners.
This was an interesting brief from DAISI to link the SEAL theme of “Good to be me” with healthy cooking and storytelling over two days of workshops. I had a thoroughly good time. We explored how a school is made up of individuals who all have their own special qualities in the same way that a soup is made up of vegetables all with their own stories and properties.

I was impressed with the way Year 1 and 2 chopped, grated, scrubbed and peeled enough veg for the whole school, the Year 6 rap version of the story of Antoine Parmentier, the speaking and singing carrots of Year 6, the retelling of the “Old Woman and the Pumpkin” by Year 3 and 4 and foundation class’ enacting of the “Tortoise the Hare and the Squash Field. So much sharing, creativity and teamwork. Fantastic. I hope to post the lyrics of the two songs soon.
I am intrigued by the way that food and stories can be linked, cooking and telling, sustaining body and mind. I feel I need to get researching and collecting snippets of story and fact to add into the recipe. It can be tricky finding the right stories to enhance and draw out a theme without being too contrived. There is a real lot of learning to do!

Badger Tales!

kevinisca — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:36:40 +0000

A chance conversation with a teacher about a farm visit led to this project! Set in the red earth of the old railway cutting at West Town a mix of storytelling, drama, word play and environmental explorations and artworks will lead groups into the nocturnal world of Brock the Badger. Gill. the teacher, mentioned that her 7 year olds were writing about nocturnal creatures as part of their Literacy SATs. I am wondering whether any other schools would like to explore Badger Tales. More sessions make it easier to justify a longer preparation time.Time to go calling again!

Stories at a Seed Swap!

kevinisca — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 12:06:01 +0000

There are sometimes when an event just clicks and the Exeter Seed Swap was one of those times. Held at St Sidwell’s Community Centre. Why was that? The event certainly wasn’t packed with people and the weather was full of drizzle and damp however there was a quality of conversation and interaction that made it come alive. I was there with the Love Local Food stall and to tell some seedy stories There was a real mix of ages demonstrating that a good story works regardless and the telling was interspersed with questions and discussions. Thanks to Zion for the organising and the image on the left. I am looking forward to planting my turnips and cabbage! Next step wormery …

Chickens, tunnels and seeds!

kevinisca — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:16:09 +0000

Visits to the farms are go! We discovered that FACE was able to offer free coach travel for schools to visit farms during March. Suddenly March has got rather busy.

A series of weekly visits have started with St Davids Primary in Exeter. I am taking small groups out to The Barton every Monday to explore the farm and discover how it changes over the seasons. So often visits are Summer based one offs and whilst highly enjoyable rather give the impression that the farm is always green and growing. This project aims to gives a more balanced view. We fed the chickens, explored the polytunnels, dug the earth, planted seeds, sorted potatoes, talks to the farmers and generally had a very interesting 2 hours.

Also coming up is investigating soils, discovering orchards and managing 140 Year 7s around one farm. Should be fun!