A day at the farm with Tiffany Fleming

Tiffany Fleming is a volunteer at High Mead Farm in Longham, Ferndown.

High Mead Farm is a working farm run to promote the benefits of engaging with animals, soil, and nature. They ‘create purposeful roles for our co-farmers, young people and adults alike, to help bring about a sense of well-being and self-worth that many have never experienced before’.

We held our High Mead Farm Open Day recently and, not for the first time, it was blessed with good weather. Considering the preceding few days of torrential rain and high winds, this was nothing short of a miracle. The Farm was opened up to the public, and the event coincided with the launch of a community DIY Library - a free-to-borrow tools collection for Wimborne, Ferndown and Colehill residents.

The library is packed with the sort of tools that many of us use only occasionally, saving the local community untold unnecessary expenditure. There is a tool for practically any job, from large DIY projects to general gardening... right down to basic shovels and spades. There is even a generator for those who need power! The launch of the library gave me cause to consider our own very fine collection and was a further reminder of just how lucky we are to enjoy such extensive on- site facilities.

The Farm’s workshop and wood bay are probably the two areas of the farm I know least about. I know very little about working with wood, despite securing myself a decent grade in O-level woodwork at school (it was the first year females could choose to participate in what had previously been considered subjects for boys and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to forego the traditional needlework and home economics (although, both would have been far more practical as it turns out!)

So I can understand the pleasure in the repetitive work of splitting the kindling, or the satisfaction of removing nails before the wood can be reused, but I hadn’t given it much thought beyond that until I accidentally stumbled across an episode from a recent Radio 4 series An Almanac For Anxiety: In Search of a Calmer Mind. I was half-listening to the radio when a very familiar sound caught my attention. The sound of a hammer on wood instantly transported me to the farm. The presenter described the air being thick with banging, sawing, sanding, chatting and laughter – sounds so familiar that it was both comforting to hear and yet so out of context it shocked me a little to realise suddenly how much they meant to me. The programme discussed the stress-relieving powers of wood and highlighted elements of working with wood I have never before considered, the smell and texture for instance. The participants described the warmth and relative softness of the material and how it differs from the rigidity of metal and plastic. Indeed, research has proven that touching wood creates a physiological change in the body, calming the prefrontal cortex, resulting in contentment. It all adds up to a magical experience, reinforcing how lucky we are to have such a facility.

From now on, I’ll view the activities in the wood bay in a whole new light...