Ecstatic laughs of delight and surprise echoed from various corners of Wendy Devlin’s Glade Farm on a sunny spring morning. Some children watched chickens walk by while others were shown how to milk a goat, reluctant to try the warm fluid squeezed into the pail.
“I think that it’s very educational for children to see animals, how they’re raised, how they live, for children to interact with animals, stroke them, care for them,” explained Devlin, who has lived on the farm since 1992. “It’s an introduction, but I guess I’m hoping something catches fire.”
She said about 10 years ago, she started taking in community groups of children to share the experience of farming, as it is an experience they don’t usually receive unless farming is in the family. On this particular morning, she was sharing such an experience with Assumption School kindergarten students.
Devlin hosts about four groups a year. Roughly 100 children, their siblings, parents and teachers take the tour of her farm in Wildwood. She said she hopes children will be inspired. “Maybe they’ll want to garden,” she said. “Maybe they’ll want to keep rabbits or chickens. I’m actually quite motivated to a new generation of farmers. I don’t do it just because it’s fun to see kids. I do it so that hopefully kids remember it and maybe they are inspired by it at a young age and maybe they’ll do something.”
Devlin has a special arrangement with Assumption’s kindergarten students. The teacher picks up fertile duck and chicken eggs and incubates them in the classroom. After they hatch, the chicks are in the classroom for a few days before they are returned to the farm.
Children then visit the farm and feed chickens, ducks and rabbits, milk goats or cows and Devlin arranges a time to hold animals. This time, it was baby rabbits.
“It’s not always the same year to year,” said Devlin. “Last year I didn’t have sheep, I had cows. A number of years ago I had a horse. We arrange the date several months in advance. I do try to structure it so they get the maximum out of their visit. This time we didn’t have baby chickens or the baby ducklings ready at the same time.”
Devlin’s favourite part of the experience is the things children say and “their sense of wonder. A lot of the children are very excited. They have a lot of anticipation because they’ve looked at storybooks and pictures and videos, but a lot of them have never actually patted a cow or a goat or held a rabbit or fed a chicken. They love it.”
Devlin also explained she is becoming affiliated with James Thomson Elementary School as they have a farm-to-school program.
She wants to do more in the future, along with other gardeners and farmers in Wildwood. But she said she is the only one giving children farm tours. “There’s been people who did it before me, other farmers. I’m carrying it on. But I’m really hoping that it grows from the district, that it’s something everyone will support.”
