Mike is a qualified Forest School teacher with 8 years experience of running Junior Farmers at Incredible Farm in Todmorden, where he also is the principal Grower and Educator, regularly teaching groups of school children as well as running adult courses.
He has a BS in Conservation Ecology and believes passionately that teaching and inspiring others is a fundamental part of growing food and stewarding land sustainably. Mike says, “It’s clear to me that most people in today’s dominant culture are disconnected with nature and this is having devastating impacts on both humans and the rest of the natural world. Forest school is an excellent way to get children in touch with its abundance and beauty and offers young people and adults a repeated opportunity to achieve and develop confidence and self-esteem through hands on learning experiences within the woodland environment. Forest school has a holistic approach to learning and encourages individuals to develop at their own pace both emotionally and practically through participant lead learning and reflection, in contrast to the standard ethos in education of ‘you must learn this!’”
As a Forest School Practitioner and qualified Primary School teacher and support worker for over 10 years, Laura has a wealth of experience working in a many outdoor learning environments, with young people throughout the key stages and across a wide variety of alternative educational settings. Here she has facilitated and supported both groups and individuals to access and experience nature through forest school and a person centered approach of exploration through ideas. Laura also works on a sessional basis facilitating community projects and gardening workshops as a means to build confidence and self-esteem in those who take part.
Laura has a deep rooted passion for plants, nature and the preservation of wildlife and our natural countryside. She spends much time foraging and preserving herbs and wild foods for use in herbal teas, ointments and tinctures.
Laura feels passionately that people need to be in contact with the natural world in order to feel connected, in tune with the seasons and to value the earth’s abundance. Through this belief, she works to share her love of nature and celebrate the land with those who surround her.
What we do at Incredible Farm is to build on the Forest School ethos that allows children the time and space to develop skills, interests and understanding through practical hands-on experiences in the natural environment but combine this with opportunity to observe and participate in the production of food and resources using regenerative agriculture methods.
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