LEAF Open Farm Sun­day 101

Whether you’re think­ing of host­ing your first LEAF Open Farm Sun­day event this year or you’re a reg­u­lar host, join us online at one of our no-oblig­a­tion zoom meet­ings to get some upskilling, a few top tips and lat­est infor­ma­tion on organ­is­ing an engag­ing LOFS event.

LOFS online meet­ings, 7 — 8pm

• Thurs­day 5^th May: Words of wis­dom! Reg­is­ter here

Keen to chat now? Con­tact details for the LOFS team are here.

Share your sup­port! Encour­age your farm­ing con­tacts, friends and net­works to get involved too and join in the LOFS con­ver­sa­tions on social media: 

• Twit­ter: @openfarmsunday #LOFS22
• Face­book: @LEAFopenfarmsunday
• Insta­gram: @openfarmsunday

Top tips from our LOFS Ambas­sadors:

Rebec­ca Dawes — LOFS Ambas­sador, Scotland 

“Nev­er be afraid to ask for help, it is such a reward­ing day for every­one involved. Your vet, local feed mer­chant, machin­ery deal­er, agron­o­mist or farm advi­sor could give a small talk about what they do and maybe bring a few props like ani­mal feed or wheat seed. A ​“Farmer Ques­tion Time” always goes down well at our event, where local farm­ers each vol­un­teer to do a 15-minute slot to answer questions.”

Anne Mair-Chap­man — LOFS Ambas­sador, North East 

“Make your event fun, friend­ly and for­get the farm­ing jar­gon! After the year we’ve all had, your event needs to feel like a bit of light relief in the fresh air. An infor­mal intro­duc­tion as peo­ple arrive is some­times all it takes to get the ques­tions going — remem­ber your audi­ence and think of oth­er ways to describe the work you do, farm­ing terms are not always self-explanatory!”

Rona Amiss — LOFS Ambas­sador, South West 

“Get lots of help from neigh­bours, friends and any­one else you can think of! It makes it much more fun and every­one enjoys themselves.”

Helen Chap­pell — LOFS Ambas­sador, North West 

“This is the year to host! The pub­lic are want­i­ng to con­nect with farms and the envi­ron­ment — not just to learn about the farm­ing life but also for the health and well­be­ing ben­e­fits. The sup­port and guid­ance is eas­i­ly acces­si­ble and the ambas­sadors are here to help. The gen­er­al pub­lic are just as appre­hen­sive as the farm­ing com­mu­ni­ty, but they too are deter­mined to embrace the new nor­mal, Covid safe way of doing things.”

Andy Guy — LOFS Ambas­sador, Midlands

“Plan ahead
The most suc­cess­ful events are those where the hosts have planned for every even­tu­al­i­ty. Think about car park­ing, helpers and vol­un­teers, health and safe­ty, activ­i­ties for kids and fam­i­lies, pro­mo­tion and what you can do if it rains. If its all sort­ed before the big day you will have a stress-free event.

On the day.
Brief your helpers in advance so every­one knows what they are doing and what your vis­i­tors can see and do. Once the first vis­i­tors start to arrive all you need to do is acti­vate your plan and enjoy the day! If you’ve planned well and have con­tin­gen­cies for things like weath­er it should all go smoothly.

After the event.
Thank your helpers, tidy up and crack open a beer/​cup of tea and relax. Share mem­o­ries of the day with your helpers, update your Face­book page with some pho­tos and start think­ing about LOFS 2022.”

If you would like to talk through your LEAF Open Farm Sun­day event ideas now, get in touch with a LOFS ambas­sador today — you can find the LOFS team’s con­tact details here.