Farm Club holiday programme is back this summer. Ten children joined us last Thursday for a day on the Farm; mucking out the young billy goats, walking ferrets, handling small animals, playing games and taking part in natural crafts. www.surreydocksfarm.org.uk/farm-club/

We’ve recently rehomed two of our beautiful nanny goats to a rescue centre in Kent.

The 50th Exhibition, including the fascinating display of foreshore finds, is open again this week: • Thurs 24th July 5:30-7:30 • Fri 25th July 11:30-4:00 • Sat 26th July 11:30-4:00

The Farm is a green oasis for many species including this Jersey Tiger moth. Spotted resting on the willow arch, check out the bright orange underwings as it flies away!

Celebrate our 50th Birthday! July 19th, 11:30am-4:30pm. Exhibition, BBQ, Tours and Talks. (Exhibit free, tours and talks ticketed). surreydocksfarm.org.uk/fifty-years/

1/2: On Saturday July 19 I'll be leading more tours at @surreydocksfarm.bsky.social, revealing the fascinating history of this former wharf through all the artefacts we've found on the foreshore and all the structures around the site. And we'll be having a closer look inside the display cabinets...

3/3: I've now added it to the rest of the collection of receiving station crockery in the display cabinet on the @surreydocksfarm.bsky.social riverside. This china all dates from the 1880s to the 1930s - I think this latest piece is probably early 1900s.

2/3: It's so rare to find such a large piece, and one with the Metropolitan Asylums Board roundel...

1/3: Just a tiny strip of blue in the mud led to my best Metropolitan Asylums Board find in several years! This bowl comes from the smallpox receiving station formerly on the @surreydocksfarm.bsky.social site. Follow the thread to see more...

Did you know we have two walnut trees on the Farm? Over the next few days we’ll be harvesting fresh green walnuts to sell in our farm shop. They’re perfect for pickling! Call into the Farm this weekend to purchase some and let us know what you make with them!

1/2: I'm a ladybird enthusiast, so was very excited to see this hop plant @surreydocksfarm.bsky.social absolutely covered with them - both adults and larvae. They're mostly two species: the tiny Two-spots, and the large Harlequins. All the larvae you can seen in these photos are of the Harlequin...

Farm Spring Fair, tomorrow, Saturday 10th May from 11am-4pm! Join us to watch sheep shearing, plus extra activities on offer including farm-themed fair games, animal handling, craft stalls, plant sales, BBQ and bar area in the field with live music and more!!

This Tree Echium at @surreydocksfarm.bsky.social commands all the attention, but just below it is something equally special: three different species of Speedwells, all currently in bloom. Thus this patch retains its SSSI status - yes, it's a Site of Special Speedwell Interest!

Farm Gym volunteers put in a fantastic effort tonight! We worked together to woodchip around the community plots; then split into groups to weed a growing space, shift pots of soil and tidy up pruned branches. 💪🏻 The team were rewarded with a peak inside the goat barn to meet the new goat kids! 🐐

Have you met our new piglets yet? Polo and Rolo’s second litter was born on Friday evening. The piglets are already growing fast, zooming round the barn then crashing out in a piglet pile up together.

It’s house sparrow nesting season and the Farm provides plenty of nest material from straw, grasses and last year’s globe artichoke heads! Volume up to hear the Spring bird song on the Farm, as this little sparrow is busy foraging.

The first lambs were born here at the weekend, they’re doing well and enjoyed going out in the field! All the ewes are pregnant and due this month, so there’ll be more lambs to come!

Lamb bottle feeding update! More slots will go online on MONDAY between 9 and 10am for bottle feeding dates from 12th - 18th April.

One of our students chose to plant a blueberry bush to tend here. Blueberries require special ericaceous (acidic) compost, so he’s planted into a pot filled with this compost and will water with rainwater to retain the pH levels - as tap water is usually too alkaline.

Tiny tadpoles! These were seen in the wildlife pond @surreydocksfarm.bsky.social yesterday. It's always amazing how quickly they develop; the second photo shows the round black eggs of the frogspawn early in March, and the third photo shows them a week later, developing into embryos - and now look!

Meet the Queen of Tomatoes! We’re going for the record number of tomato varieties grown (at Surrey Docks Farm) this year! The greenhouse is filling up nicely with young plants, soon some will be on sale so you can either grow your own at home or pop in for freshly picked tomatoes this summer.

Last week we welcomed a group from Time & Talents for their Spring visit. We reminisced about their farm memories over lunch; Eduardo the turkey was a firm Surrey Docks favourite, but we also heard of their childhood memories of neighbours rabbits, growing up on farms and rearing chickens.

Our horticulture team had a great time at the SOIL exhibition at Somerset House! We were gifted tickets and spent a several hours exploring. We even spotted a potential reference to our farm manure (via the project at Stuart Road Allotments, where we’ve delivered many ton bags of manure!)

We’ve taken on even more little lambs that need bottle-feeding and you can get involved! Sessions are held at 12:45pm and 4:40pm, booking must be made in advance. We release slots a week at a time, with more dates released on Tuesday mornings. www.surreydocksfarm.org.uk/product/feed-the-lambs-2025/

Our purple sprouting broccoli is looking good, hopefully we'll have some in the shop on Thursday

Greenagers youth clubs worked hard on Saturday maintaining outside spaces. They repainted a wooden bench, swept the cobbled path and created a new border for their mini wildflower meadow!

The pond is alive! Lots of lovely frogs, spawning, bubbling, and burbling🐸

Our animal care students enjoyed handling our new rabbits, Storm and Peanut, today. They also mucked out the sheep and treated the guinea pigs to chard leaves.

1/2: The frogs turned up this week in the @surreydocksfarm.bsky.social wildlife pond! By Thursday there were dozens and dozens, clambering all over each other. They've arrived for the annual spawning, having travelled here from their hibernation hideouts all over the farm.

Our Sunday youth clubs enjoyed another week of jam packed activities! The morning Young Farmers made pizzas and played games outside in the sunshine. Then our afternoon Greenagers group helped muck out, walk the ferrets and give the animals their evening feed.

A small forest of tomato plants, almond blossom, and frogspawn, just some of the joys of spring

We welcome hundreds of primary school classes every year to learn about farming & food production, right here in London! Children enjoy tours to get up close with farm animals & explore the gardens to see the vegetables & crops growing, plus they take part in practical workshops in the classroom.

Want to see inside the cabinets and behind the scenes of our discoveries at @surreydocksfarm.bsky.social? I'm leading a tour of the site's history and our latest finds on Saturday March 22. It's a fundraising event; do book asap: www.surreydocksfarm.org.uk/product/secrets-of-the-sites-history

Snowy & Fidget enjoying their walk round the Farm. The donkeys are here as part of a guardianship scheme with the Donkey Sanctuary, so we can’t offer any experiences with them. But you can book a groom & walk session with Kiera our miniature Shetland pony, visit our website for full details!

Snow drops are in full bloom around the Farm and the first daffodils are flowering too! Come and visit us for fresh air, friendly animals and Spring vibes.

New Leaf students grow vegetables on their own plots, but also help with a range of horticultural maintenance around the Farm… including sweeping up the leaves from the Thames path!

Spring is getting nearer… or at least the ducks think so as they’ve started laying again! Just one a week so far, but hopefully more as the days get longer. Call in to the farm shop and you might get lucky!

Our Forest School group explored a different wildlife theme each week throughout January. The children enjoyed learning how to identify mushrooms, birds and trees in the wildlife garden, making fat balls for the birds and playing a ‘find your tree’ game.

Did you know? We offer animal experiences that make a great gift! Our ferret experience is particularly popular and we can deliver this all year round. Visit our website to find out more and book your experience: www.surreydocksfarm.org.uk/farm-animal-experience/

Plot to Shop team worked hard in the sunshine yesterday, digging a trench to plant raspberries!

We deliver a gardening group in partnership with the Southwark Wellbeing Hub. This week the group were busy digging, wheeling & adding soil to their growing space by the Thames path; plus weeding the paths & adding sand. It was great to catch up together and spend time outside, even on a grey day!

This month the Farm Produce students have been learning about felting. They sketched their own design and felted yarn to make these beautiful pictures!

This week we were invited to present at the Credit Agricole CIB ‘Helping Hand Award’ event, where we received an amazing donation of £2,000! Huge thanks to one of our regular visitors who nominated us for this award! The funding will contribute to our Apprenticeship programme.

Donate when you shop, at no cost to you! Sign up via the link below to name Surrey Docks Farm as your cause and see how much you can raise, for free! www.easyfundraising.org.uk/cause/surrey...

Beautiful view from the Farm over the Thames this evening

Farm Produce were back cooking last week and the students were excited to use this new food mixer that was kindly donated! They made these delicious bread rolls to take home to their families.

We’re open all year round every day, only closing 3 days on 24th, 25th & 26th December. Livestock team will still be on site to care for the animals and we’ll keep the Thames path open for walkers. Call in and see us for last minute present shopping, fresh air and friendly animals!