Cookery School Associations

The Husbandry School has formed close links with the prestigious Ashburton Cookery School, Michael Caines Academy and Exeter College

We have been providing fresh produce from our fields for use in Cookery School kitchens, and since Spring 2008 we have also been hosting educational field visits for their cookery students. Our teaching programme has been developed to create a truly holistic approach to food education.

 

These field visits:

  • Introduce students to husbandry principles, in the use of wind, water, shelter, and soils in producing food
  • Introduce students to husbandry practices, firmly rooted in the Devon tradition.
 

We are able to show:

  • The advantages of growing ancient, rare and heritage varieties of food crops, and the nutritional benefits of using these
  • The importance of nourishing the soil. As well as material generated on our own land we also use composts made by Teignbridge District Council from the garden and kitchen waste collected in and around Ashburton. Building and maintaining a whole balanced soil ecology is essential and leads to nutritional benefits of the crops grown
  • The intelligent use of all water supplies on the land, including our own spring water, in growing produce. Good water management includes the use of drainage and irrigation ditches and leats which take water from where it is in excess, store it, and then deliver it for irrigation where it is needed.
  • The importance and effectiveness of companion planting, rotation of crops, and maintaining a wide diversity of plants
  • How all these factors and others can combine to increase the quality and nutritional benefits of the ingredients on their journey from field to kitchen to dining table.

“thank you for showing us around your beautiful school. I can honestly say the place gets more beautiful every year!!”

Ian Biggar, Michael Caines Academy Tutor

Previous Cookery School participants said:

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