Getting An Early Start

Despite a snowy beginning to the week, with more snow forecast, and in spite of the stormy weather and waterlogged fields, in the glasshouses here at Caring For Life, we are trying to get an early start with preparations for spring and summer!

Growing bedding plants, vegetable plants and shrubs for sale means that pricking out of plug plants and tiny grown-on seedlings, as well as the potting up of young shrubs, all has to take place at this time of the year.

It makes the horticulture project a hive of activity, in a light-filled,  warm and safe environment, whatever the weather outside.

This enables lots of opportunities for those on the horticulture project to learn skills. Everyone also learns to work well as a team, whilst enjoying plenty of laughter, down amongst the geraniums, peppers and aubergines, to name only a few of the plants they are now growing!

#Caringforlife #Craghousefarm #Horticulture #Glasshouse #Daytimeactivities #Nurseries

A Woodland Garden in Winter

People sometimes think that gardens and woodland are really bare and colourless in winter. A visit to the sensory gardens at Crag House Farm, the home of Caring For Life, proves this theory to be flawed!

The colours of the bark, the stones and mosses, the beautiful snowdrops pushing through and other winter-flowering bulbs and shrubs, all produce a magical effect and bring the gardens to life.

Careful planning has gone into this, but the sensory gardens still look very natural and the pathways winding through have recently been re-mulched, to make them attractive and accessible for visitors.

The Gardens and Conservation project team are rightly proud of their work, as they see the woodland garden coming to life in the winter, and changing through the seasons.

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#CaringForLife #SensoryGardens #ChristianCharity #CragHouseFarm #ConservationProject #WinterGarden

Help with the washing up

When you have a lot of people round for a meal, there can be a lot of washing up. So when you are serving lunch to 65+ people every weekday, hungry folks who have been busy on therapeutic activity projects at Crag House Farm, there really is a mountain of washing up!

This is the situation in the Centre at Caring For Life every weekday, and they serve breakfast as well. So a good industrial dishwasher is a must! This not only relieves the burden of work, but also ensures that crockery and cutlery are properly cleaned and sanitised.

Thanks to the generosity of grant makers, just before Christmas, a beautiful “all singing - all dancing” dishwasher was installed in our Centre kitchen.

The team on Catering Academy are getting to grips with how the new model works and we really are grateful for this amazing gift of help with the washing up! 

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#CaringForLife #CragHouseFarm #CateringAcademy #TherapeuticDaytimeProjects #NewDishwasher #GenerousGrants