Wellness in Wellies weekend to raise money for farming charities

Farmers are being invited to take part in a weekend of virtual events designed to destress and uplift their whole families, as part of a charity event organised by Breedr.

From 20-21 March, the Wellness in Wellies weekend will feature a range of fun and relaxing activities, including yoga for farmers, cooking masterclasses, stand-up comedy, farm scavenger hunts and mini meditations. There will also be art classes, bedtime stories for children and a big British farm quiz.

“We wanted to thank British farmers for digging deep and keeping the country fed during lockdown,” says Suzy Wheal, co-founder of Breedr – the precision livestock network. “We know that it’s been an incredibly stressful time for everyone, coping with lockdown as well as the daily pressures of farming life, and we thought it would be nice to organise some fun and uplifting activities while raising money for important farming charities.”

Families who take part in the Wellness weekend are invited to tweet their photos or videos with the hashtag #WellnessInWellies and @_Breedr. For every photo or video, Breedr will donate £1 to the Farming Community Network and Yellow Wellies charities, up to a maximum of £1,000.

“The Farm Safety Foundation – or Yellow Wellies as many know us – is delighted to have been chosen as one of the charities to benefit from this fantastic Wellness in Wellies Weekender,” says Stephanie Berkeley, manager of the Farm Safety Foundation. “The past 12 months will be remembered for the tremendous effort put in by key workers in the industry under difficult circumstances to ensure that we all have the highest standards of food on our shelves and plates, and what better way to celebrate this hard work than putting on a weekend of fantastic family fun.

“With these donations we will continue to raise awareness of preserving and protecting the physical and mental wellbeing of our farmers and educating and inspiring them to challenge and change their attitudes to risk-taking and mental health. The Farm Safety Foundation may be a small charity, but we have BIG ambitions and each and every donation means the world to us.”

Alex Phillimore, marketing and communications manager at FCN, adds: “Events such as this can provide much-needed positivity after a difficult year for many. Each year FCN supports approximately 6,000 farmers and farming families with a wide variety of issues. “Call our Helpline (03000 111 999) or email our e-Helpline (help@fcn.org.uk) to speak with a volunteer who understands farming life. FCN’s FarmWell platform (farmwell.org.uk) also provides lots of free, useful resources for the farming community to support business resilience and personal wellbeing.”

The programme for the weekend is:

Saturday 20th March

9:30am LIVE Yoga for Farmers (suitable for beginners)

Stretch your way into Spring! 9:37am marks the official start of a hopeful new season, and Niki Perry from Blessed Yoga will guide you through a series of relaxing and strengthening exercises designed especially for farmers, followed by 1 week’s free access to live classes via the Blessed app.

11am Miracle Brisket Masterclass part 1

Miranda from the Modern Meat Kitchen is our weekend saviour with this super-simple and very quick recipe that will give you not one but two nourishing brisket meals with hardly any effort from you.

12pm Jim Smith Comedy Challenge

We will be sharing new unseen jokes from farming’s favourite comedian Jim Smith, as well as inviting farmers to share their own brand of comedy in our online Open mic competition. Entries will be judged by Jim and the Breedr team, with prizes for the winning video.

Simply tag your video #wellnessinwellies and #openmic to enter and don’t forget to keep it PG!

2pm Instant Ice-Cream

Farmer Charles is in the kitchen showing you how you can make homemade ice cream ready for half-time with just some freezer bags, ice and salt in this simple kitchen science experiment courtesy of EatFarmNow.com.

4:30pm Farm Scavenger Hunt

Something to keep our young farming friends entertained while everyone else is watching the rugby, simply download and print to see how many you can collect on your farm.

5:30pm Bedtime story for our little farmers

Emma Smith; author, cattle farmer and editor of the Youngstock – a brilliant new magazine for children – reads a bedtime story for your youngstock to help them off to sleep.

7pm Pre-rugby mini-meditation

If you’re finding the anxiety of the day a little too much we have the answer in this short guided meditation from Holly Beckett at Focussed Farmers. Farmers who have taken up mindfulness exercises and meditation have shown, on average, a 20% reduction in stress after 8 – 12 weeks of regular daily mental exercises of 6-15 minutes a day.

10pm Bedtime story for grown-ups with Gareth Wyn Jones

If you’re having trouble nodding off to sleep Gareth Wyn Jones is here to help sooth you off to the land of nod with his dulcet Welsh tones.

Sunday

7am Focussed Farmer Mini-Meditation

Join Holly Beckett from Focussed Farmers for another short guided meditation session, the perfect thing to set you up for a calm and relaxing Sunday.

10am Toddler Ticklathon

If there’s anything more uplifting than the sound of a giggling toddler we’ve yet to hear it and we have a super-speedy balance bike to give away to the ticklish pre-schooler who can handle being tickled for the longest.

Simply tag your video #wellnessinwellies and #ticklathon to enter.

11am Meditation webinar with Focussed Farmers

Learn about the scientific research on mindfulness benefits, using MRI technology to look at brain activity and changes that are occurring when people practice a particular type of mental exercise, and discover how to train your mind for positive benefits you can feel everyday.

12pm Miracle Brisket Masterclass part 2

Miranda from the Modern Meat Kitchen returns to show you how to transform your leftovers into a fantastic lunch with very little effort, leaving you free to focus on you!

2pm All You Need is a Pencil art class with Lucie Cookson

Join Lucie as she guides you through this step-by-step learn to draw course, using just a basic pencil to get you started, you’ll be sketching landscapes, animals and portraits before you know it! https://tidyst.podia.com/courses/all-you-need-is-a-pencil/519912-how-to-draw-an-elephant/1505889-elephant-hi-lights-and-edges

5:30pm Bedtime story with Emma Smith

Author, cattle farmer and editor of the Youngstock, a brilliant new magazine for children, Emma Smith joins us to read a second bedtime story for your youngstock.

7pm The big British farm quiz

Join some familiar farming faces and test your knowledge about all things farming in what will no doubt be a fiercely competitive quiz. Pitch your fork into the ring for the chance to win a Weber smoker and luxury meat box.

· For more information visit www.breedr.co