Since 1970, Earth Day has been marked annually on 22 April to encourage people to take time to appreciate the environment around them.
When the team at Duckyls Farm, a care home for adults with learning disabilities, discussed Earth Day’s steadfast commitment to end plastics for the sake of human and planetary health, they decided that they wanted to participate in some small way.
The team decided that their residents might enjoy recycling some plastic from the farm. Thinking creatively, they decided to use plastic water bottles as bird feeders on their 100 acre farm.
Residents Glen and Jason came together on April 22 for a ‘make and paint’ session where bottles were transformed into hanging bird feeders and painted.
The finished feeders have been hung up near to the farmhouse so the eight residents can watch the birds feeding. The new recycled feeders have been filled with peanuts which can attract a large variety of wild birds. The most common of these are likely to be finches, tits, woodpeckers and nuthatches.
Karen Tolton, Manager of Duckyls Farm said, “We want our Duckyls Farm residents who all have learning difficulties, to live their best lives. Sharing the significance of events like Earth Day is an important part of our ethos, as is including the veterans in activities around the farm. We have 100 acres so there are always things to be done, from feeding the rabbits and goats, to sweeping the pathways, helping in the garden and grooming the horses.
“As well as using the new bird feeders close to the farmhouse, so we can see the birds through the windows, we will hang one near to our new summer house so that when we are having a picnic or barbeque this summer, we can watch the birds feeding.”
Duckyls Farm near East Grinstead is run by the charity care provider Diagrama Foundation.
If you would like to help enrich life for the residents at Duckyls Farm they have a Wishlist https://linktr.ee/diagramaamazonwishlist and to see more about life at Duckyls follow www.facebook.com/duckylsfarmsussex
About World Earth Day
EARTHDAY.ORG is unwavering in its commitment to end plastics for the sake of human and planetary health. They are demanding a 60% reduction in the production of all plastics by 2040.
About Diagrama Foundation
Diagrama Foundation is a Kent based charity that supports vulnerable children, young people, and adults to live their best life.
Diagrama has a Supported Living Service across Bromley, three homes for adults with learning disabilities in Orpington, an eight-bed care home for adults with learning disabilities in West Sussex a fifty-bed care home for the elderly with nursing and dementia needs in Essex, and a fostering and adoption service in the southeast.
- The Supported Living Service, cares for 35 adults with learning disabilities, in nine homes across Bromley helping them to develop skills and confidence to live in their own house either on their own or with others.
- At Cabrini House in Orpington the charity promotes the development of core skills for 23 adults with learning disabilities so that they can lead independent lives integrated within their community.
- Duckyls Farm, a 100 acre care home in West Sussex for eight residents with learning disabilities, allows the charity to explore the physical, mental and social benefits that working with animals and in nature can offer to people with a learning disability.
- The team at their nursing and dementia care home, Edensor Care Centre in Clacton on Sea, support vulnerable residents to live life to the full.
- Diagrama’s adoption and fostering service cares for children in South London, Kent, Sussex, and Surrey.
Many vulnerable children and adults don’t get the support they need to develop their true potential, but the Diagrama team know that when someone has time and belief invested in them, they come alive, because that investment has made them feel valued and worthy.
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