How to Have Fun on the Farm During Self-Isolation

The coronavirus pandemic may be having an unprecedented impact on our lives, but it doesn’t mean you can’t find ways to have fun. If you’re lucky enough to live on a farm, then you’ll still be able to enjoy spending time outdoors. 

Although your day-to-day activities may have changed due to the lockdown rules, working the land and caring for livestock is classified as essential work. This means you can still undertake your duties, providing you implement social distancing measures. 

As well as providing critical care to animals during this time and keeping your business afloat, working on your farm is a great way to manage the stress associated with COVID-19. As well as keeping yourself fit, you’ll notice the emotional and psychological benefits of working on a farm now more than ever!

However, living on a farm isn’t all work and no play. With access to an outdoor adventure-land, you can make the most of the space and relish in the open air. For inspiration, take a look at these top ways to keeping yourself busy by having fun on the farm during lockdown… 

 

1. Become an Amateur Photographer

Now is the perfect time to grab a camera and capture your animals at rest, work or play. Collating images could come in handy for future marketing campaigns, so you’ll be boosting your business as well as enjoying yourself. Of course, taking shots of your land isn’t just an effective way of meeting your business goals. 

Great photography requires a significant amount of skill, so you can spend time learning about the theory behind it too. With plenty of information available online, you can dip into guides or even enrol on an online course to enhance your expertise. 

2. Give Virtual Tours

Due to the lockdown restrictions, you won’t be able to invite visitors to your farm right now. Although you can enjoy spending time with the people you live with, COVID-19 restrictions prevent you from socialising with anyone else. If other people work at your farm, they can still attend to undertake essential duties, but you’ll need to keep an appropriate distance from them. 

Fortunately, you can still share the fun of the farm by hosting virtual tours and videos. As millions of people long to be out in the open, they’re turning to the internet to see what they’re missing out on. With a live video, you can take them on a tour of your land, through the farm sheds, over the fields and let them experience what’s happening in real-time. Simply upload your content onto YouTube or an alternative video-sharing site and get ready to welcome virtual visitors.

3. Become an Educator

As schools, colleges and universities remain closed in the UK, parents are doing their best to home school youngsters. With many parents working from home or continuing to operate as key workers, this is no easy task! While schools and online learning platforms are bursting with ideas, parents are actively seeking out learning opportunities that will keep their kids occupied and entertained. 

If you’re a farmer, you’ll already know just how fascinating a farm can be to young people. Whether you’re calving, enjoying the lambs or watching cherry trees come into blossom, the workings of a farm provide a variety of education topics for children of all ages. 

If you want to get involved, team up with parents’ groups or learning providers to offer your input. You could take part in a Q&A, stream live events directly from the farm or teach children how you care for the animals. As many parents are worried about the emotional impact of coronavirus on their children, now could be a great time to show them how the animals are coping with changes to their routine too. 

4. Stargazing

Farmers are used to early starts and late evenings but relaxing on the farm can stretch well into the night too. For maximum visibility, choose a night that’s relatively cloudless and turn off all outdoor light to reduce light pollution. 

If you don’t have any existing equipment, there’s no need to worry. You can pick out well-known constellations just by watching the sky and enjoy looking out for shooting stars. The Big Dipper is made up of the seven brightest stars – Ursa Major, Merak, Alioth, Megrez, Dubhe, Phecda, Alkaid, and Mizar – so these tend to be the easiest ones to find. 

While now may not be a great time to start purchasing telescopes and eyepieces, if you can find a pair of binoculars, you’ll have everything you need. A decent pair will allow you to see the surface of the moon, Saturn, Jupiter and its moons and even the Constellations of Cassiopeia and Hercules.

5. Birdwatching

Spring is the perfect time for birdwatching and farm life tends to attract a wide variety, so you’re in for a real treat. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) offers a range of information about what birds you can expect to see at this time of year, as well as checklists to help you keep track of what species are visiting your farm. 

Travel may be off-limits for humans right now but migrating species are returning to UK shores around this time. If you’re lucky, you’ll see chiffchaff, wheatear, swallows, sandwich terns, whinchat, cuckoo and yellow wagtails. 

Farm Life on Lockdown

The current rules regarding lockdown and making life a little different for everyone. As well as the practical and physical implications, the change in routine and increased health risks means that many people are experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety. 

Although going out and about isn’t an option, spending time on your own land is to be encouraged. With modern technology, you can even share the benefits of farm life with the rest of the world. Whether you’re working on the farm, taking an invigorating walk or simply admiring your surroundings, enjoying farm life while on lockdown can help you to feel calmer and more at peace. 

 

*This is a collaborative post