We started the week with our Easter bonnet competition and Easter egg hunt. Our families and friends joined in and along with a raffle we were able to raise funds for “Families Supporting Care”. It was a great event and even the Easter bunny hopped in to join the fun. As it was our gardening themed week, we took the opportunity to plant seeds, make bird feeders, enjoyed time in the garden and reminisced about plants and garden jobs. What a busy week it was, however, there was always time to enjoy a cup of tea together and see our wonderful pet therapy dog – Tinkerbell.
Monday 10 April and what better way to start the week than with exercises. These were carried out around the home with many residents joining in. I think they were spurred on by the amount of chocolate eaten over the Easter weekend.
Our afternoon was very busy as it was our Easter bonnet competition with residents and families all entering their bonnets. There was a raffle raising funds for the charity – ‘Families Supporting Care’ with lots of prizes donated. Alison judged all the bonnets and with the help of the Easter bunny handed out the prizes, the Easter chick, was on hand to congratulate everyone.
There was also an Easter egg hunt around the garden in between the showers! It was great fun for everyone, and the children made sure all the chocolate was found.
Tuesday 11 April and as all gardeners know, it’s good to encourage insects into the garden as they help us in the garden by pollinating plants, feeding on pests and parasitizing pests. We learnt that ladybirds love eating the green and black fly that land on our vegetable seedlings and so we painted some stones to look like ladybirds. Some had lots of spots on them, we will put them amongst our plants in the garden.
In the afternoon we had the wonderful Tony Allgood perform at Farnham Mill. He does a mixture of songs, limericks and funny stories and he certainly made us laugh.
Wednesday 12 April, as with most gardeners, we always try and encourage the birds into our garden. We regularly top up our bird tables with seeds and nuts and we love to watch the birds when we sit outside with a cup of tea, so we took the opportunity to make our own bird feeders to clip onto the trees and bushes. It was very simple, we used cardboard covered in peanut butter which the seeds stuck to and then clipped it with a clothes peg onto the trees. We were very pleased with our results and hopefully the birds will be too.
In the afternoon we enjoyed a cup of tea with delicious cakes and reminisced about our gardens and the jobs we would be doing to get them into shape for the summer.
Thursday 13 April, we planted nasturtium seeds as they are very bright and easy to grow, along with mint seedlings which we hope will be used by our kitchen for mint sauce when we have roast lamb, and in our Pimm’s in the summer.
We spent time with Tinkerbell, our pet therapy dog.
The afternoon was a chance for us to arrange flowers together. This week there were some beautiful Iris’s along with roses and chrysanthemums.
Friday 14 April, residents started planting sunflowers for our competition to see who can grow the tallest one. We each popped a seed into a pot and after writing our names on the sticks, gave them a drop of water and put them in the sunlight.
Delicious cake was served with cups of tea in the afternoon.
Saturday 15 April, we had a gardening quiz. Lots of questions relating not just to plants, but also famous gardeners such as Percy Thrower and Monty Don.
We enjoyed walks in the garden and a squirrel even posed for us.
In the afternoon we gathered for a game of flower bingo. This sparked conversations about our favourite flowers and what we would grow in our gardens. We all enjoyed the chocolate afterwards with a nice cup of tea.
Sunday 16 April, morning walks outside were how we started the day. A chance to sit quietly and take in the peace and quiet before the day starts.
After that our regular library trolley toured the home giving residents a chance to choose a book to read or take some puzzle magazines. It’s a great opportunity to have a chat with each other.
After a delicious roast beef dinner, a lot of residents relaxed catching up with each other, spending time outside or watching our afternoon matinee. We all concluded that it had been a very busy, but very enjoyable week at Farnham Mill.
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