From Finance to Community: My First Month with Heeley City Farm 💻🐑

When I started volunteering with Heeley City Farm, a Rare Breeds Survival Trust–approved sanctuary, in early December, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I knew I’d be supporting the finance team on Fridays, but I quickly learned that working at a community farm is about far more than spreadsheets and systems — it’s about people, place, and quietly enabling others to do their work well.

While my role is office-based, it plays a small but meaningful part in supporting the care, education, and sustainability that keep this unique space thriving.

🌱 First Day: Finding My Place

My first shift on 5th December introduced me to the tools and systems I’d be using: PayPal Analytics and Excel.

My first task was straightforward but meaningful — creating a detailed café sales spreadsheet for the new Head Chef. Using PayPal income data from January to April 2025, I organised transactions month-by-month, alphabetised entries, and sorted everything into clear food categories such as Breakfast, Children’s Menu, Snacks, and Drinks.

It might seem like routine admin work, but it reinforced a key point early on: good data helps people make informed decisions. Understanding which items sell well supports menu planning, income generation, and ultimately the farm’s ability to fund community programmes and animal care.

💻 Growing Confidence: 12th December — More Café Data & A Magical Evening

I returned on 12th December to continue the café sales project, completing data exports from May through to December. It was the same task as before, but with more volume — and I found it satisfying to see the full year’s spreadsheet take shape.

Seeing a whole year of café activity laid out clearly made the purpose even more tangible. This isn’t just data; it’s a record of how the farm feeds people, supports its running costs, and sustains a space that so many rely on.

In the Wild Lights Garden ✨🏮

Alongside continuing the café sales work, I helped prepare laminated signs for the Wild Lights lantern event — a small but practical part of making the trail clear, welcoming, and accessible for visitors.

After finishing work for the day, I was able to slow down and enjoy the Wild Lights Garden trail, as well as visit the animals across the farm as the space glowed with its festive transformation.

The garden was filled with handmade lanterns crafted by:

• Volunteers

• The farm’s Adult Supported Placements: "where adults with varying learning disabilities and support needs can explore and develop new skills, discover their strengths, and connect with others." - HCF website

• Artist Patrick Amber (@patrickamber_)

• Artist Jo Veal (@joveal_art)

The result was gentle, glowing, and deeply collaborative — a reminder that Heeley City Farm isn’t just an organisation, but a living space shaped by many hands and shared care.

🍄 Event Link: Wild Lights Garden

📈 19th December — Profit Margins and Ingredient Cost Estimates for the New Head Chef

On 19th December, I took on a new challenge: categorising café products and calculating selling prices and profit margins using Excel formulas. I broke down menu items into categories like Breakfast, Cakes, and Drinks, then estimated the cost of each ingredient to help the Head Chef set prices that ensure sustainability.

Calculating the total profit margin percentage involved using the formula:

Margin % = Sold Quantity / Total Excluding VAT

This detailed breakdown supports smarter pricing decisions, helping the café balance affordability with covering ingredient costs and contributing to the farm’s financial health.

🫶 Quiet Support, Real Impact: 5th December and Beyond

Across my first month, I’ve worked with several key systems:

• PayPal Analytics — exporting café income and tracking transactions

• Excel — building multi-month sales spreadsheets and performing profit margin calculations

The tasks themselves — reconciliation, spreadsheet organisation, donor updates — might seem purely administrative, but each one contributes to something larger.

Every tidy column supports transparency.

Every updated record supports sustainability.

Every reconciled payment helps keep the farm running smoothly.

🐄 Beyond the Spreadsheets: A Living Environment

What surprised me most is how alive the farm feels, even from the office. I can hear animals, see volunteers moving between spaces, and watch families visiting the café or walking the grounds.

Working in an environment with animals has been an amazing boost for my mental health. Being able to hear and see them throughout the day is grounding, and it reinforces the reality behind the work — that the figures I’m organising represent real care, real routines, and real lives being supported.

It reminds me strongly of museum work. Behind-the-scenes roles shape the public experience. Without careful documentation, organisation, and support, the visible magic simply couldn’t happen.

🔗 Connecting Skills Across Sectors

This role has strengthened several transferable skills that connect directly to my museum and heritage pathway:

• Data Management — mirroring my cataloguing and digital archiving work, where clear structure ensures long-term accessibility

• Attention to Detail — essential for both financial accuracy and collections documentation

• Understanding Organisational Rhythms — whether a museum or a community farm, people rely on accurate information to plan, adapt, and care responsibly

• Community-Centred Practice — both sectors thrive when sustainability, access, and people are placed at the centre

Supporting the farm through admin work feels closely aligned with specimen care and documentation: both are about stewardship, longevity, and enabling others to engage meaningfully with what’s being cared for.

💚 Reflections on Month One

My first month at Heeley City Farm has shown me that meaningful work doesn’t always look glamorous. It isn’t always handling objects or delivering public programmes — sometimes it’s spreadsheets, reconciliations, and donor records.

But when that work supports a rare breeds sanctuary, a community green space, and an organisation rooted in education and care, it feels purposeful.

I’m looking forward to continuing to build skills in financial administration, CRM management, and behind-the-scenes organisational support — skills that remain deeply relevant whether I’m helping a farm, a museum, or an archive operate at its best.

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