1st “Grau superior de Paisatgisme i Medi Rural” students visited Barça
soccer field facilities. A member of the greenkeepers team explained to us
in detail what are the tasks and the importance of having a perfect
playing field. The lawn began to have a critical part of the show as well.
Something was going to change.
The players were becoming from soccer players to athletes. They needed
an immaculate area. The turning point was ten years ago, with a
perception change, professionals entered to play.
People who were able to transform muddy areas to a marvelous green
canvas. They were in charge of making the ball roll perfectly, to achieve
an attractive aesthetic composition for the spectators, and generate an
exact hard surface to evade players’ injuries.
A soccer match goes beyond the goals.
The last 19th of December, the 1o students of GM d’Aprofitament i
Conservació del Medi Natural went to Cusachs company de Riell del
Montseny.
Through the day we could see and talk about forest machinery. We saw
how they cut securely some oaks, how they dragged them, and
capstanted and all that refers to the maintenance of the chainsaw.
Then in the warehouse, they told us about the different machines such as
strimmer tractor, machinery for biomass and so on. Sergi explained to us
about the company and different forestry jobs they do.
At the afternoon we went to the sawmill where we could observe all
sawmill’s machines, trucks in charge of carrying firewood and self-loading
truck, one of the company's machines insignia.
From here, we want to thanks the availability and good treatment of the
company Cusachs, and in particular Sergi.
5 January of 2020 celebrated the 10th Ranching sample and 25th King
fair of Casserres. This year, with the 10th commemoration edition, the
staff and former students of Quintanes school, Josep LLorens, and Joan
Torné explained to us that they wanted to give a strong impulse,
especially in farming and ranching machinery sample.
A dozen of franchisees of farming machinery have participated, and more
than 80 cattle heads have been displayed, doubling the number of the
last edition.
Regarding the cattle, it was able to see: bovines, birds, equines, ovines,
and porcine. These last animals have had some difficulties in their move
and displayed in the fair due to sanitary issues. All the earnings of the
different raffles done through the morning and popular breakfast are
earmarked entirely to “Marató de TV3”.
More than fifty stands filled Casserres streets as well, with traditional and proximity products. The fair has been very crowded, we have been able to talk with a lot of people related to the school.
To conclude, we need to highlight the stunning work made but the
ex-students of Quintanes, with the support of the “Associació de
comerciants de Casserres” and the stockbreeders from its zone.
Once again, Quintanes school have been present supporting the sector.
Happy new year! We come back with renewed energy, looking forward to
an even better 2020.
The photo shows the Christmas lunch where Quintane’s families and staff
share the table and desire to begin a new period with more harmony,
cooperation and effort than ever.
A memory to start the new year with a smile and illusion.
On 17th December, the Mas Bes dairy farm, received the visit of first-year students of High Level of Livestock and Animal Health. Mas Bes is a company that produces cow milk branded ATO Nature.
Aleix Viñolas, explained the evolution and how the farm operates nowadays, the biogas plant where they produce electricity, and the farm’s visits available to all kind of groups of people interested. The visitors can supplement the experience visiting the historical Farm Museum, seeing the evolution of farmers’ lifestyle, the shop where you can buy several farm’s products, and finally eating in the farm’s restaurant.
One of the next Mas Bes projects will be the installation of photovoltaic solar panels to produce the electricity consumed by the farm.
Mas Bes is an example of a company open to the public, which evolves, undertakes news projects, and announces products which are the result of their work and values.
We, the School, thank the Mas Bes farm, for giving us the opportunity to make this interesting visit.
More information:
https://www.masbes.com/
+ info: https://www.masbes.com
On 3rd December, the 2o students of Cicle Formatiu de Grau Mitjà de
Producció Agropecuària, visited “El Pinós Nou” a family-owned dairy cow
farm located in Rupit.
The daily milk work follows the protocol to provide milk quality, and the
quality is certificated by the periodic audits of the productive process.
The cows are distributed in homogenous groups for their best well-being
and productive organization. The cows are fed with portions adapted on
their necessities, based on the food analysis. Another important aspect is
the management and reproduction controls, and the selection of
morphological character, productive and functionals characters of the
females assigned for replacement.
The selection is made thanks to the genomics analysis, the use of
sexed/sexing semen, the use of stallions with A2A2 genes, and so on.
The cows in pre-birth phase have a wide reserved space, made it to
facilitate the highest comfort and the birth of the cows. Sanitary Control is
based on the prevention and starts with the correct transmission of
defences that mother does to her newborn calf with the quality colostrum
ingestion.
Other last things introduced at the height of environmental management
are the distance Solid-Liquid of the purine, the composting of the solid
fraction and the reuse for the cow bed.
We express our gratitude to Gerard, Jorge and Sebastián, responsibles for
the farm, to their attention and explanations of the different aspects of
the farm they keep in mind: management, feeding, reproduction,
genetics, sanity, facilities, animal well-being, environmental management,
etc.
Thursday, 14th of November the 1o students of GM of Jardineria visited Honda Green’s facilities in La Garriga. This visit is associated with the machinery of the gardening syllabus. Mr Pedro Sillero explained to us everything related with the most used machines in the sector. For instance: lawnmowers, strimmers, chainsaws of the ECHO brand, and so on. We were able to check the cut of the manual SILKY tools. After all of this, we visited the facilities and they gave us a demonstration of some machines mentioned before. In addition, we talked about the present and the future of the new battery machines in this sector. It is important to keep abreast of market newnesses showed by the leaders. A very nice visit, very grateful for the students.
7 of November, the 2o GM students of “Producció Agropecuària” visited Can Toi porcine farm located in Sant Marti Sescorts. “Can Toi” is a familiar farm type and an innovative farm model with a continuous improvement spirit, and with projects to keep adapting in the current situation of the market and all the sectors demands We appreciate Ramon Molist and Pedro Casals, who are in charge of the farm, for their attention and explanations of the different aspects they keep in mind for the farm: genetics, management, alimentation, reproduction, facilities, health service, environmental process and so on. bienestar animal, gestión medioambiental, etc.
We are curious, we like to share to improve. This is one of our
characteristics, discover and exchange educative project experiences over
the world. We have had a visit of Mr Idahri, director of SS Iaalatten
de Segangan (Nador, Morocco). A very enriching day.
FR: Nous sommes curieux, nous aimons partager pour nous améliorer.
C’est l’une de nos caractéristiques: découvrir et échanger des expériences
de projets éducatifs dans le monde entier. Aujourd'hui, nous avons eu la
visite de M. Idahri, directeur du SS Iaalatten de Segangan (Nador,
Maroc). Une journée enrichissante.
Since 2 years ago, EFA Quintanes School has provided ECC school year (European Chainsaw Certificate). School intends to get close to the companies and self-sufficient to make a professional and improve safety and work in the forest sector conditions. We provide ECC1, ECC2 and ECC3. Also, Quintanes offer the possibility to do a “preparatory” intensive course for those who have done an official ECC school year and want to do an exam. Currently, more than 25 persons have done this academic training. Each time the number of people interested increase and contact us to request information because it’s necessary to promote in the workwise or to guarantee business professionalism. If you are interested to know about when is the next academic training, call 93.850.24.41 or send an email to efa@quintanes.com. The groups are small.
+ info: http://www.quintanes.com/carnet-motoserra
The last 20 of September, the 1o students of GS of “Ramaderia i assistència animal” visited the agrarian company of Soler de N’Hug in Prats de Lluçanès. There, we were able to see a company working with different production (milk, meat), various types of cattle (bovine, ovine, porcine) and the last fabrication (milk, meat) that are assigned to short circuit sells (own stores and small butchers) and not for the industry. And that’s not all, because at this point it’s the only Catalan company that has a low capacity abattoir destined to the ovine animals who have been breed in the same company. We want to show gratitude for the disponibility of Peraire brothers (Abel and Pep) and also their father (Toni) for explaining to us how it works such a varied agrarian company
The last 4 of October, the students of 2o of GM “Agrario” went to visit an agrarian company of Mas Terricabres in Oristà. This visit consists to see a familiar business to make the students think about ideas for the project they do during this course. Besides visiting the cattle: beef cows, calves and pigs, they showed us about their work with alternative energies like photovoltaic sheets and biomass splinter for the heatings. The company is also working with different native of chickpeas, green tomatoes and wheat to prevent their extinction. It has been a pleasant visit and the family has attended us excellently.
To start the academy course with energy and cause awareness, each year we organize a trip with Gestió Forestal i del Medi Natural students in Osona. The trip was in Vidrà-St. Pere de Torelló by Forat Micó. This route is done for some reasons: in order to observe different kind of forests, to work the plants associations, to visualize the different plants in function of the climate and to get a closer the forestry process and last, but not least, to promote group cohesion.
Last Friday 27th, a student group from “Gudewill Schule OBS mit
gymnasialem Angebot” school in Thedinghausen visited us.
Thedinghausen is a municipality of Verden district, in Lover Saxony,
Germany. It is located on the left border of Weser, about 15 km to the
west of Verden, and 20 km southeast of Bremen.
The school students are doing a foreign exchange program with
Santpedor school, and connoisseurs of Quintanes’ path regarding the stay
and exchanges. They requested to visit our school.
They have received an explanation of the alternative education system
that is one of EFA Quintanes' identity features since the beginning.
Afterward, they were able to walk around its facilities and through the
forest of Quintanes.
The year starts with a lot of activity since the first day. The students of
1st “Grau superior de Paisatgisme i Medi rural” visited the botanical
garden Marimurtra located in Blanes.
An intriguing visit for the more than four thousand plant species, most of
them exotic, as well as the different extraordinary specimens for its age
or dimensions.
Marimurtra is the work of a passionated man towards nature. Carl Faust
(Hadamar, Germany 1874 - Blanes 1952), an entrepreneur established in
Catalonia, he dedicated his illusion, effort and all his heritage to the
realization of his dreams.https://www.marimurtra.cat/
+ info: https://www.marimurtra.cat/
+ info: https://www.marimurtra.cat/
With the aim of responding to the needs of the work market, the vocational training dual bet to increase the collaboration among professional educational centers and companies, in the student's formative process. In this school year 2018 -2019 we have started to teach in the dual modality the medium-grade cycle of agricultural production. The agreements of collaboration between the company and the school have been formalized to be able to carry out the FCT in the modality dual. After educating the company tutor, the individual agreement is implemented where the conditions are established in order to develop a dual training. After some time, when the student is in a company, the monitoring visits begin which will determinate how will be the following of the practices and the objectives are defined for the student who will have to achieve them during summer.
+ info: http://queestudiar.gencat.cat/ca/estudis/fp/mesures-flexib/fp-dual/index.html
The technic journey of fruit growing has provided the quality improvements of the second medium-grade students of agriculture and livestock holding, in the discovery of new varieties and crop techniques. They visited Mas Badia, a center that works together with IRTA. It's about an experimental farming season which has as objective conduct the activities of agricultural experimentation that allow the improvement and orient the province of Gerona's farming.
+ info: http://www.irta.cat/ca/centre/mas-badia/
Friday, May 24th the students of first medium -grade of agriculture and livestock went to visit Can Bartomeu. This company has as activities, for example, the extensive crops (it has 500 hectares: some of them are Can Bartomeu's property and the others are leased), works to third parties, fatten up porcine and expand agrotourism. The house son, Marc Fitó, has taught us the activities in which the company is engaged, remarking the plagues and crops illness and the way to confront them. Besides, he has taught us and explained the machines they use, their characteristics and functioning. Whereas in the agrotourism, Marc has told they have a rural independent lodging modality. To conclude, it has been a visit in which the students have had the opportunity to see the different activities focused on the same field, and thanks to these varieties of activities, the company is able to work.
Sunday, 2nd of June we celebrated the Festa del Camp, 2019. Four hundred people assisted and this year the sun shined all day. Like every year, ex-students of old promotions were invited to the celebration; this year they accompany us the 33rd and 36th promotions. The party started with the usual final of the football championship where the blue team took the victory, with representatives of Forestal with a score in favor of 8 goals to 6. ¡It was a very close ending! In parallel began the gymkhana of tractors, organized by the school's teacher Josep Bagaria. This game tests in the ability and driving of tractors. The winner was Ferran Faig of 2GM of Gardening, in the second position Jaume Roquet of 2GM of Forest and the last place was for Mr. Xavier Capdevila, Arnau Capdevila's father, student of the school. The academic event was lead by Mr. Francesc Javier Vela, JARC's president, Mr. Toni Martorell, Director of Quintanes, Mr. Miquel Torrents, Presidento of the Fundació Antiga Caixa Manlleu, Mr. Joan Roca, President of Consell Comarcal d'Osona and Mr. Sergi Vilamala, Mayor of Les Masies de Voltregà.The parliaments of the authorities defined us as integrative school, active and open to the environment and who looks after the development of the students. During the academic event, the awards "Q" were given, that each year are given in recognition of the companies and people who contribute to the school. This year, the award was for the company Juscafresa S.A and Codina Maquinària and Mr. José Santaella. A great dinner was prepared by our cooks, which consisted of rice salad and meat to the ember. After having lunch, as every year, we had the chainsaw competition. The winners were Santi Hidalgo, Eduard Jou, Xavi Corominas and Pau Davesa. ¡It was a great party! As usual thanks to all the students, ex- students, teachers, non-teaching staff, friends and EFA Quintanes's collaborators. We are grateful for all their dedication and participation, without which couldn't have been done La Festa.
Thursday, 16 of May, the first CFGM students of d'aprofitament i conservació del medi visited the Camprodon volunteer fire station. There, they explained to them the differences between volunteer firefighters and professional firefighters. Besides, they could visit all the installation of the fire station, know first-hand and how to act in an emergency and see all the fire truck equipment. After all these lines, we want to thanks Francesc and Pere, as well as GRAE who attended to us with their explanations
The biologist Josep Maria Riba was in a professional get-together with the second CFGS students of Gestión Forestal (Forest Management). The theme was about factors that predispose and trigger plagues and illness in forest areas mass and how to manage these elements to minimise the cost and problems.We could analyse the Maresme's forest situation mass and the different Pirineo's forest areas.Also, they discussed the problem between natural parks of USA and Canada. Once the meeting ended, he shared with all of us his experiences and his big insect collection (with adult and larva size), insect galleries and symptoms that throughout his professional life he has been collecting. In this way, we ended up knowing clearly how are the main plagues of perforators and defoliators of Catalonia.
On May 23, the second students of GM of gardening had a working day with little excavators, machines very used in the gardening sector. The working day started by doing all the theoric part, about the excavator's functioning, the controls, the maintenance, the purchase and rent price, the efficiency and, especially, the precaution and security required when we work with them. When the theoric part was done, we switched to the practice part. The students, all and each of them, could practice either with the little excavator or the little rotating machine. It was a very good experience that will help them in professional life because they will be able to rent and work these machines with security and knowledge. At this point, we would like to express our gratitude towards the implication of Mr Carles Viladecans during the day.
Student visit of the second GMF group. The students visited Camadoca's wild fauna centre. It's a centre managed by the Asociación de Defensa y Estudio de la Fauna y la Flora Autóctona (ADEFFA) which works in different Berguedà's native fauna conservation projects, like naiads and native crabs. With the visit, it was expected to raise awareness among the students about the invader species problem and the importance of native species breeding programmes. Environmental education and awareness is a key line of work at the centre because through education the ecologic value of these species can be published and put in motion the importance of biodiversity and the key role that people execute when it comes to preserving the environment.
Quick visit but very intense by the school's teacher, Jordi González in Argentina from April 28th to May 5th. Among the scheduled activities, he assisted to the "Encuentro del Consejo de Administración de la Asociación Internacional de Movimientos Familiares de Formación Rural " (AIMFR), of whic he is the coordinator. Also, he was intervened as a guest from the "Ministerio de Eduación" to the 3º "Congreso Internacional de Escuelas de Alternancia" in Posadas city. Mr González visited three EFA and four ex-students to exchange impressions about their professional projects, know more about the rural environment situation of the country and its pedagogical aspects teaching in the EFA.
This month March has ended the “Herramientas de Interpretación” classes, “Comunicación y Gestión” of the first edition of the course. We leave behind the sessions of “Análisis del Paisaje y de las Actuaciones Paisajistas”, in relation with the new interventions like the ones that are related with the maintenance aspects and environmental reality conservation of the forest and gardening sector. The sessions have been in a class combined with some interesting and varied countryside trips, lead them by numerous landscapists, technicians of the sector and Universidad de Vic’s teachers.
+ info: http://www.quintanes.com/curs-paisatge-rural
