The new communal "Hummelwiese" farm daycare center on the grounds of LVAV Hofgut Neumühle, a facility of the Pfalz district association, was officially opened with a colorful ceremony on Saturday. The daycare center opened on August 18, 2025 and offers 25 childcare places.
Mayor Rudolf Jacob welcomed numerous guests, including representatives of the Pfalz District Association, LVAV Hofgut Neumühle, parents and children as well as members of politics and administration. After musical contributions from the children and words of welcome from Ulrich Ihlenfeld (Bezirksverband Pfalz), daycare center director Denise Wittenberg presented the educational concept of the facility.
"With the Hummelwiese farm nursery, we are not only creating additional childcare places, but also a special learning and adventure space where children can experience nature first-hand," emphasized Mayor Jacob in his speech.
As part of the celebrations, Dr. Karl Landfried, First District Councillor of the Donnersberg district, representing District Administrator Rainer Guth, presented the official funding notification from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate to the municipality of Winnweiler. The "Hummelwiese" farm daycare center is being supported with 212,500 euros as part of the investment cost funding for daycare centers. The funds come from the state-wide special programme and investment cost support for daycare centres, with which the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Education specifically promotes the expansion, renovation and modernization of daycare centres.
The new farm daycare center is located on the grounds of the traditional teaching and research institute for livestock farming Hofgut Neumühle. Children can experience at first hand how animals are cared for, plants are grown and food is produced. At the opening ceremony, farm educators Stefanie Jung and Dr. Theresa Scheu gave guests an insight into the concept of "farm education", which enables learning with head, heart and hand.
After the official part, representatives of the John Deere company presented pedal tractors as a gift to the children at the daycare center. The little vehicles caused great excitement.
Finally, Mayor Rudolf Jacob thanked everyone involved for their dedicated cooperation, in particular the employees of the daycare center, LVAV Hofgut Neumühle, the Pfalz district association and the construction and planning teams involved. "With the Hummelwiese, we have created a showcase project that is exemplary for modern, nature-oriented early childhood education in Rhineland-Palatinate," said Jacob.