The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Project RED
Students learn about agricultural industry
By Alana West, Special Writer
PUBLISHED: May 17, 2007
Most adults know food and material for clothing don't magically appear pre-packaged at the store, but are grown or raised exclusively on farms.
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But do their children?
Michigan State University Extension agents and Washtenaw County Farm Bureau officials want to ensure students make that connection. So 15 years ago, they began Project Rural Education Days, a farming workshop that introduces Washtenaw County third-graders to the products of local agriculture and natural resources.
About 1,800 third-graders from 21 elementary schools in the county attended farming workshops last month at the Washtenaw County Farm Council Grounds near Saline. At the event, they learned that food and many other commodities come from farms.
"Children are so far removed from the food chain, that they don't know where food comes from. I hope this will help them understand," said Bill Ames, who dressed as President Abraham Lincoln during the event.
Nancy Thelen, county extension director, said the program provides educational materials about the farming industry to the teachers, so the students have a chance to continue learning when they return to their classrooms.
Each student also receives a white pine seedling to take home and plant, she said.
As the children from various school districts gathered in bleachers, they saw a group of products arranged in the center of a painted outline of the state of Michigan, each of which represented items produced by farming.
Ames, wearing the characteristic beard, black stove pipe hat and a black suit, told the students that when a glacier carved out the Great Lakes that surround Michigan, it created a unique environment that was ideal for farming.
He also told them that the farming industry in Michigan produces 200 different kinds of commodities, and brings in $5.3 billion a year. There are 53,000 farms in the state that provide everything from vegetables, livestock, wool and dairy to corn for biodiesel.
"There is only one state with more commodities - California," said Ames, who added that the 3,288 miles of shoreline also help make Michigan a beautiful place to visit.
Aimes also stressed the important role played by bees in pollinating farm crops.
"If we lose those, we lose the rest of our commodities," he said.
Becky Mann, a third-grade teacher at Wylie Elementary School in Dexter, took her students to listen to a discussion on planting corn by Mike Score, an MSU extension agent.
Some of her students later said they liked the tractors best.
"All of it was cool, but I liked the tractors," said Mike Bradshaw of Dexter.
As rain beat on the tin roof overhead, making it difficult to hear at times, Score demonstrated in the dirt floor how to plant corn.
"You dig a trench every 6 inches with a trowel, plant the corn, and then the seed gets wet and swells, and the sun comes out and makes it grow," Score said.
He also showed the students how a tall tractor, worth $85,000, and a corn planter, valued at $23,000, on loan from the Horning and Huehl farms in Freedom Township and Chelsea, respectively, could help farmers plant many acres faster and more efficiently, but with greater expense.
"When you plant a big farm, you have to have help," Score said.
At harvest time, he pointed out that the combine, at a cost of $150,000 on loan from George and Jan Schnierle, also proved invaluable, but expensive.
"That's really how we raise corn," Score said.
He gave the students a pop quiz on corn commodities in which every answer was corn. As the students caught on, they yelled, "Corn," louder and louder.
"Not everything is made of corn, but a lot of things are," Score said.
At the end of the lecture, students asked questions, such as why tractors were so expensive, and what size the tires were, learning that the tractor's eight tires were 5-feet-10-inches tall each, and the tractor was made of many moving parts.
At the next stop, Jennie Breuninger of Dexter told the students about her dairy farm, which milks 200 cattle. Each cow gives about 10 gallons of milk per day, she said.
"The only way for a cow to give milk is for her to calf and become a mommy," Breuninger said.
Calves weigh 80 pounds at birth. They are separated from their mothers early, and are raised with other calves of their age. Cows are fed on a balanced nutrition mixture of haylage, which contains alfalfa, silage, corn, cotton and soybean.
Conor VanDusen of Dexter said he liked learning about the cows best.
"And how they have four stomachs. I'm getting hungry just thinking about that," he said.
Elaine Feldcamp of Manchester said that every year they have a special presentation on a particular type of farming. This year, they chose to teach about dairy production.
Students next visited the commodities building, where they could learn about and get samples of popcorn, apples, ice cream, honey, potato chips, dried blueberries and cherries, milk and wool, all created within the state.
"Nothing is wasted, with biodiesel. Everything gets used ... And it's renewable," said Courtney Henry, who gave information about the product, which has been sold through her company, Wacker Oil and Propane, since 2000.
Henry said the fuel could be used in any vehicle that uses regular diesel.
Linda Reeves, who with her family raises 40 llamas, as well as sheep for their wool, showed students who were passing by a technique in rug hooking, which her family has passed down through generations.
Reeves uses woven wool material, which she spins, dyes and cuts into strips, to make woven patterns. For a backing, she uses a feed sack, looping the strips through every-other-hole in the loosely woven burlap.
"There is no tying knots. The ends are all on top," she said. The finished pattern is beautiful and durable.
"The wool is self-cleaning."
Reeves said she has taught both of her sons how to create their own patterns. The hand-dyed cloth varies in color density, and creates its own muted pattern when finished.
"I'm just outlining and filling in," she said.
Students later learned about soil types, and also got a chance to see up close various livestock from local farms, which had been brought to stables at the grounds.
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