The Farmer’s cousin and I planned
a fun filled day for the Kindergarten kids at our local school. It is one of those things that you get to be in charge of when you are a farmer and you have a Kindergarten student. Here are
some pictures from the day. I even made
the front page of the local newspaper showing the kids a wheat field!
The Farmer’s cousin did a great job showing the kids his
planting equipment. He even started the
tractor and drove it a little so the kids could see how it worked! Some of them jumped when the tractor started. LOL
He also showed them his combine and tried to explain to them
how it worked as well. For those of you
that don’t know. The header cuts off the
wheat, then the wheat is ran over rasp bars that breaks the kernals loose, then
a fan blows the light chaff out and finally a set a “screens” lets the heavier wheat fall though while the
lighter material is sent out the back of the combine. That’s it ….in a nut shell. LOL
My mother-in-law talked to the kids about how wool from
sheep is spun into yarn and used to make clothing and blankets. Doesn't she have a great display?
My father-in-law graciously accepted the job of supervising
the petting of the sheep. The lambs are
our oldest son's 4-H projects. The kids like
the feel of a lamb’s wool.
The Farmer talked to the kids about corn and soybeans. He had an awesome backdrop of a corn
field. He had soybean plants that had
been planted at different intervals so the kids could see how a legume
grows. He also had a table full of
products that are made from corn or soybeans.
These products really intrigued the teachers.
Mr. Responsible, our 4-H member, and my dad talked to the
kids about cattle. They showed them the
15 month old heifer and a 3.5 month old bottle calf that are also 4-H
projects. They talked about what they
feed the calves and how he takes care of them.
Finally, the host and I talked to the kids about wheat. They even had a wheat field close that the
kids could look at. I also talked to the
kids about the various products that can be made from cattle other than
beef…this might be a subject I cover during wheat harvest when I am too busy to
write something else.
The funniest response of the day was when I asked what was
stored in this big round thing (aka a grain bin). One kid
actually said, ”Chicken Nuggets!” I guess my job an ag educator is safe for a
little while.
I was even crazy enough to follow the kids back to school to
do some ag crafts with them, with the help of some unbelievable friends and my
mother in law, that never complained and helped all day! Here the kids are painting with soil. The Farmer’s cousin found this great lesson,
but couldn’t get off work. Thanks to our
local Farm Bureau rep (also another Kindergartener's mom), the kids still got to paint with soil and modge podge.
The Farm Bureau rep (Wow!
She was a lifesaver!) also came up with this cool idea to make grain
mosaics. Here, three of the boys work on their mosaics. She and I are ready to do a
lot more of these. It was fun, looked
cool and was relaxing to do. When we get ours finished I will be sure to post pictures.
I played a game with the kids about how cows find their
calves by scent. I had 20 tubes with 10
different scents and they had to go find their calf. Needless to say, after helping 60 kids try to
find their calf 2 different times, I am not sure my nose will smell right for a
while.
I also talked to them about how everything they eat comes
from the farm. We went through the label
on their snack and were amazed by the number of commodities we found. There are at least 10 different commodities
in a package of Zinger snack cakes and they don’t have any nuts!
This week in review Pictures:
The wheat continues to turn more golden every day. Anyone want to guess when
wheat harvest will begin?
wheat harvest will begin?
The corn is continuing to grow and is enjoying the sunshine and warm days.
Soybean planting started this week. The boys and I took a snack to the field
after school.
after school.
The soybeans are being planting by our drill instead of the planter for
various reasons to be covered in a future blog if you are interested.
various reasons to be covered in a future blog if you are interested.
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