I have to say that Mrs. Piatt and I are having so much fun with this Flat Aggie Project. The kids really do look forward to her reports on Fridays and they actually say they miss her! This week is the first of Flat Aggie's East Coast Adventures, she will have another one in May. My friend Alicia showed her New Hampshire agriculture. I just love how I am learning right along with the kids. It is funny how we can know what we produce so well, but know so little about other types of farming. -KFM
Mrs. Piatt and class,
I work for
the New Hampshire Department of Agriculture and spend my time going to
different farms. Aggie got to follow me around to some of the different stops
that I made.
NH’s climate is ever-changing and we experience all four seasons. However, our
winters are long and cold and our summers are short and relatively cool. This
makes our growing season very short (about 120 days) and limits the types of
things that we can grow. New Hampshire is known as the “Granite State” and our
soils are very rocky and contain limited amounts of nutrients again making it
hard to grow a lot of plants.
There are just over 4,000 farms in the state of New Hampshire. These
range in size from someone who may just grow some vegetables for a roadside
stand to the largest dairy farm in the state which milks more than 1,000 cows
(dairy products make up 1/3 of NH’s total farm income and is the biggest
livestock industry in the state). Greenhouse and nursery products make up the
biggest amount of total agricultural sales in NH.
The first
stop Aggie and I made was to a tree farm. Tree farms are a part of agriculture
that is unique to the Northeastern United States. They serve many different
purposes. Some tree farms are in place to protect forest land from being
harvested.
However, others are used to grow a specific type of tree for use for
timber or even Christmas trees! The tree farm that Aggie and I visited grows
Northern Red Pines which are harvested to make wood for building things like
houses.
Some tree farms in NH are made up of sugar maples which are grown to
produce the sap that makes maple syrup.
Next Aggie
and I went to a Blueberry Farm. Berries and fruit trees are popular crops in
NH.
Because a huge part of our economy is thanks to tourism, many of these
farms are PYO (pick your own). At this farm, people can come and pick their own
blueberries in the summer months or buy a container of ones that have already
been picked. This particular farm is a NH Farm of Distinction; only the highest
quality farms in the state receive this recognition.
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After we
left the blueberry farm, we went to explore some hay fields. This time of year,
the snow has just melted from the fields and they are very soft and wet.
Aggie
got to see some of the equipment that we use to cut and bale hay, like a tedder
and rake.
Hay is the primary field crop grown in NH; it is used mostly to feed
livestock within the state.
Finally, it
was time to head home for the day and Aggie got to see my farm. I raise pigs
and have been doing so since I was eight years old. New Hampshire raises a very
small number of pigs each year, only about 3,000; compared to pig production in
a state like Iowa which has more than 20 million pigs! Aggie helped me do
chores and feed the pigs, like I do every day when I get home from work.
She
even hung out with one of the sows (mommy pigs) while she ate her dinner.
Aggie
peeked in on the baby pigs, piglets, but we decided not to take her picture
with them so we didn’t upset the babies or their mommy.
It was a
blast having Aggie around to help me do my work and to teach her about New
Hampshire’s agriculture. While we may produce a lot less than other states do,
we keep most of our products local and agricultural is still a very important
part of our culture and economy.
Thank you so much Alicia! This is the second time that Alicia has been gracious enough to write a guest post for me. She also shared Caramel Apple Pork Chops with us back in October for Pork Month. If you would like to follow and learn more from Alicia here are some of the ways you can find her online:
Folks can follow me (Alicia MacLean) on Twitter @NHPorkDork (www.twitter.com/NHPorkDork) and on the very new blog that I
co-author, Animal Agriculture Advocate (www.animalagadvocate.blogspot.com).
Would love it if they followed me
via NH Pork Producers Council on Facebook (www.facebook.com/NHPorkProducersCouncil) and on Twitter (www.twitter.com/NHPorkProducers).
-A Kansas Farm Mom
-A Kansas Farm Mom
Be sure to check out Flat Aggie's other adventures in American Agriculture:
Great post! We have loved all of the Flat Aggie posts. Great job everyone!
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