Wearing overalls, boots and cowboy hats, the students of Big Ridge Elementary ventured out to the green space and found some fun farm activities as part of the 26th Annual Union County Farm Day on Thursday, September 26. The 250 students made their rounds to 17 stations demonstrating and teaching Ag in the Classroom activities led by more than 40 volunteers.
Farm Day is hosted annually by Union County Farm Bureau, which is putting efforts in to teach the youths of the community the importance of agriculture in their daily lives and give them some knowledge to take home.
Ag partners included Union County Farm Bureau, UT Extension Union County, Union County 4-H, StoneHurst Miniature Horses, Tennessee Department of Forestry, Union Farmers Co-op, Big Ridge State Park, Union County Soil Conservation District, Horace Maynard FFA, Knox County 4-H and many valued volunteers and farmers from the community.
Students in grades pre-K thru 5th were guided by their teachers and volunteers to farm-related stations. Farm Bureau welcomed them onto the field with a smile and a bag of fun educational items as they began. A wide variety of at least 20 animals were present for petting and learning, including rabbits, horses, mini horses, chickens, snakes, sheep, goats, mini goats, turkey, emus, alpacas, mini cows, mini sheep, and raccoons. The animals were a hit and enjoyed the day as much as the kids.
Horace Maynard FFA was represented in many ways. Students collaborated with Natural Resources Conservation Service to lead the Enviroscape Demonstration, which taught about run-off and water pollution. They also brought goats and sheep and gave out a plant for each student to take home and watch grow.
In conjunction with Farm Day, the agri-science class led story time for the students as a part of the FFA’s Passing Literacy Onwards (PLOW) Program.
Shortly following, the FFA Agriculture Literacy Committee Chairman, Josh Brantley, donated books to their library as well.
Union Farmers Co-op was happy to attend and educate the youths about what the co-op offers. They provided each child with a goody bag and a coupon to encourage them to stop by the store. Also, the co-op graciously lent corral panels to those with large animals.
Big Ridge State Park taught the students about snakes and even brought a corn snake for the children to pet.
StoneHurst Miniature Horses brought their mini, which the students could not get enough of.
A Knox County 4-H-er and volunteer hauled in their show sheep, Marcia and Molly, to enhance their lesson on raising sheep and wool.
UT Extension showed off a walking horse with an exceptional lesson on care and keep of a horse led by Shannon Perrin and 4-H-er Abigail Foust.
After dropping their kids off to school in the John Deere tractor, Josh and Jill Jones displayed the tractor on the field, giving the kids an opportunity to get the feel of sitting on a tractor and a lesson on what tractors can help with on a farm. They were also accompanied by a pet bunny who was full of furry cuddles.
Union County Health Department tied in an interesting lesson on nutrition and health.
The Soil Conservation District had a colorful display regarding Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Repurposed items.
A tree-boring demo was led by TN Department of Forestry, bringing awareness to types of trees and pests that may infest them, such as the Emerald Ash Borer.
More 4-H-ers led lessons on poultry and dairy promotion as a part of their project selections. Some individuals volunteered in leading classes about their farm animals and brought enough animals to fill a petting zoo.
Agriculture and environmental education is vital to the future of ag and farming in communities. The impact of these partners and volunteers is highly valuable in educating these youths to become involved, whether they have access to a farm or not. Preserving the land and its natural qualities and resources is an important goal of teaching at annual farm days in Union County.
Typically, Farm Day is hosted in the spring around May of each year. As a test run, the Farm Bureau Board voted to do a trial in the fall, and next year’s Farm Day and Ag in the Classroom Activities will be scheduled for fall at Sharps Chapel Elementary, adding to the annual impact of Ag in the Classroom activities in Union County.