How food gets on your plate

Milk, cheese and butter comes from cows and goats, honey comes from bees and fresh mint just might make you smarter.

About 450 fifth-graders from Post Falls and Rathdrum attended the Farm to Table Agriculture Education Day Thursday at Kootenai County Fairgrounds. The kids milked goats, held baby goats, checked out bee hives and learned about vegetables and meats and where the food comes from — not the supermarket.

Evan Bradshaw, 11, from Mullan Trail Elementary in Post Falls, said his favorite part of the day was the carriage ride.

"I got to sit in the front and it was really fun because I got to see what it was like back then, when people rode horses, and it makes me feel really happy — it makes me feel peaceful," Evan said. "And I got to pet one of the horses."

Evan said he also learned about bees and how they can only see specific colors, while humans can see all colors.

Camren Wells, 11, from Prairie View Elementary in Post Falls, said his favorite experience at the event was the pigs. He said they saw three pigs, one larger pig and two smaller "twins."

"We learned about the body and where they live and what they eat," Camren said.

Sixteen stations were set up around the fairgrounds for the event, including farm animals, farm equipment, wheat, dairy, water and soil. Ty Thomas, marketing and resource development manager for the fairgrounds, said it is the second year of the event and educating fifth-graders about farm life. He said farm to table is "kind of a full circle."

"Basically it's how food gets on their plate and the processes that go into that," Thomas said.

Linda Rider, fairgrounds board member, founded the event along with fellow board member Joy Crupper.

"Being somebody in the agriculture industry I just have a real passion that we need to better educate people where their food comes from, that it doesn't just come from the grocery store," Rider said.

Rider said the number of students more than doubled from last year so they added an extra day. She said last year about 300 students attended

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FOOD

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the one-day event. This year 300 students attended Wednesday, with 450 more on Thursday. About 50 volunteers helped out this year as well.

Post Falls farmer, Fran Hughes, volunteered to teach the kids about soil analysis and also filled in for another volunteer to teach the kids about some of the farm equipment, such as the hay baler that can tie six knots between two claps of the hands.

"There is a computer in the cab that operates this baler and tells it all kinds of things, and the farmer can program that computer for how he wants it to run," Hughes told a group of kids.

Hughes said he helped out last year as well and said it is "kind of hard to say no," because it is easy to appreciate the event. He said he became a farmer because it is a calling, not a job or a career.

"One of the things that's interesting working with these kids is the questions you get," Hughes said. "They are great kids and they are really smart. I'm real pleased with what I'm seeing from the kids in these schools."

High school volunteers from the Timberlake Agriculture Club gave presentations to the kids about cattle care, breeds, and meat cuts and byproducts of cattle.

Cheyenne Ross, a Timberlake High School sophomore, said she grew up as a "beef and swine kid" and believes it is important for kids to learn about agriculture. She said the kids are at the right age where they can decipher and be open to new ideas, so it is important for them to know where their food comes from at this stage in their lives and where "everything else comes from besides meat."

"Working with bi-products they get kind of grossed out when you tell them that gum is made from animal fat, but it's a really cool idea that we can take an animal and use it entirely and make it into different things," Ross said. "But I really think this event is a good thing and I wish that more people would do it and realize how important agriculture is."