Success StoryRCARS Youth Education Day: Agriculture Production



RCARS Youth Education Day: Agriculture Production

Author: Jan Gibson

Planning Unit: Perry County CES

Major Program: Agriculture 4-H Core Curriculum

Plan of Work: Home Gardening, Food Preservation, and Food Preparation

Outcome: Initial Outcome

One day during the biennial Mountain Fest Week at RCARS (Robinson Center for Appalachian Resource Sustainablity located in Quicksand, KY) is dedicated to the offering middle school youth hands-on/interactive sessions centered around a theme.  The theme this year was Agricultural Production and the the targeted audience was 5th & 6th graders, 177 youth were registered. Sessions were offered by agents, program assistants, specialist assistants, and NEP assistants who volunteered to teach about some aspect of ag or ag commodity.  Youth were able to participate in 3 to 4 sessions each of the following classes:  Starting Seeds, including harvesting info and a tour of the high tunnel; Maple Syrup Production, including tapping the tree and tasting the syrup; Poultry Production including egg evaluation and broiler production; Honey & Bees  including observing bee organization and the various honeys; Corn and Corn Products including grinding their corn to make their own Journey Cake; Food Year Round focusing on methods of preserving food both modern and historical.  77% of the youth responded that they felt these classes helped them to better understand agricultural production, 63% found they could produce some of these commodities at home, and 62% would like to learn more about agriculture as a result of this opportunity.   






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