Author: Danielle Ford
Planning Unit: Marion County CES
Major Program: Accessing Nutritious Foods (general)
Plan of Work: Promoting Phsyical, Mental, Emotional, and Financial Wellness
Outcome: Intermediate Outcome
Each year the 5th graders (303 this year to be exact) of the Marion County school district are able to participate in the Extension office’s Farm to Fork field day. This is one of my favorite field days that the office puts on each year. So many children still have no knowledge of where their food comes from or if they do then it might not be the correct information. Being raised a farm kid I always knew that I would someday have a career related to the Ag industry. Although I teach nutrition programs with the FCS area, my heart lies in educating the youth about the goodness that comes from the farm. The versatility of the FCS field allows me to do both. As the Market Manager of our Farmer’s Market I was able to get a couple of our vendors from the market to join us on our field day and allow them to share their passion. We also had various animals at the office for the children to learn all about each one of them and they learned how to utilize all of the by-products of the animals (i.e. goat soap made from goat milk, lard and fragrances. They were able retell the difference between a beef(cuts of beef) and dairy cow (milked the cow), a milk goat, different grains and how they are used, how clothes are made out of cotton, what products are made from corn and soybeans, etc. We need to continue to educate our youth so we can help the future of our county.
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