Ag Lit BitMaybe Next Year
Maybe Next Year...
Corn and more corn, soybeans, wild turkeys, deer, cattle, a double rainbow and we hadn’t even arrived yet. Our annual trek to Conover, Wisconsin proved to be a most interesting drive this year or maybe all of this was always out the window, but I wasn’t as observant. Then came eagles, hawks, loons, varieties of fish and even a porcupine to complete the experience as the days passed. Another vacation where agriculture was present from beginning to end without looking very hard. One of my favorite ag moments involved a drive around a lake with my son in his new car, an invite to see how I could tolerate his acceleration abilities on back roads. To his surprise I urged him to stop and do a U-turn at one point as I saw an apple farm, He complied and around we went to pull into a small apple orchard where someone was picking apples farther back in the lot. With a prominent “do not enter” sign at the driveway, I decided it was best not to go wandering back to chat with the farmer. Two days later we are at the farmer’s market and one table was selling apples. There he was, the farmer from Phelps who had picked the apples he was now selling about 5 miles from his small farm. I loved the connection and so wished all the kids we see through our classroom programs could also see this perfect farm-to-table moment. No matter how much you explain where food comes from, it’s hard to “get it” unless you can actually see it. We planted a garden this summer and I was determined to produce a pumpkin, but both my soil and my seed placement produced a pumpkin that never fully developed. My family, however, learned a great deal about pumpkins, despite the results. They gave me an A for effort as they even watched me attempt to hand pollinate the blossoms. They didn’t know the difference between the male and female blossoms before, but now they do! Next year will be different I promised and they will see their locally grown pumpkin go from our yard to our doorstep.