Flat Aggie Goes to London!

I was able to take a trip across the pond to London, England to visit the International Food & Drink Event (IFE) from March 14-20, 2013 with my friend Jonathan from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture.

While in London, I got to see how small and medium sized companies market value-added food products with the assistance of the Southern United States Trade Association (SUSTA).  SUSTA is located in New Orleans, Louisiana, and they have been helping promote agricultural and  related products from the southern United States since 1973.  They are able to do this with help from the United States Department of Agriculture.

I got to help a company from Virginia make scallop cakes one day.  They were so delicious!  The company has been family-owned for over seventy-five years!  I also got try a pumpkin spice cake that was made with a gluten-free baking mix.  This kind of product is very helpful, because there are many people that have an allergy to gluten, which is found in a lot of products that we eat every day, like bread.  The woman who makes these kinds of baking mixes does so to make sure that people with this allergy can still eat things like cakes and brownies, and she wants to make sure that they taste good.  I loved her brownies!  I would show you a picture…but I ate them all.

Here I am hanging out with my new friends, Julie and Dorian They work for the Foreign Agricultural Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture at the U.S. Embassy in London.  They work very hard to help agricultural producers who are looking to sell their products in the United Kingdom for the first time.  They also help people if they are having trouble understanding and following all of the rules that are associated with selling their products in the United Kingdom.  I came back to the United States with my friend Cindy who works for the West Virginia Department of Agriculture.  I will tell you about my visit with her later.

I did get to hang out with Jonathan, Cindy and a bunch of their colleagues in New Orleans for a few days at a meeting that SUSTA hosted at the end of March.  There, I learned about all the different rules that Jonathan, Cindy and their friends have to when they are doing projects like IFE.  In this picture I am with Jonathan, Cindy, and their colleagues from Alabama, Florida, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, Tennessee, and Virginia.  Now I am on my way to Washington, D.C. with my friend Nancy, who works for the United States Department of Agriculture!

What an amazing adventure!  I am so excited that Flat Aggie went all the way to London!  My kids were VERY excited too!

Flat Aggie Visits the Hays Family Farm in Arkansas

Hi! We are the Hays Family. Garrett is 12, Emmi is 10, and Ty is 8. We are so glad we get to 

help Flat Aggie learn about agriculture! Our farm is in Springtown, Arkansas. We have a population of 114 people in Springtown. We go to school in Gentry, a town really close to us with a 

little over 3000 people. We raise cattle as well as crops on our farm. We have taken Flat Aggie 

around to see some of our farm. Hope you enjoy our pictures!

Flat Aggie helped us feed hay to the cattle . We feed hay using a truck with a special bed on the back 

called a hay bed. It has arms that pick up the hay and hold it on the truck until we get where we need to 

feed it. The arms then pick the hay up and lower it to the ground.

 We roll the hay out so that more cows have room to eat at one time.

 Ty is showing Flat Aggie some of the new baby calves. 

 Flat Aggie is helping Emmi feed her horse, Lady.  Lady is a barrel horse. Emmi and Lady compete in barrel Races. Emmi feeds Lady grain 2 times every day. She also feeds Lady hay. Lady gets new shoes every 6 weeks. The person who puts Lady’s new shoes on her is called a Farrier.

 Garrett, Emmi and Ty are showing Flat Aggie one of our tractors. We use this tractor to 

work ground. That means, we get the ground ready to plant our crops. The crops that we 

plant on our farm are, Green beans, soy beans, corn and wheat.

Flat Aggie is standing with Garrett, Emmi and Ty in front of one of our grain bins. After some of our crops are picked they will get stored in one of these until we sell them. Sometimes, the grain is taken in a big truck to the port where it will be put on a barge and hauled down the river. Some of the crops we raise will be used to make feed for animals to eat. Our green beans are sold to a company who puts it in cans. It then goes to the grocery store for you to buy and eat. 

What a fantastic adventure!!  Thanks Hays Family!

Bye Bye Spring Break and Hello Flat Aggie Twin!

Last week was Spring Break and I feel like I've done pretty much nothing ... I guess it is called a break, but I had a list of things I wanted to accomplish and only got a few done!  Oh well, they might get done eventually!  I didn't have internet ALL WEEK - I know, I don't know how I survived but I am here alive and well!!  Sorry for my lack of posting!  I have a few Flat Aggie posts to catch up on and have been doing some projects for our reception next month and around the house I want to share.  I also spent the week changing my name - spent a morning at the Social Security Administration and another at DMV then spend a day on the phone changing everything else over.  I'm sure I forget something, but I at least have a good start!  

Since I am scheduling this post I am back with my kiddos right now.  Mixed feelings as always.  I missed then but I sure do like to lounge around and get projects done around the house.  Didn't so much like hanging out at the DMV, but I needed to get that done and I finished half a book so that was good.

  I am SO EXCITED to share Flat Aggie's twin with you!!!  Or maybe she is his cousin?  Either way, there is another Flat Aggie flouting around out there!!  Tales from a Kansas Farm Mom teamed up with her son's first grade teacher to make this Flat Aggie. If you have enjoyed our Flat Aggie adventures, be sure to check out her adventures here!  My class will be so excited to see another Flat Aggie!

Did you have a Spring Break?  If so, what did you do?  If not, what would you have done?

Flat Aggie learns that Nutrition Starts on the Farm

Flat Aggie's latest adventure:

Hi to Miss Allard’s first grade class.  We are so happy that you sent Flat Aggie to us.  I really think he enjoyed his visit to our farm.

Flat Aggie visited the University of California FARM SMART Program.  Almost every day we have students from Imperial Valley Schools visit this farm.  It is a 255 acre research farm and we have special fields with vegetables just for students who visit our program.  We see about 5000 students every year!  Our farm is located only 10 miles from the Mexico border and it is a desert environment so we get very HOT in the summertime (sometimes over 120 degrees!).  In the winter, the temperatures are very mild so our farmers can grow food and ship it around the world.

Flat Aggie attended our program with another local school and would love to share his experiences with you.

 

 

In the center picture, Flat Aggie has a necklace that has beads on it.  Each bead represents a natural or renewable natural resource that help plants grow.  So the yellow bead represents the sun, the blue bead is water, the brown bead is soil, the clear bead is air.  The white bead is seed and the green bead is plants.  Every student gets to make a bracelet so they can remember what makes plants grow.

 Because water is so important, the picture on the left shows Flat Aggie with our “Dudley Dewdrop”.  He is a water droplet and wants everyone to be water savers.  Students attending our program learn that everyone can be water savers just by taking short showers and turning off the water when they brush their teeth.  They can save 10-15 gallons of water a day!!!

 The picture on the right shows Flat Aggie with a student who is holding a bowl full of delicious salad.  If you ever have a chance, read the book entitled “Stone Soup”.   Instead of Stone Soup, we changed it to Stone Salad and we put cabbage, garbanzo beans, olives, ham, cheese and Chow Mein Noodles in the salad.  Top it with some Ranch Dressing, shake it up and you have a perfect salad.  Everything in the salad is soooooo good for you and you can find every ingredient (except the Ranch Dressing) on the Food Pyramid. I think Flat Aggie enjoyed the salad.!  If you want to try a shaker salad, get a cup with a lid.  Start by putting the dressing on the bottom of the cup, then put a layer of cabbage or lettuce, then add some cheese, olives, garbanzo beans, ham and chow mein noodles.  Put the lid on it and when you are hungry, shake it up and enjoy a nice and fresh salad.

Flat Aggie is ready for our hayride!  The students have learned how plants grow and now it is time to go to the field and pick produce.

 

First stop is at a field of curly leaf lettuce.  Sure will taste good in a salad.

Look at those scrumptious brussel sprouts.  Steamed with a little butter, salt and pepper and they will have a delicious flavor.

 

Flat Aggie enjoyed picking beets.  The beet tops (leaves and stems) can be cooked like Spinach and the Beets (big red roots) can be steamed, sliced and topped with butter, salt and pepper or they can even be pickled.

 

Everyone filled their bags with beets, radishes, lettuce and brussel sprouts.  What a feast for dinner!

 

 

At the end of the field trip, Flat Aggie visited our greenhouse.  We have flowers, tomatoes and herbs growing in the greenhouse.

I was so happy that Flat Aggie was able to spend a day with us.  After his visit with us, he was taken to Imperial County Farm Bureau and they will choose where he will go next.

Remember…”Nutrition Starts on the Farm”.  If you are ever in El Centro, California, come visit the University of California Desert Research and Extension Center.

Sincerely,

Nancy Caywood Robertson, Educational Outreach Coordinator, FARM SMART Program

Stephanie Collins, Program Representative, FARM SMART Program

University of California-Desert Research and Extension Center

1004 E. Holton Road

El Centro, California  92243

(760) 356-3067

URL: http://ucanr.org/sites/desertresearch/

Note from Sarah:  This is the cutest little girl!!  What a great adventure! 

Flat Aggie and Kentucky's Mobile Science Center

Today I continued my tour with the division of Agriculture Education and Outreach at the Department of Agriculture in Kentucky. I started the day early and traveled all the way to Vine Grove, Kentucky which is located just outside of Elizabethtown. We were visiting Jason Hodge, Mobile Science Center Coordinator, to watch him teach students about soil erosion and how to make lip balm! 

We started with the soil erosion demonstration. Jason has a cart that demonstrates a field that is covered in nice green grass on one side, a corn field that has been harvested in the middle and a bare ground field on the other side. He challenges students to think about which field will have the most erosion. Erosion happens when soil is broken down by wind, water and ice. Jason takes water and pours it over each field to make it “rain” on the ground. A student catches the water underneath the soil cart to see how much erosion occurred. The field that was covered in grass had nice clear water, meaning there was very little to no erosion of the soil. The Corn field in the middle had brown water with a little bit of dirt swirling around inside the cup. This meant that there was some soil erosion that occurred. In the last dry mud field, the water was dark brown with chunks of dirt in the water. This showed that there was a lot of soil erosion. So what helped so much in the field with the green grass? The roots! They help hold the soil in place!

I was able to help Jason set up for the lip balm demonstration. He is making lip balm out of bee’s wax, vegetable oil and flavoring- to make it smell nice! I am standing beside the hot plates that he uses to melt the bee’s wax. I had to be very careful because it was HOT!

When Jason gets the bee’s wax, it comes in a solid block form. Jason shows the students that you have to heat up the bee’s wax to change it to a liquid to make lip balm. He talks to them about states of matter: liquids, solids and gases. You will learn more about this later on in elementary school! The bee’s wax is hard and kind of looks like wood!

Jason adds the vegetable oil to the melted bee’s wax. You know what? Even though it is labeled “vegetable oil” it really is 100% soybean oil. In my travels around Kentucky, I have learned that soybeans are one of the top commodities grown here. They are known as the farmer’s “miracle crop” and are used in everything from crayons, ink, counter tops, baby formula and so much more! Who knew a bean could do all of that!

After he mixes the wax and oil together, he adds flavoring. Jason has an oil flavoring for one batch and a water based flavoring for another batch. He shows the students that the oil flavoring blends very easily with the vegetable oil and wax, making a solution, which cannot be separated. When Jason adds the water based flavoring, he had to use a magnet to keep the mixture stirring. Water does not blend easily with oil. If Jason stopped stirring, the water would separate from the oil and sink to the bottom. Because they separate out, it is known as a mixture, but that is more of that stuff you will learn later in 3^rd or 4^th grade!

When it was all done, Jason put the lip balm in plastic containers with lids for the students to take home! I even got to pick out my own – my lips have been pretty chapped in this cold Kentucky weather! Yum! I picked orange flavor!

If you would like to know more about what Jason and his friend, Matthew, do with the Kentucky Department of Agriculture’s Mobile Science Centers, check us out here!

What a great program!!  I wish every state had a program similar!  What does your state do to bring ag to kids?  I'd love to read all the different things each state does!