Kids attend ag day

IRVINE FLATS — Roughly 300 northern Lake County students took part in the Fourth Grade Days last Thursday and Friday.

For more than two decades, students have learned about agriculture during the event, and students this year had a chance to learn about miniature ponies, cows, sheep and wool production, water conservation, noxious weeds and more during the event, which is sponsored by the Lake County Conservation District.

“If we can establish a connection at this age, it will hopefully last them into their adulthood when they have choices about where they get their food from, as well as voters and how they can support the ag community in Lake County,” said Jim Simpson, the conservation district’s board chairman.

Although agriculture is prevalent in Lake County, many students aren’t exposed first hand to the animals and people who tend them, Simpson said, adding that seeing animals and crops from a car window during a drive doesn’t make a lasting impression.

“That’s not really exposure,” he said. “It just becomes the wallpaper on their mental computer screen and they don’t really look at it.”

This year’s event is likely the last at the Irvine Flats location because property owner Mac Binger is taking down the roping arena where the learning stations are set up.

“Between now and the end of the year, we’ll be conducting a search to find a replacement venue,” Simpson said.

He added he’s certain a new venue can be found, but the cost of renting it may be prohibitive to the district, which operates on donations and tax mills. The district won’t be asking for more tax dollars, Simpson said, adding the event currently is run on donations and volunteers, both of which the district is grateful for.

One of those volunteers, Susan Gardner, purveyor at Bittersweet Hill Corridales, said she was glad to see excited students and help them learn about sheep and wool production.

“It’s a wonderful thing to see because kids don’t really know these days where wool and wool fibers come from,” she said, adding kids go to the store and buy pre-made clothing without wondering from where it came.

Through a brief description of Cletus, a corridale ram, and an introduction to spinning wool, Gardner said she hoped students walked away with a better understanding of wool — “that a wearable fiber comes from a living animal.”

Linderman Elementary School fourth-grader Taylor Pierre said she learned a lot during the event and that the miniature ponies were her favorite learning station.

“I like the horses. They’re interesting,” she said, adding her family owns several.

“I learned mostly about their hooves and their bones,” she added.

Other students also had fun at the event.

Taylor Holm said she enjoyed the sheep station. “It’s just big and fluffy,” she said about Cletus, flexing her fingers like she was still petting his thick wool.

But Cletus couldn’t win over Holm, who said the miniature ponies were her favorite.

“They’re just my favorite animals,” she said.

Binger, who offers his property for free for the event, said it’s important to keep people connected with agriculture.

“The more you know about things the better insight you have in life,” he said, adding he hopes the event continues.

For more photos of Fourth Grade Days, check out our photo galleries.