Today was a huge highlight for me. When I started at the Farm I wanted to do a program that would go out to the schools and not only promote Wagner's programs but also introduce kids to agriculture. In 2004 or 05, I can't remember anymore, Pete Noll, Sarah and I started planning an outreach program but bigger. Our program would be more "doing" and less "talking". Today it finally happened. All the parts were finished, the program written and it was time to hit the road. Jim, Carlin and I headed off for Locke Elementary in Chicago at 7:00 am. We set up three stations that the students would rotation between. Carlin demonstrated cider pressing, Jim ground wheat and I took the kids for a wagon ride. The overall theme of the program was how fall is harvest time on a farm. Farmers either harvest fruits and vegetables or grains. Then the tractor was key to the demonstration of the use of power on the farm and how it has changed over time. We saw all 5 sections of Locke's first graders so the program took the entire day to get through. I have to say that it was so much fun. These kids loved the program. We got to take something to a group of people who had little exposure to the subject. I actually had to start my part of the program by introducing them to what a tractor is. Farming and the pieces that are associated to it were a foreign concept or at least things that they had only seen in books. This program hit the mark dead on and for an educator it was a dream come true. A thousand teachable moments. I got something else out of going to Locke that I haven't gotten before, hugs from the kids. Really, what a great day.
