Published: March 23, 2007 10:38 pm      

Students get hands-on experience with food production

How do you make a pizza?

First you plant some wheat. Then you nurture and harvest it.

Next, you grind the wheat into flour, one of the main ingredients of the crust.

You also must plant and harvest tomatoes.

And, you will need milk to mix with the flour and to make cheese.

To get milk, of course, you need to feed and milk a cow. Making cheese is yet another complicated process.

Students at Kit Carson and Mayfield elementary schools got some hands-on experience this week with the means of food production, also known as farming.

A lot must happen before a customer phones in a pizza order or picks one up from a supermarket’s frozen food bin, the students learned.

After watching a “start-to-finish” exhibition during a morning assembly, the students later visited exhibit stations throughout the day for some hands-on lessons, including milking a model cow.

While the milking demonstration was only simulated, the students got some real experience as they attempted grinding grains of wheat with stone mortars and pestles. They found it was easier with a hand-cranked metal grinder.

A Kentucky agriculture exhibit produced by the Center for Science and Industry (COSI) visited the two Madison County elementary schools this week.

Co-sponsored by the Kentucky Department of Agriculture and several farm organizations, including the Cattlemen’s Association, the program is designed to teach children the importance agriculture to everyone in the state, said Liza Kane of COSI.

Agriculture students from Madison Central High School were assigned to each exhibit station to assist the elementary students and explain concepts.

A.J. Roberts, who lives on his family’s Mule Shed Lane farm, explained how livestock are tagged for identification. Ear tags are the most common form of ID, but the exhibit included a branding iron, which is still occasionally used.

Ear tags can carry computer chips with information about the animal, including its vaccinations as well as ownership.

The program covered proper food consumption as well as production.

Lauren Sword, a MCHS senior, helped explain the food pyramid that has been expanded to include exercise. To demonstrate that, she had students do a round of calisthenics, such as pushups and stretching exercises.

The students also tested the acidity of soils, learned the most favorable acid levels for various crops and about applying limestone to reduce acid levels.

They also learned that farm produce goes into non-food items such as cosmetics, medicine and fuels.

Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@richmondregister.com or at 623-1669, Ext. 267.