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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTimes Advocate, 1993-04-21, Page 8Page 8 TIMOVACIP400ate, April 21,1993 • Three EEE's for "Slice of Huron" - sducating, entertaining experience By Fred Groves T -A staff SEAPORTH " - Learning doesn't have to be complicated, in fact it can be fun. Huron County's main industry is agriculture and for 1,400 children from across the county, learning about agriculture was made fun last week in Seaforth. Through the Ontario ? nistry of Agriculture and Food's 'Slice of Huron' program, the Oracles 4 and 5 students learned how a cow is milked, how quickly turkeys grow and about soil erosion just to name a few. Heather Taylor from the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority used a hair dryer to stir up soil on a small plot of ground she had con- . . strutted to teach the students the importance of preventing soil ero- •_a ion. "We want to keep soil on .the ground so we can grow crops," Taylor told a group of very atten- tive students. A few feet away from Taylor's demonstration, Selena Campbell from Exeter Public School was catching water in a jar which had been poured onto two different types of soil. One had a layer of grass on top which produced clear- er water than water poured on just soil. Moments earlier, Campbell, a Grade 5 student, was holding a two-day old turkey poult from Hayter's Turkey Farm in Dash- wood. There were both turkeys and chickens in one section of the 'Slice of Huron' program, called poultry. "I'm learning about chickens and • eggs," said Campbell. The next sec- tion she went to was the rainbow section which included soil erosion and the making of syrup and honey. Yvonne Balek of Hayter's looked like an old pro when she was tell- ing the students about turkeys. She often gives tours to young students' at the large farm and processing' plant in' Dashwood. Full of questions: "These kids want to know why we have lights. They want to know how they are killed," said Balek. She added that although some of the students may appear a little queasy when she explains about how the turkeys are killed. they are excited about all the producis which comes from turkey like sau- sages and burgers. Balek and Hayter Farms had a two-part display set up. One was full of literature and information about the various products and the size and weight at various ages of the turkey. equivalent of 100 glasses of milk per day and keep producing for as many as 300 days per year with brief rest periods. Lots to-do: Children sat on hay bales and listened while a sheep farmer told them about lambs and sheep. They helped separate apples and they saw a blowup model of a grain of wheat. They watched a sow take care of her young baby pigs and they saw how milk was turned into cream the children. "We had children who didn't real- ize bread was made from wheat," said Wayne Shapton, president of the Exeter Agricultural Society. This is the fust year of 'A Slice of Huron' which was modelled after a similar program in York County. Shapton hopes the Huron County program will become an annual event. "We're going to have an evalua- tion of this and we Want feedback "1 think we've lost touch of where our food comes from. This is an amazing experience for them" • and then into other dairy products. There was so muck for the stu- dents to do and in fact, time did not permit them to go to all the sec- tions. They went to two of them, and then when they returned to the classroom, exchanged information with their fellow students. The program was set up by the OMAF but they had the co- operation of several groups includ- ing the Exeter Agricultural Society. Fanners, growers and producers from across the county seemed very eager to lend their expertise to The other part was four separate pens with the turkeys of different ages. There were two day old tur- key poults, baby chickens are called chicks, there were three week old turkeys, some at seven weeks and a tom (male) and a hen (female) who were 15 weeks old. Balek explained that when toms reach 13 kilograms in weight and the hens are eight kilograms they are ready to be processed. She said a lot of the children who attended 'Slice of Huron' were filled with questions and some were surprised at what they saw. "I heard a little one who didn't .know what a potato looked like. These are kids from Huron County which is a real agriculture area. I think we've lost touch of where our food comes from. This is an amaz- ing experience for them," said Ba- lek. Ocher seglans at the Seaforth Fairgrounds ;last week, which the children learned about, were fruits and vegetables, red meats, dairy products, grains and dairy. Children petted cows, and watched them being milked. They learned that a cow can give up to an from the teachers - what we did right, what we did wrong and what we should change. Like, Balek and Shapton, a Hu- ron County farmer said agriculture is the county's main industry. He said "Slice of Huron' chose the right age group to teach the busi- ness to. The week-long program in Sea - forth wrapped up on Friday but Thursday was a big night as the general public had a chance to view the sections and learn what the chil- dren had learned all week long. One of the demon- strations at the 'Slice of Huron' in Seaforth on Wednesday, were candl and weighing of eggs. 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