Ag Days opens young eyes to agriculture
Berl Tiskus
John Campbell drives Gil Mangels’ 1937 Allis Chalmers tractor pulling a load of fourth graders from Linderman Elementary School. Sigurd Jensen stands on the wagon and tells kids about the types of grass and what cows eat. Campbell is an associate supervisor and Jensen a supervisor with the Lake County Conservation District that hosted Ag Days.
Left: A fourth-grader pretends she’s a leafy spurge and spits a sunflower seed. Flathead Extension Agent Rene Kittle and program assistant Brenda Richey taught kids about seeds dispersing.
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Berl Tiskus
Mr. Brookman’s fourth graders gather around the noxious weed table to learn about the insidious plants.
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IRVINE FLATS — Turning fourth graders into noxious leafy spurge plants doesn’t involve magic, and several hundred kids took part during Ag Days at Mac and Pat Binger’s ranch on April 2-3.
To show students how seeds are dispersed, each kid got sunflower seeds to put in their mouths, and then practiced launching (spitting) the seeds onto a tarp marked with distances. Although leafy spurge plants don’t spit their seeds, the wind blows them and animals carry them, and spitting seeds is a fun way to help kids understand the process.
Flathead Reservation Extension Agent Rene Kittle said she’s learned if she can engage kids in a hands-on activity and keep them engaged, they go away having learned something.
That’s something all the stations at Ag Days on the Binger Ranch had in common.
For example, with a poster-sized paper garden, Food Corps Service Volunteer Nicki Jimenez asked students to select vegetables “to plant” on the garden. Then she asked kids if any vegetables were unfamiliar to them.
One child said, “Beets.”
Called on by Jimenez, Jeremy Uhrich explained that beets were sort of like carrots in that they grew in the ground.
“When we had them for a snack, they turned our teeth red,” Jeremy added.
The kids cycled through displays in addition to the noxious weeds and Food Corps, including safety on farms and ranches, the water shed trailer, a hayride, Susan Gardner’s sheep-to-sweater exhibit, a couple of miniature horses, dairy cows and the cycle of milk, Mac Binger and his helicopter and Polson Volunteer Fire Department firemen.
Fourth-grader Hunter Pittsley’s favorite stop was the firefighters, he loved wearing the hat and coat.
The dairy cow, sheep and miniature horses were classmate Destiny Cook’s faves.
Ag Days is put on by Lake County Conservation District and has been a staple of fourth grade life for at least 25 years according for LCCD chair Jim Simpson.
“Just take the number of years and multiply that by 300 and that will be the number of kids who’ve gone through,” Simpson said.
The Western Montana Stock Men began Ag Days at the Walt and Pat Vermedahl ranch. Then Ag Days was handed off to the LCCD, but still held at Vermedahl’s and still focusing on educating kids about where hamburgers and milk come from and about ranch and farm work and animals. After Bingers purchased the place, Ag Days continued at the indoor arena, but this will be the last year Ag Days will be at this venue, because the indoor arena will be taken down.
Simpson thanked Mac and Pat Binger for use of the arena, the outhouses donated by Brian Jones of Outback Toilets, the 1937 Chalmers tractor on loan from Gil Mangels at the Miracle of America Museum, the Montana Beef Council for donating the burgers, and the Polson and Ronan Chambers of Commerce who donated food and labor.
Chris Malgren, district manager of LCCD, works hard organizing the event. There are countless people, such as Beth Blevins, burger chef, and Jack Stivers, MSU County Extension agent, who times the rotations, who make the event work.
It’s a fun and worthwhile event because the average age of farmers and ranchers is 50 or so. Maybe something a fourth grader learned at Ag Days will prompt her or him to have a career in agriculture.
