It's been a bit since we hosted 200 4th graders on the farm with Farm Bureau, but I wanted to have a place to hold all of the memories!
This was our 2nd Project R.E.D. (Rural Education Day), so it was great to iron out the process.
We worked with a lot of local agriculture businesses to make this all possible! We'd like to say thank you to Burnips Equipment, Morren Bros Agri Service, Trevor VanderZwaag from Andy Nienhuis Dairy, Crossroads Blueberry Market, Oxbo Equipment, Adam Dietrichs, Endeavor Ag & Energy, Critter Barn, Country Dairy, Vriesland Growers Co-op, Hehlden Farm, Mechanical Transplanter, Coopersville FFA and others I'm sure I'm forgetting.
These businesses volunteered their time, energy and equipment to help wrangle the kids and teach them about agriculture.
The kids had several stations around our farm that they stopped by to learn about different aspects of farming.
We had stations for animals, feed, washing produce, harvesting blueberries, learning about apple orchards, working with agronomists, and planting herbs.
It was a lot to take in, so hopefully they left with at least a little bit of good info. We really like hosting this event because it's so important to teach our kids all of the different aspects of this industry.
There's a lot more to it than petting cute babies and throwing some seeds on the ground.
It's also good to teach the community a bit more about where their food comes from. We're looking forward to hosting again next year!
