There were two farm city events held in 2008 at Greenbacker Farms and Fairvue Farms.
2007 Farm City Events Shelton, CT – Where does our food come from? What kinds of farms exist in Connecticut? What jobs do farmers have to do on their farms? Students from throughout Fairfield County discovered the answers to these questions when they participated in a special educational program known as Farm City. On May 15, 16 and 17, and October 16 and 17, 2007 more than 1,200 students and adults and visited the Jones Family Farms in Shelton to experience what it is like to work on a real farm.
Each year Farm City, an educational, agricultural program, travels to a different working farm in Connecticut. At Farm City, local school children participate in hands-on activities that teach them about different aspects of farming and local agriculture. This event was held twice in 2007.
When the students visited the Jones Family Farms, they enjoyed a hay wagon ride through the Jones’ Pumpkinseed Hill Farm to learn from wildlife biologists about the diverse habitats and wildlife that exist on a farm. At another activity station, students examined the soil at different sites and decided where certain crops would grow best. Students also participated in an exercise looking at pumpkin seeds and evaluating what characteristics would they select for their pumpkins if they were the farmers.
“The Jones family has been farming and caring for their land for over 150 years. We were very eager to show children how local farms contribute in many ways to our quality of life here in Connecticut,” said Christiana Jones who coordinated the Farm City program with her mother-in-law Jean Jones. “For this year’s Farm City, we wanted all the activities to reflect the real-life world of farmers – from the skills and knowledge farmers need to have to what issues the farmers face during the spring planting season.”
Posted around the farm were large photographs of the people who work on the Jones Family Farms. The photographs illustrated to the children how it takes a variety of people with different skills and talents to run a farm. The photos showed the students how farmers are real people, both men and women, instead of the stereotypical “farmer in overalls” image.
For the Spring Session, Fairfield County Farm Bureau organized a beautiful display on local agriculture which was coordinated by Bruce Benedict, Don Taylor and Alyce Block. Several Fairfield Country Farm Bureau members, including Bruce Benedict, Lyman Wells, Frank Huffner and Steve Paproski, volunteered their time to answer the students’ questions about farming. The children also enjoyed learning about dairy industry when visiting the young calves that were brought by Steve Paproski. For the Fall Session, a similar program was run over the two day event.
Farm City students were treated to delicious, regional foods for their snacks and lunches. Sydney Mintz helped to coordinate food donations from Wade’s Dairy and Cabot. Eleanore Provencal helped to coordinate snack donations from Frito Lay. Keith Bishop of Bishop’s Orchards in Guilford once again donated apples to the Spring Farm City program. All the farmers, volunteers and teachers enjoyed watching the children happily eating these healthy, good-tasting foods. At the end of the Spring day, students received their own vegetable and flower seed packets, which were donated by Benedict’s Home and Garden supply. For the Fall program, Jones Family Farms donated pumpkins and apples to all the students.
Farm City is sponsored by the Connecticut Agricultural Education Foundation (CTAEF), which is chaired by Jason Hoagland, from First Pioneer Farm Credit. CTAEF would like to thank the many sponsors and supporters of this event. Educators from several agricultural and environmental organizations donated their time and materials to support Farm City, including: Susan Quincy, Laura Rogers-Castro, and Master Wildlife Conservation Volunteers from the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection; Jane Slupecki from the Connecticut Department of Agriculture; Vickie M. Bomba-Lewandoski, Rose Hiskes and Tom Rathier from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station; Donna Ellis from the University of Connecticut Extension Service. These presenters were assisted by several volunteers from the First Pioneer Farm Credit Middletown, NY office as well as high school students from the Trumbull Agri-Science program and from Shelton High School.
