NH Ag Literacy Day March 20th 2009

Paul Smith School in Franklin, NH, hosted its first Ag Literacy Day on Friday, March 20 by inviting local farmers to read books about farm animals and farming to students in kindergarten through second grade.     Along with the books they read, they also shared their expertise and their on-the-farm experiences.   Many thanks to Wendy Fifield, Jean Surowiec, Dan Kilrain, Lisa Mason and Matty Huckins who read and talked about what it’s like to raise a calf or a lamb, to shear sheep and spin wool into yarn, to maintain an orchard and keep bees or to grow organic vegetables.   All together 330 students now have a better understanding and appreciation for the role agriculture plays in their daily lives.   Matty Huckins, first grade teacher assistant and a member of NH Ag in the Classroom, donated two books, “Weaving the Rainbow” and “Knitting Nell,” to the Paul Smith School library in honor of Ag Literacy Day

Grafton County Hires An NHAITC Coordinator

Debbie Robie is the new NHAITC coordinator for
Grafton County...Debbie asked us to include this
note from her:
Do you know the difference between poultry,bees, and fish?
  How about commodities, profits, and capital incentives? 
 You might be surprised how many of our youth today can't
even answer the first question.
   Agriculture in NH has changed in many, many ways over
the last fifty or so years.  One thing that hasn't changed is
our need to have at least a basic knowledge and respect
for the role agriculture plays in our everyday lives.  In short
we depend on agriculture for our very existence.
     NH Ag in the Classroom (AITC) is a wonderful tool to help
bring all facets of agriculture to an increasingly
non-agriculturally literate, school age population.  In some of
our schools the students are lucky enough to still have
teachers that recognize the importance of the ag connection.
At other schools, if the teachers do not see the need to
connect young people to where their food, fiber, and open
lands come from, the students will never have the opportunity
to find out.
     Grafton county Farm Bureau has recently taken the
initiative to hire an individual to take the AITC curriculum
into the school systems within Grafton County.  There are
programs designed for K-12 in every imaginable area of
agriculture.  It is not just cows, sheep and horses.  Everything
from wheat, rice, fish farming, bee keeping, career planning,
biotechnology, floriculture, and many more subject areas are
available.  Schools can have someone come in and give a one
day presentation or order the whole curriculum to use and
integrate into their classes.  The first step, though, is getting
into the schools to begin with.  The goal of the program is not
to make farmers out of everybody but to realize the value o
f those present farmers to them.
     If you know that your school would like to have something
like this made available to them contact Grafton County Ag in
the Classroom coordinator, Deb Robie, at 747-3869 or
E-mail me at wehunt4@paigecomputer.com. 

Farm & Forest Raffle Winners

New Hampshire Agriculture in the Classroom is pleased to announce that Gerard Godville, beekeeper in Plymouth, NH and Robert Bottcher, Clough Hill Road in Loudon, are the winners of our recent winter raffle.   Both men win a pier mirror, handcrafted by local artists, George Sutcliffe, a skilled woodworker and Eliza King, who paints in oil and creates murals.   These old style mirrors were first made to hang either on the narrow wall between two windows or on the wall to the side of the front door.   In the section above the mirror was a hand-painted picture.   Many thanks to all who donated to Ag in the Classroom through this fundraiser.