Eagle Grove and Wright County are obviously farming communities, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that young kids in the area know exactly what it is that a farmer does, or how they and when crops go in and out of the fields. Eagle Grove Elementary first grade teachers have been trying to educate their students about this information, teaching them about goods and services and how they are imported in or exported out of the state, or even the country. On Tuesday, Oct. 12, which also happened to be National Farmers Day, the young students got the chance to learn even more from some real, live local farmers, and ask them a long list of questions they had about the job.
Tim Dooley, and his two sons, Drew and Ben, not only came into the classroom to speak to the students, but they also drove their tractor there so the kids could come out and take a close-up look at the giant piece of equipment first-hand.
“This is my first time seeing farmers,” one student was overheard saying to the teachers as they gathered together for the presentation. When they were all seated on the classroom carpet, or in a desk, “Farmer Tim,” “Farmer Drew,” and “Farmer Ben,” (as their name tags called them), began talking to the students about agriculture as their teachers showed pictures of farming on the SmartBoard.They talked about the “life cycle” of corn and beans. They explained how they start with a seed, the growing process, and finally harvest. The kids found it interesting that they had just finished taking the beans out of the field and would be starting on corn soon after.
Throughout the presentation, the kids were filled with questions that they weren’t afraid to ask. They wanted to know:
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How big their fields were – they answered that their biggest field was 93 acres…or roughly 93 football fields.
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Do you water the plants? – No, they depend on rain
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What if a plant dies? -Then there is nothing to harvest
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Is it hard to work on the farm – Yes, and if things break they have to be fixed, which is usually done by Drew
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What’s the difference between field corn and sweet corn? – Field corn is for feeding to animals, used to make fuel, and more
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How long does it take corn to grow? – About 100 days
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Then they wanted to know why these three family members like being farmers.
Drew – He explained that he did it as a young boy with his dad and his grandpa. “And it’s still interesting to me,” he said. His favorite part of farming is running the rippers.
Ben – He said he also had fond memories of farming with his dad and grandpa growing up. His favorite part of farming is harvest season.
Tim – He does it now because he likes spending time with his boys. He joked with the kids that his favorite part of farming is when they are done for the season because it marks another successful year in the fields.
The Dooley farmers also took advantage of the opportunity to talk with the students a little bit about farm safety, telling them to remind the grown ups in their lives to be extra careful around tractors and farm equipment. One example they gave was that during harvest season, a loaded wagon weights a lot, and like a train, takes a long time to slow down. If a vehicle pulls out in front of them, they may not be able to stop quickly enough to avoid a major accident.
Speaking of farm equipment, the kids were fascinated to learn from the Dooleys that many of today’s tractors have a GPS system which enables them to basically drive itself once the farmer inputs all the appropriate information and directions.
When the Dooley’s are not farming, they told the kids that they work at their “other” jobs. Farmer Tim mows the grass at the Eagle Grove Golf Course and helps his sons with projects; Drew is an electrician and does construction; and Ben does some construction as well as computer work and helping out his uncle at Arden Scott Collectibles.
After the Dooleys were finished with their classroom presentation, the first grade classes split into their three classroom groups and were able to take part in three different ag-related activities.
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An up-close look at the Dooley’s John Deere tractor that was parked in front of the Elementary building.
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Color farm pictures
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Looking at and learning from a corn field ready to be harvested that was located behind the school. Although the kids weren’t allowed to touch the corn stalks there, they were allowed to feel and hold some other corn cobs with some of the kernels still on it that another teacher had brought to school in a bag specifically for this purpose. This session encouraged a lot of questions by the kids. One of the classes especially like it when their principal, Jared Carder, showed them that field corn is also used to feed wild animals, like the squirrel waiting by the tree near them. When Carder placed some near that tree, the squirrel was very happy.
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At the end of all the sessions, the majority of the first graders all said they wanted to be farmers when they grow up. It will be interesting to see how many of them actually will…and if part of their reason is because of what they learned in school on October 12.
