"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire" -William Butler Yeats

Thursday, September 24^th, 2015, marked the first annual county-wide Farm Day held at the Nevada County Fairgrounds in conjunction with the start of the esteemed Draft Horse Classic.

This keystone event was a significant feat not simply because more than 700 young students from all parts of Nevada County participated, but also due to the impressive teamwork that brought together over 25 different groups, agencies, farms, ranches, professionals and non-profit organizations. Children ranging from kindergarten to third grade, accompanied by teachers and chaperons, feasted on the plethora of activities, sites, sounds, and information focused on a wide array of agricultural and natural resource related topics.

Presenters covered important - and often under represented - facets of agricultural livelihoods, opportunities, issues and practices. A few implements and sights many children had never experienced up close included a genuine saw mill, an apple cider press, a pack mule, a welding trailer, a hive of bees, an assortment of livestock, a grain winnower and even a team of draft horses with a restored pioneer wagon.

Groups involved included the following: Sierra Foothill Audubon Society, Nevada County UCCE, 4-H Youth Development,  Nevada Irrigation District (NID), Placer-Nevada Cattlewomen, Future Farmers of America (FFA), Sierra Harvest, California Native Plant Society, UC Master Gardeners, Bear Yuba Land Trust, Nevada County Fiber Guild, Nevada County Farm Bureau, NRCS, Nevada County Resource Conservation District (RCD) and of course the UC Sierra Foothill Research and Extension Center (SFREC), along with numerous other local farmers, ranchers and professionals.

Janet Blake, with the Nevada County RCD, along with Karen Henderson, retired agriculture teacher and LiveWire manager, led this collaborative effort in conjunction with members from the community, including Megan Osbourn and Jeremy James of UC SFREC.

The focus of Farm Day was primarily to expose children to the realities of agricultural enterprises and natural resource management, a significant objective which was achieved with outstanding success. Through the planning and implementation of the event, an additional valuable outcome was the unification of a wide array of entities and individuals to work toward a meaningful and powerful goal – hands-on learning.

The interactions made with the hundreds of youth (as well as adults) through the first annual Farm Day opened the door for additional conversations, pursuits and possibly even career ideas. While these students may have over a decade before entering the professional world, the fires lit and rekindled in their excited minds will certainly simmer for years to come.

In the meantime, the second annual Nevada County Farm Day is on the calendar for Thursday, September 22nd, 2016.

UC SFREC will also be participating in the Yuba-Sutter Farm Day at the Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds on Friday, October 2^nd, 2015. Be on the lookout for a follow-up post in the near future.