Irene Jardine says she’s heard some doozies.
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Like claims brown cows give brown milk, or about people paying extra for gluten-free potatoes — potatoes have no gluten — said the chair of Lambton-Kent Ag in the Classroom.
“Knowing where your food comes from is so important,” Jardine said.
Friday, Ag in the Classroom’s annual Agriculture Awareness Day was aimed at teaching people just that, she said.
About 30 presenters on agricultural topics from honey production, farm machinery, dairy and beef cattle, horses and backyard chickens to composting, land management, wheat and what gluten-free means, set up at the Brigden Fair, talking to youngsters and their families and giving people a chance to get up close to nature and food production.
“A lot of these kids, it’s the first time they’ve seen a chicken, or the first time they’ve seen a cow that they can pet,” said Jardine, noting many are a generation or more removed from farming.
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“So it’s really important that they know, that the general public. . . has the opportunity to learn,” she said.
The program has grown since it began in 1987, she said.
“We have a lot more amazing businesses and commodities” offering presentations, she said.
Among them was Jim Kelly, of Oil Springs’ Atoucha Honey apiary.
Kelly estimated he’s been coming back for 20 years to teach youngsters about bees as pollinators, how hives work, and how honey is harvested.
His uncle did it before him, he said, noting his great-grandfather also kept bees.
It’s important to volunteer, he said. “I don’t mind doing a presentation for the kids and anybody else that’s interested.”
Jardine estimated more then 400 children attended Friday, including students from Sarnia Christian School, home schools, and families coming on their own.
Attendance has declined since the Friday before Thanksgiving became a professional activity day in schools a few years ago, she said.
“The highest we did was. . . almost 800 kids going through the program, which was amazing,” she said.
Other attractions this year included a Lambton Dairy robotic cow, which youngsters could “milk,” and butter churners from the Moore Museum, she said.
“We always try to get someone new,” she said, adding, “We try and make this a family friendly, fun event.”
The annual fair runs until Monday.
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