Kids learn dairy knowledge
Review Photo/ERIC HRIN Jessica Seeley with Milky Way Farms in Troy Township shows a block of cheese to kids at Canton Elementary School during Farm Fresh Friday.
CANTON - Kindergarten students at Canton Elementary School had lots of questions about cows during Farm Fresh Friday.
And they reacted with surprise at one answer.
"Cows have not one, not two, not three, but they have four stomachs," Jessica Seeley, one of the program presenters, told them during the program on cows and dairy foods (for those wanting to get technical, the Web site of "Dairy Farming Today" notes that a cow actually has one stomach with four different chambers).
Jessica Seeley is the deputy director of the Food Routes Network, and she was there with Kim Seeley of Milky Way Farms along Route 14 in Troy Township.
She had many fun facts for them and even a large block of pepper jack cheese.
"You can put a lot of different things in cheese to make them taste different," she told the kids. She also had a rake used in cheese making.
Afterwards, the kids tasted milk in their classrooms.
Speaking after the program, Kim Seeley said the dairy farmers face challenges.
"The dairy industry is being manipulated right now by corporations that are under pricing the product to the farmers, making it extremely hard for farmers to make a living," Kim Seeley said. "And as we have added value to our milk by making cheese and all the products that we do, it's helped us protect ourselves from the price volatility that's going on.
"I would encourage any farmer to look at direct marketing some of their products to give them some price stability and to give them some products of their own that they can sell on a local market."
At Milky Ways Farms, he said, they don't use synthetic hormones and antibiotics and feed only token amounts of grain.
"Typically, we're a grass-based dairy farm, which imparts different characteristics in the milk and the cheese, and by doing that, we're protecting our environment but also creating the healthiest product available."
With 100 percent grass-fed dairy products like cheese and butter, the anti-oxidants, beta carotene and carotenoids show in the color of the product, he said.
"In the winter time, when cows aren't getting as much sunshine and aren't getting fresh green grass, then the products have a more pale color to them," he said. "The grass-fed products have been linked to reducing heart disease, reducing cancer, and reducing diabetes. And so servings of those in a healthy person's daily diet is very important for healthy living."
Canton is using a $1,450 grant under the Department of Agriculture's Healthy Farms and Healthy Schools Grant Program to pay for its "Farm Fresh Fridays."
According to the Department of Agriculture, the program is designed to educate kindergarten students and their families about the importance of choosing healthy, locally produced foods while increasing awareness of Pennsylvania agriculture.
Eric Hrin can be reached at (570) 297-5251; e-mail: reviewtroy@thedailyreview.com.
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2 posted comments
http://www.24-7-healthlink.com
Calves removed at birth - "Bobby's" with their umbilical cords still
attached go to slaughter within days... The other bull calves become "veal" at only a few months old. Meanwhile, human adults are priviledged to steal the milk from the mother cows... Artificially inseminating them so she can continue to birth and "give" milk. More than 10 times what her own calf would consume... Yet we still cannot "share" with her offspring. Surely only an ogre would support such a system?When she is no longer productive, at a fraction of her age, she is sent to slaughter too... Thankfully, there are so many tasty alternatives to "cow's milk"... Please consider a compassionate and healthy vegan diet:
http://www.earthlings.com/