October, 2007

October is National Pork Month

In 2005, hogs and pigs ranked number three of all Oklahoma agricultural commodities, with a value of $618 million.

Pig Herding

Cattle and sheep are herd animals. If you can get the dominant member of the herd to move, you can get the rest to follow. Pigs run in herds but are more likely to scatter than follow a leader. Demonstrate to students how difficult it is to herd pigs with this relay activity: Have each team member blow up a pink balloon and draw a face on it with a marker. Have team members place their pigs on the ground and herd them to the finish line with fly swatters. First team to get its herd to the finish line wins. (Don't try this outdoors on a windy day.)

Swine Facts
Pork-Related Lessons
Children's Books about Swine
Pork 4 Kids

October 8 is Columbus Day

Columbus Day is significant to American pork producers because swine came to the New World with Columbus on his second voyage. In his narrative of that voyage, Michele de Cuneo reported that pigs, in particular, "grew over there to a superlative degree."

In addition to pigs, Columbus loaded his fleet of 17 ships with horses, cows, oxen, sheep, goats, hens, dogs and cats. He brought wheat seed and plants, barley, radishes, onions, peas, melon, sugar cane, broad beans, lettuce, leeks and parsley "to try out the ground."

Seeds of Change - Smithsonian Institute website exploring the impact of Columbus' voyage, especially the exchange of New World and Old World foods.

Farmer Joseph F. Glidden applied for a patent on barbed wire on October 27, 1873. Learn more with Don't Fence Me In

October is the last month to buy fresh local produce from your local farmer's market. Locally-grown produce available this month includes:

• blackeyed peas
• cabbage
• cantaloupe
• carrots
• cauliflower
• cucumbers
• eggplant
• garlic
• green beans
• herbs
• okra
• peppers
• pumpkins
• squash, winter and summer
• sweet potatoes
• tomatoes
• turnips
• watermelon

Check the Oklahoma Crop Calendar to see what other Oklahoma crops are harvested in October.

Oklahoma Fruit of the Month: Apple

Picking Apples

Tune: Frère Jacques

Picking apples, picking apples,
'Til we're done, 'til we're done,
Picking all the apples,
Picking all the apples,
Til we're done, 'til we're done.

Climb a ladder, climb a ladder,
In a tree, in a tree
Hello, everybody;
Hello, everybody,
Look at me, look at me.

Making applesauce, making applesauce
Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish, swish
Pouring the applesauce,
Pouring the applesauce
In a dish, in a dish.

Eating applesauce, eating applesauce,
Yum, yum, yum; yum, yum, yum.
Eating all the applesauce,
Eating all the applesauce.
Now we're done, now we're done

• Facts about apples
• Field of Stars - an apple story/demonstration.
• Save our Soil uses an apple to demonstrate the importance of soil conservation.
• Great online graphic of the earth as an apple.

Play With Your Food: Apple

1. Explain that enzymes cause chemical reactions. As apples react with oxygen in the air, a chemical reaction changes the starch to sugar, turning the apple brown. Divide students into groups of four or five. Give each group seven apple pieces. Students will use the Scientific Method Format to conduct the following experiments on the apple pieces.

• Leave one piece of apple uncovered at room temperature.
• Leave one piece of apple covered on a plate.
• Place one piece of apple in a refrigerator.
• Place one piece of apple in a freezer for an hour, then remove it and leave it at room temperature.
• Boil an apple for five minutes, then remove it and leave it at room temperature.
• Dip an apple in vinegar, and then leave at room temperature.
• Dip an apple in lemon juice, and then leave at room temperature.

On a graph, record what happens after 10 minutes, 30 minutes, one hour, three hours, six hours and 24 hours.

Extra: Try this experiment with other fruits and veggies, e.g., eggplant, carrot, banana, potato, etc.

P.A.S.S. for This Activity

Be a Food Explorer: Apple

• Bring assorted varieties of apples to class and have a tasting contest.
• Place apple slices on thick whole grain crackers and top them with cheese slices. Heat them on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven.
• Spread peanut butter or cream cheese on apple slices

Why leaves change color

The leaves are falling. It's time to start your sheet-composted planting bed.

Sheet Composting

Lasagna gardening, aka sheet composting, is a trouble-free method for preparing the ground so it is ready for planting in the spring. It works in much the same way nature works, by piling dead leaves and other organic matter onto the ground to break down over the winter and feed the soil. Here is how it works.

1. Use a garden hose or rope to mark the spot where you want to establish your planting bed. Use a flat shovel or a gardening fork to dig a trench around the edge of the bed to keep grass from invading. (This is optional but will make things easier later on.)
2. Gather as many cardboard boxes as you can find. Find out when some of your local stores typically stock new products (almost every day) and offer to carry the boxes away for them.
3. Flatten the boxes, and lay them on the ground where you want to establish your bed. Don't worry about clearing out the grass. Overlap the boxes so weeds and grass can't creep in through the cracks.
4. Next, pile on another several inches of organic matter. Use whatever is available - leaves, straw, wood chips or grass clippings. Shredded office paper works well also but must be covered with something else so it won't blow away. Wood chips are often available free from your city's sanitation department or from tree trimming companies. Leaves will break down faster if they are shredded (Run them over with a lawn mower.) before adding to the bed.
5. Water the bed.
6. Over the next several months, have students go outdoors periodically and dig into the bed they have made to see what kind of activity is taking place.
7. Students may add additional organic material to the bed over the winter. Coffee and tea grounds are excellent additions that won't make the bed look messy. Cafeteria scraps are also great additions but must be mixed with dead leaves, shredded paper or wood chips so they won't stink. As with a regular compost pile, you should avoid meat or dairy products. You may also need to water the bed occasionally during dry spells.
8. In the spring, when you are ready to plant, simply make holes in the bed wherever you wish to place plants and dig down into the soft earth. Have your students count the earthworms they see in each location.

P.A.S.S. for This Activity

October Books

Titherington, Jeanne, Pumpkin Pumpkin, Mulberry, 1990,
Jamie plants a pumpkin seed in the spring and, after watching it grow all summer, carves a face in it for Halloween. But best of all, he saves some seeds that he will plant again next spring.

Zagwyn, Deborah Tumey, The Pumpkin Blanket, Tricycle, 1997.
A little girl gives up her beloved quilt to save a pumpkin patch from frost.

Farmer, Jacqueline, Pumpkins, Charlesbridge, 2004.
Facts, history, legend, and growing tips about one of the favorite fruits of fall. In addition to instructions on pumpkin carving (and safety) and seed toasting, the author includes the word for the berry in other languages, a brief list of pumpkin world records, and recommended readings and Web sites.

More Books About Pumpkins

Hall, Zac, The Apple Pie Tree, Scholastic, 1996.
Colorful illustrations follow each season as an apple tree grows leaves, fragrant blossoms and tiny green apples. Soon the fruit is big, red and ready to be picked. It's time to make apple pie. Includes an apple pie recipe on the last page.

Maestro, Betsy, How do Apples Grow? Harper Collins Children's, 1993.
Beginning with the bare branches of winter, the Maestros describe the apple until the time of picking. The parts of the flower are presented in a simple manner and labeled. Fertilization is also discussed in a way that is easily understood.

Priceman, Marjorie, How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, Knopf, 1996.
The reader is led around the world to gather the ingredients for making apple pie. The recipe is included.

Slawson, Michele Benoit, Apple Picking Time, Dragonfly, 1998. When the apples are ready for harvest, everyone in town knocks off from jobs and school to work in the orchards. Slawson tells the story of a young girl's day in the orchard.

DePaola, Tomie, The Popcorn Book, Holiday House, 1984.

Landau, Elaine, Popcorn!, Sagebrush, 2003.
Picture book for older children offers popcorn facts and figures including the snack's Native American origins, the invention of the popping machine, and the popularity of popcorn during World War II, when sugar for other snack foods was in short supply.

Older, Jules, and Lyn Severance, Pig, Charlesbridge, 2004.
Information ranges from number of pigs in the world and different breeds to fun trivia. Older's text is humorous and material is often presented in the form of a question. Bright, cheery illustrations depict pigs on farms in Indiana, in bamboo forests in China, and even, in the case of the Vietnamese Potbelly, on a boy's lap in a family home. Quirky drawings show a pig on a motorcycle (or a pig on a Hog) and one in Denmark reading stories by Hans Christian Andersen. The artist includes illustrated maps of the regions of the world where these animals live.

More Children's Books about Swine

Agriculture: Cultivating Oklahoma's Future is the theme for 2008 Ag Day Contests

To cultivate a field is to prepare it for a crop to be planted for future growth. The first ancient woman who planted seeds from gathered plants was cultivating a pot of ground for the future of her family and her community. Preparing for the needs of the future has been the role of agriculture throughout history. The people involved in Oklahoma agriculture today are cultivating our future with plant for feeding a growing population while protecting the resources that sustain us, improving our health, safeguarding our food supply, and keeping our farms and farm communities profitable.

We have added a contest for Ag Day 2008 and restructured the other competitions. Sixth grade students are invited to compete in a new storyboard contest instead of writing essays. The essay contest will be open to students in grades 7-8. The bulletin board contest is open to students in grades PreK-2, and the poster contest is open to students in grades 3-5. The postmark deadline is December 3.

Contest information and forms

October is Oklahoma 4-H Month

Four-H got its start in Oklahoma in 1903 with a Corn Club in Johnston County. There were 50 members. Researchers at Oklahoma's ag school (now OSU) had found that youth were more likely than adults to experiment with the new agricultural discoveries coming out of the ag research stations. The youth would then share their experiences and successes with the adults.

Isn't it ironic? Twenty five percent of all Oklahomans are obese, but we also rank number one in the nation for hungry households and number six for households that are food insecure. How does that happen?

"The world has enough for man's need, but not for man's greed." Mahatma Gandhi

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations celebrates World Food Day each year on October 16, the day on which the FAO was founded in 1945. This year's theme, "Agriculture and Intercultural Dialogue," recalls the contribution of different cultures to world agriculture.

Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger (lesson plans)

FAO Hunger Map

Hunger in Oklahoma

Halloween originated as End of Harvest Celebration

You might not recognize it from the way we celebrate now, but Halloween originated as a Celtic festival celebrating the end of the harvest season.

Plan your own end-of-harvest festival by introducing fresh fruits and veggies from the garden in place of traditional Halloween candy.

Scary "Pizza Faces"

Let students arrange sliced olives, green peppers, mushrooms, pepperoni, green onions, sliced zucchini, almonds and other goodies on slightly toasted, whole wheat English muffins topped with pizza sauce. Top with grated cheese for "hair" and heat until the cheese melts.

Witches Brew with "Bloody Hand"

Combine 1 liter ginger ale or other clear soda and 16 ounces orange juice concentrate in a large bowl.

For the "bloody hand" pour cranberry juice (or any red beverage) into a plastic glove and seal tightly with a rubber band or string. Don't overfill the glove as the liquid will expand when it freezes. Freeze until the juice is solid. Before serving, run hot water over the glove just long enough to unstick it from the frozen juice, then carefully peel or cut the glove off. Set the "bloody hand" in the punch bowl.

Vegetable Skeleton

Dip (brains): Stir 3 cups low fat yogurt, 1 cup mayonnaise 1/2 cup peach jam, 1 T orange juice and 1/2 t to 1 T mild curry powder in a skull-size bowl or scooped out head of lettuce and refrigerate. Makes 4 1/4 cups.

Veggies (skeleton):

• yellow and green squash cut into discs
• celery
• cherry tomatoes
  green beans
• cauliflower
• small carrots
• pepper slices
• carrots
• mushrooms
• broccoli
• peas

Make the skeleton using alternating disks of yellow and green squash for the spine, celery for the ribs, cherry tomatoes for the elbows, green beans for arms, cauliflower for hands, small carrots for fingers, pepper slices for pelvis, carrots for leg bones, mushrooms for knees, broccoli for feet and peas for toes. Place the bowl or head of lettuce with dip in place of the head and serve.

October is National Popcorn Month

Pop Around the World
Students learn about the origin of popcorn and
locate countries where it is grown on a world map.
Popcorn Facts

Oklahoma Vegetable of the Month: Pumpkin

Pumpkin is definitely an October food, since 80 percent of the pumpkin supply in our country is available in October. Since the most common way to eat them is in pie, most of us think of pumpkins as fruit, but the pumpkin is actually a vegetable - a cucurbit - like squash, cucumbers and watermelon.

Here's a great way to combine our fruit and vegetable of the month. Pour cold cider in a pumpkin punch bowl. Thoroughly clean out a pumpkin, making sure to remove all the pulpy strings. Paint a jack-o-lantern face on the outside, using markers. Refrigerate the pumpkin until you are ready to serve.

More Pumpkin Facts

Pumpkins, Squash and Other Cucurbits

Pumpkins and Other Lessons for Fall

Play With Your Food: Pumpkin Globe

(From Illinois Ag in the Classroom)

1. Using a world map or globe, discuss longitude, latitude and hemispheres.
2. Divide students into groups of 2-3, and give each group a pumpkin.
3. Students will use their pumpkin to represent the earth and draw latitude lines at 10-degree increments.
4. Students will use the vertical lines on pumpkins to represent the longitude lines on a map or globe. Students will draw longitude lines on their pumpkins at 10-degree increments.
5. Students will find the north, south, east and west hemispheres on their pumpkin globes.
6. Students will paint continents on their pumpkins with tempera paint and let it dry for one hour.
7. Students will paint the bodies of water on the pumpkins and let them dry overnight.
8. Discuss how the pumpkin globes are similar/different from manufactured globes.

P.A.S.S. for This Activity

Pumpkin Guts

• Students guess what they think is inside the pumpkin.

• Carve a hole in the top with a sharp knive.

• Each students reaches in and pulls out some of the pumpkin guts.

• As students put their hands inside the pumpkin, they each say a word that describes how it feels.

• Take pictures of students with their hands inside pumpkins as they are clearing out the pulp and seeds.

More Pumpkin Activities

• Students arrange pumpkins from largest to smallest then from smallest to largest.

• Students sort pumpkins into smoth and lumpy groups and make charts showing how many are in each group.

• Students make up progressive stories about pumpkins, with each student adding something to the story. Read the story as a class.

• Make Roasted Pumpkin Seeds.

• Have pumpkin races, with students carry pumpkins as they race.

• Play "Whose Pumpkin Am I?" Each student must find one thing about his/her pumpkin that will help him/her identify it in a large group of other pumpkins.

• Plant pumpkin seeds and watch them grow.

Some of these activities were contributed by Mistie Bunch, Zion School

Be a Food Explorer: Pumpkin Soup

For pottage and puddings
and custards and pies,
Our pumpkins and parsnips
are common supplies,
We have pumpkins at morning
and pumpkins at noon,
If it were not for pumpkins
we should be undoon.
—Pilgrim verse, circa 1630

Your students will be most familiar with pumpkin as a dessert, in the form of pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread. As desserts go, pumpkin pie is one that is actually good for you, but help your students think of pumpkin as a vegetable by preparing and serving pumpkin soup. This recipe, from The Joy of Cooking, makes use of ham, in celebration of National Pork Month.

1. Place 3 cups canned or 2 cups cooked pureed fresh pumpkin in 3 cups scalded milk or chicken broth. Knead together and add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon flour. Add 1 tablespoon sugar or 2 tablespoons brown sugar, salt and pepper, 1/2 t ginger and 1 t cinnamon, and 1/2 cup finely diced ham. Heat but do not boil. This makes about 6 cups.
2. Prepare fresh pumpkin by washing and cutting a pumpkin in half crosswise and scooping out the strings and seeds. Place the halves shell side up on a baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees F for 1 hour or more. Puree in a blender. Small pumpkins are best for eating.
3. If you're scooping out pumpkins to make jack-o-lanterns, don't forget to save the seeds to eat. Rinse the seeds in a colander and separate them as much as possible from the pulp. Soak them overnight in salt water. Drain and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Eat them like sunflower seeds.

And if you can't wait for Thanksgiving to have pumpkin pie, try Pumpkin Pie in a Bag.

P.A.S.S.

Play With Your Food: Apple

PreK: Math - 5.2. Science Process - 1.3,4. Physical Science - 2.1

Kindergarten: Math - 5.1,2. Science Process - 1.2,3. Physical Science - 1.1

Grade 1: Math Process - 1.1; 2.1; 4.4; 5.1. Science Process - 1.1; 3.1,2; 4.3. Physical Science - 1.1

Grade 2: Math Process - 1.1; 2.1; 4.4; 5.1. Science Process - 1.1; 3.1,2; 4.3.

Grade 3: Math Process - 1.1; 2.1; 4.4; 5.1. Science Process - 1.1; 3.1,2; 4.3.

Grade 4: Math Process - 1.1; 2.1; 4.4; 5.1. Science Process - 1.1; 3.1,2; 4.3.

Grade 5: Math Process - 1.1; 2.1; 4.4; 5.1. Science Process - 1.1; 3.1,2; 4.3.

Grade 6: Math Process - 5.1. Science Process - 1.1; 3.1,5; 4.1,5; 5.4

Grade 7: Science Process - 1.1; 3.1,5; 4.1,5; 5.4

Grade 8: Math Process - 5.1. Science Process - 1.1; 3.1,5; 4.1,5; 5.4

Play With Your Food: Pumpkin

Grade 3: Social Studies - 2.2,3

Grade 4: Social Studies - 2.3

Sheet Composting

Grade 1: Science Process - 1.2; 3.1

Grade 2: Science Process - 1.2; 3.1. Life Science - 2.1. Earth Science - 3.1

Grade 3: Science Process - 1.2; 3.1. Earth Science - 3.2

Grade 4: Science Process - 1.2; 3.1

Grade 5: Science Process - 1.2; 3.1. Life Science - 2.1. Earth Science - 3.1

Grade 6: Science Process - 1.1. Life Science - 4.1

Ag Art for October

Girl With Pigs, Thomas Gainesborough (1782)

More Art influenced by Agriculture