Over the summer months Silos & Smokestacks selects some very special fourth graders and their families to go on a road trip! From dairy farms to buffalo ranches, museums to nature centers, families are sent on agricultural adventures near and far.
In conjunction with the National Park Service's "Every Kid in a Park," our "road trippers" visit partner sites in the heritage area July-August. Fourth grade students register for their National Park Service Passport. Each child along with his or her family are admitted into sites free of charge and are given a gift card to help cover fuel and mileage. In return, students and their families write blogs about each visit.
Last July, Summer Road Trip Blogger Jackson S. visited the Wapsipinicon Mill Museum in Independence, with his dad, Jason.
"One of the best things about the Wapsipinicon Mill is that visitors can learn how much work people in the past had to put into just making cornmeal every day," said Jackson.
Jackson had hands-on experience trying to grind the corn in the same ways they did in the past.
"The oldest way was using a small stone to bash the corn in the bowl of a carved out boulder," said Jackson. "It was very hard because we had to break up large pieces of hard corn into little pieces of cornmeal."
To read more about Jackson's visit to the Wapsipinicon Mill Museum click
HERE.
"Everyone who wants to know more about how hard people worked in the past should visit the Wapsipinicon Mill," said Jackson.
Donate todayand help other students like Jackson participate in the Silos Summer Road Trip. Visit silosandsmokestacks.org/donate to support hands-on agriculture learning for elementary students.
This story is part two in a series highlighting agriculture education in a non-traditional classroom for students, travelers and working professionals. To support this initiative by Silos & Smokestacks, click HERE.
Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area is one of 49 federally designated heritage areas in the nation and is an Affiliated Area of the National Park Service. Visit one of Silos & Smokestacks 117 partner sites throughout Northeast Iowa to learn more about the history of farming or to experience the new and amazing innovations in the agriculture industry. Or, explore Iowans as leaders in agriculture in Silos & Smokestacks' traveling exhibit, "It Takes An Iowan." For more information, visit www.silosandsmokestacks.org.
