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Wearing live pythons

New Ulm elementary students learn on the farm

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LAMBERTON - Students from all three New Ulm elementary school learned about life on the farm during the Cottonwood County 4-H annual Fall Elementary Field Day hosted Sept. 8-11 in Lamberton.

University of Minnesota Southwest Research and Outreach Center near Lamberton provided the students with learning experience in electrical safety, ATV safety, plant growth, pollinators and the food supply. This included hands-on experiences such as a creating foam pizzas to teach food supply line and studying seeds to assemble soybeans "plant pals". Some students tested their strength, seeing how many pounds they could lift out of a corn bin.

St. Anthony Elementary fourth-grade teacher Melissa Mack said her students enjoyed working on each of the different stations. She said the station on the plant cycle was popular because the students were able to take home a seed necklace. The electricity station was also popular because students had the chance to play with a Van de Graff generator, which created a static electricity field. It was a hair raising experience for a few of the students.

However, Mack said the favorite station were the snakes. Brent "Zoo Man" Mielke of Sleepy Eye attended the show with a few of his larger reptile friends. A few of the students were brave enough to wear live pythons.

Fall Elementary Field Day events were presented with through the support of the Cottonwood County Soil & Water Conservation District, Cottonwood County USDA-Farm Service Agency, South Central Electric, East River Coop, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Zoo Man, Farm Bureau and Cottonwood County 4-H.

The field day also utilized FFA members from Westbrook Walnut Grove, Redwood Valley, Wabasso and Red Rock Central high schools. The FFA students helped lead the farm safety lessons with representatives from Farm Bureau.

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