SchooL Calendar Photos by Ken Kashian, Cyndi Cook - Illinois Farm Bureau For more photos, go to ilfb.org and click on Ken Kashian s Photo Gallery 2012-2013
Peaches (late season)
Words and terms to learn: Prunus persica, cultivated, scions, gene, rootstocks, pit August 2012 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 29 30 31 1 2 3 The ancient Chinese considered the peach a symbol of longevity and immortality. These Persian apples actually had their beginning in China, but were developed in Persia and went from there to Europe and then to America with the colonists. Recommended Reading: From Pit to Peach Tree by Ellen Weiss Ross and the Peach Tree by Jill S. Hardin The Peach Tree by Norman Pike The nectarine and the peach are so similar that there is only one gene that separates the two to make them distinct. The nectarine has one recessive gene peaches are fuzzy not nectarines. 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Illinois has roughly 50 different varieties of peaches. The peach blossom is Delaware s official state flower. You re a real peach originated from the tradition of giving a peach to your loved friends. Peaches were mentioned as early as 79 A.D. in literature. Most peaches are cultivated by grafting different combinations of rootstocks to scions. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 There are over 700 varieties of peaches in the world. 1565 is the foundation year of the first peach orchard in Florida. Free-stone peach refers to how the flesh of the peach separates from the pit. Peaches are sometimes referred to as stone fruit due to their pits. Peaches do not gain flavor with cooking. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Johnston, South Carolina is known as the Peach Capital of the World. Some Chinese varieties of peaches resemble flat hockey pucks! Cling or clingstone peaches have a pit to which the flesh clings. The two basic types of peaches are clingstone and freestone. The U.S. is the world s largest producer of peaches, accounting for about 20% of the total supply. Other major producers are Italy, France, Greece and Spain. 26 27 28 Marco Polo supposedly saw peaches that weighed several pounds each. The peach s scientific name, Prunus persica, is a direct reference to the fruit s travels to Persia along the Silk Road. 29 30 31 1 The peach can have yellow or white flesh. White Peaches are sweeter and less acidic than its more traditional golden counterpart. A large peach has fewer than 70 calories and contains 3 grams of fiber. It s also a good source of vitamins A and C. The world s largest peach cobbler is made every year in Georgia, which is known as the Peach State. That cobbler measures 11 feet by 5 feet.
Apples (late season)
Words and terms to learn: Dwarf apple, peck, cider, produce, exported, pruning 26 September 2012 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 27 Recommended Reading: Apple Picking Time by Michele Benoit Slawson Apples by Gail Gibbons From Seed to Apple by Anita Ganeri Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson and Nancy Carpenter 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Two pounds of peeled apples make one 9-inch pie. 7,500 varieties of apples are grown throughout the world. Apples contain no fat, sodium, or cholesterol. The largest apple picked weighed three pounds. The average size of a United States orchard is 50 acres. 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 It takes the energy from 50 leaves to produce one apple. The Lady or Api apple is one of the oldest varieties in existence. Apples account for 50 percent of the world s deciduous fruit tree production. In 2009, the average United States consumer ate an estimated 16.4 pounds of fresh market apples. Almost one out of every four apples harvested in the United States is exported. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 A medium apple is about 80 calories. The Pilgrims planted the first United States apple trees in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Apples were the favorite fruit of ancient Greeks and Romans. Many growers use dwarf apple trees. The largest U.S. apple crop was 277.3 million cartons in 1998. 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 The world s top apple producers are China, United States, Turkey, Poland and Italy. Newton Pippin apples were the first apples exported from America in 1768. Some were sent to Benjamin Franklin in London. A peck of apples weighs 10.5 pounds. It takes about 36 apples to create one gallon of apple cider. One of George Washington s hobbies was pruning his apple trees.
Corn (late season)
Words and terms to learn: Ethanol, husks, evaporation, environment, renewable resource, bushel October 2012 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 30 1 2 3 Illinois family farms planted 12,400,000 acres of field corn in 2010. Ethanol is known as a renewable resource, gasoline is not. Scientists created a road de-icer from corn. 4 5 6 One bushel of corn produces enough syrup to sweeten 324 cans of soda pop. Recommended Reading: Corn by Gail Gibbons Corn Belt Harvest by Raymond Bial Awesome Agriculture Corn by JoAnne Buggey and Susan Anderson The Life and Times of Corn by Charles Micucci Sweet corn is sweet because the starch in the kernel turns into sugar. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Field corn is processed to make products we use every day. Corn is grown in every state in the U.S. Some golf tees are made from corn products. They are biodegradable! Native Americans taught the settlers of Jamestown how to grow their own corn. Americans today consume 16 billion quarts of popped popcorn each year or 52 quarts per person. 14 21 15 16 17 18 19 20 Each corn kernel contains four major components: starch, protein, oil and fiber. Tassels, stalks, husks, ears, leaves, roots and kernels are all part of a corn plant. Processed corn is soaked and milled (ground) so that the germ oil, starch, gluten and hulls can be separated. America s corn farmers are by far the most productive in the world, growing 20 percent more corn per acre than any other nation. By the time Lewis and Clark began their expedition from the Illinois Territory in 1804, what we know today as corn had been grown successfully by settlers for more than a century across the continent. 22 23 24 25 26 27 An acre of corn will give off 4,000 gallons of water per day in evaporation. Corn farmers produced 152.8 bushels per acre in 2010 a yield that was 12 percent higher than in 2000. Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska and Minnesota produce more than half of the corn grown in the U.S. There are several varieties of corn. Some of the more common are sweet corn, field corn and popcorn. Ethanol is a high performance fuel that is made from corn and better for our environment. 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 One bushel of corn weighs 56 pounds. The majority of corn grown in Illinois is field corn, which is used for ethanol production, animal feed and processing. America s corn farmers exported $9 billion worth of corn last year one of the few American products with a trade surplus.
Soybeans (late season)
Words and terms to learn: Dietary fiber, biodiesel, versatile, protein, soy meal, plastics November 2012 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 During the Civil War, soybeans were used in place of coffee because real coffee was scarce. Recommended Reading: Awesome Agriculture Soybean An A to Z Book by Susan Anderson and JoAnne Buggey One Bean by Anne Rockwell Why the Brown Bean was Blue by Susan M. Pankey Soybeans in the Story of Agriculture by Susan Anderson and JoAnne Buggey One acre of soybeans can produce 82,368 crayons. 4 11 18 5 6 7 8 9 10 U.S. farmers first grew soybeans as cattle feed. Henry Ford experimented with soy-based plastics in the product of his cars. In 1940, he swung an axe at a car trunk to demonstrate the durability of soy plastics. Soy ink is used in over 95 percent of America s daily newspapers that circulate more than fifteen hundred copies per run. The soybean is the highest natural source of dietary fiber. A 60-pound bushel of soybeans yields about 48 pounds of protein-rich meal and 11 pounds of oil. 12 13 14 15 16 17 Livestock are the largest consumer of soy meal. The U.S. exported 1.283 billion bushels (34.9 million metric tons) of soybeans in 2009, which accounted for 46 percent of the world s soybean trade. One and a half gallons of biodiesel and 48 pounds of soybean meal can be produced from one bushel of soybeans. Decatur, Illinois is the Soybean Capital of the World. Soybeans are used to make fortune cookies! 19 20 21 22 23 24 Soy is very high in protein, which is the nutrient that repairs and builds new body tissue. Soybean plants are bushy green plants called legumes. Asian countries have been eating soybeans and using by-products from this plant for thousands of years. Each soybean plant grows 60-80 pods and each pod has three beans inside. George Washington Carver invented a process for making paints and stains from soybeans. 25 26 27 28 29 30 1 A bushel of soybeans weighs about 60 pounds. In the fall, the soybean plant turns brown and the leaves drop off before they are harvested. The soybean is one of the most versatile seeds grown in the world. Soy is good for your heart and your whole body, too! Soybeans grow on bushy plants that are three to five feet tall.
Pork (mid season)
Words and terms to learn: Fertilizer, nutritious, sows, farrowing, adrenal glands, piglets December 2012 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 25 26 Recommended Reading: Pigs will be Pigs by Amy Axelrod A Hog Ate My Homework by Gary Metivier Pigs to the Rescue by John Himmelman Pigs & Pork in the Story of Agriculture by JoAnne Buggey and Susan Anderson 27 28 29 30 1 2 9 3 4 5 6 7 8 Illinois ranks fourth in pork production behind Iowa, North Carolina and Minnesota. In 2009, Illinois produced 1.84 billion pounds of pork. Farrowing, in hog farming, means giving birth. Hog manure is often spread on fields as fertilizer. Insulin is made from pigs adrenal glands and helps people with diabetes lower their blood sugar. Mature pigs drink up to 5 gallons of water each day. 10 11 12 13 14 15 Pigs will weigh about 280 pounds by the time they are four to six months old. The national motto for the Pork is Pork: Be Inspired. Pigs can t sweat, so farmers use sprinklers and fans to keep them cool. Pigs are very smart. They rank as the fourth most intelligent animal. There are more than 180 species of pigs, found on every continent except Antarctica. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 As pigs grow, they can eat up to 9 pounds of feed per day. A pig s tongue contains 15,000 taste buds. For comparison, the human tongue has 9,000 taste buds. In the old days, sea captains kept pigs on board because they believed that pigs always swam toward the nearest shore. Pigs that are raised indoors are safe from extreme weather conditions. The pork industry contributes $1.8 billion to the Illinois economy annually. 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 In Denmark, there are twice as many pigs as people. The smallest breed of pig is the Mini Maialino. Illinois farms raised 4,300,000 pigs 480,000 breeding pigs and 3.82 million market pigs. Mother pigs are called sows. Baby pigs are called piglets. The average person will eat twenty 240 pound pigs in their lifetime. Pigs give us over 500 different types of items from leather to glue, buttons, crayons and putty.
Dairy (early season)
Words and terms to learn: Produce, cheese, Holstein, variety, beta-carotene, consumption January 2013 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 30 31 1 2 3 4 The average dairy cow produces enough milk each day to fill six one-gallon jugs, about 55 pounds of milk. It takes more than 21 pounds of whole milk to make one pound of butter. All 50 states in the United States have dairy farms. Recommended Reading: Clarabelle to Clarabelle: Making Milk and So Much More by Cris Peterson Black and White by David Macaulay Ice Cream the Full Scoop by Gail Gibbons From Farm to You: Cheese by Carol Jones The fastest growing variety of cheese produced in the U.S. is Hispanic-style soft cheese. 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 The natural yellow color of butter comes mainly from the beta-carotene found in the grass cows eat. A typical dairy cow weighs 1400 pounds and consumes about 50 pounds of dry matter each day. Cheddar cheese is the most popular natural cheese in the U.S. It takes 12 pounds of whole milk to make one gallon of ice cream. The average cow drinks 30-50 gallons of water each day about a bathtub s worth. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Super Bowl Sunday rates as the number one day for pizza consumption. Cows have an acute sense of smell, and can smell something up to six miles away. Large ice cream producing states include California, Indiana, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Minnesota. Each person in America eats an average of 46 slices of pizza a year. More than 1,000 new dairy products are introduced every year. 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 About 300 varieties of cheese are sold in the U.S. A cow has one stomach with four compartments. Plastic milk bottles were first introduced in the United States in 1967. More ice cream is sold on Sunday than on any other day of the week. McDonalds uses approximately four million gallons of low-fat vanilla yogurt each year in its Fruit n Yogurt Parfait. 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 The average consumer purchases cheese products at least 15 times a year. It takes more cows to produce milk annually for Pizza Hut cheese (about 170,000) than there are people living in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Canada, Japan and Mexico are the largest markets for U.S. dairy exports. The most common breed of dairy cow found in the U.S. is the Holstein.
Horse (early season)
Words and terms to learn: Foal, paddock, farriers, filly, saddles, herd, hippology February 2013 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 27 28 Recommended Reading: Leonardo s Horse by Jean Fritz and Hudson Talbott National Velvet by Enid Bagnold Leah s Pony by Elizabeth Friedrich Horses! by Gail Gibbons 29 30 31 1 2 A thoroughbred horse can run a mile in about 1 1/2 minutes. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Horses in Illinois consume 500,000 tons of hay and grain each year. A foal is a newborn horse. Horses have strong teeth, sharp ears, keen eyes and a good sense of smell. A large enclosure to hold a horse is called a paddock. Professionals that trim horses hooves are called farriers. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 In 2007, there were 79,481 horses and ponies in Illinois. (Data surveyed every 5 years) A filly is the name for a young female horse. Tack is the name given to brushes, saddles and other equipment used to ride and care for horses. An average life span for a horse is around 20-25 years, though they can live for up to 30 years. There are more than 350 different breeds of horses and ponies. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 A group of horses is called a herd. Horses drink 10 to 12 gallons of fresh water every day. A hand is a unit used to measure the height of a horse. A hand is equal to 4 inches. A Mustang is a wild horse of the Western plains. The four natural gaits for the horse are the walk, trot, canter and gallop. 24 25 26 27 28 1 2 The smallest breed of horse, the Falabella, grows to only 30 inches in height. Hippology is the study of horses. Horses hooves need to be trimmed regularly (about every 6-8 weeks). A yearling is a horse that is one year old.
Chicken (early season)
Words and terms to learn: Roosters, yolk, poultry, broilers, brooder, chicks, comb, predator March 2013 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 24 25 Recommended Reading: Chicks and Chickens by Gail Gibbons With Love, Little Red Hen by Alma Flor Ada When the Rooster Crowed by Patricia Lillie Food Eggs by Louise Spilsbury 26 27 28 1 2 Each year, a person will eat approximately 250 eggs. 3 10 4 5 6 7 8 9 Chickens make sounds with actual meaning. They give different alarm calls when threatened by different predators. Male chickens are called roosters. The yellow portion of the egg is called the yolk. Eggs contain the highest known quality food protein. Hens typically need to eat about four pounds of feed to produce a dozen eggs. 11 12 13 14 15 16 The chicken can travel up to 9 miles per hour. The most common poultry in Illinois are chickens and turkeys. A hen requires 24 to 26 hours to produce an egg. Chickens raised for their meat are called broilers or fryers. Once chicks hatch, they are put into a brooder barn or pen. 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 Chickens are usually fed corn, wheat and soybean meal. Laying hens sit on eggs for 21 days until they hatch. The color of an egg shell has nothing to do with the hen s diet, but specifies the breed of chicken laying the egg. There are seven distinctive types of combs on chickens: rose, strawberry, single, cushion, buttercup, pea and V-shaped. Only fertilized eggs will hatch. 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 The house or cage in which a chicken lives is called a coop. Baby chickens are called chicks. Eggs produced today will be at the grocery store within 72 hours. Chickens need grit, which is a mixture of angular, hard crushed rock, in their diet to produce eggs. The comb is a fleshy crest on a chicken s head and the wattle is the hanging flap of skin under their beaks.
Beef (late season)
Words and terms to learn: Steer, cattle, cloven hooves, glands, steaks, aerate, ruminant April 2013 Recommended Reading: The Beef Princess of Practical County by Michelle Houts Life on a Cattle Farm by Judy Wolfman Little Joe by Sandra Neil Wallace Amazing Grazing by Cris Peterson Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 31 1 2 United States beef exported in 2010 was 2.3 billion pounds. As of January 1, 2011, there were 1,100,000 cattle and calves in Illinois. 3 Did you know that cows can see in color, just like us! 4 5 6 A cow s diet is a mixture of grain, hay, grass and supplements. Depending on the breed, calves can weigh between 60-100 pounds at birth. 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Each year, the average American eats 64.4 pounds of beef. Beef is a good source of ZIP (Zinc, Iron & Protein). It takes the hide of 3.8 steers to make 72 footballs. Beef cattle have cloven hooves. As of January 1, 2011, Illinois raised 1.1 million beef cattle and calves and ranked 27th in the United States. 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Many medicines, including insulin, are made from the glands of the cow. Beef by-products help us to use 99% of every beef animal. Cows can eat around 40 pounds of food each day. Stearic acid, used to make automobile tires hold their shape, comes from cattle. Branding is one way farmers mark their cattle for easier recognition. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Leather can be used for footballs, basketballs, gloves, jackets and wallets. The cattle family (Bovidae) also includes sheep, goats, goat-antelopes and antelopes. Partially digested, regurgitated food is called cud. Ground beef, roast, sirloins, steaks, ribs, and chuck are cuts of beef that come from cows. The first cow arrived in Jamestown colony in 1611. 28 29 30 1 2 3 4 Ear tags are one way farmers mark their cattle for easier recognition. Ground beef is the most popular form of beef.
Pumpkins (early season)
Words and terms to learn: Pepitas, mature, circumference, diameter, edible, cucurbits, potassium May 2013 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 28 29 30 1 2 3 Giant pumpkins can grow 5 pounds a day. Pumpkin seeds are also known as pepitas. Recommended Reading: The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano The Pumpkin Blanket by Deborah Turney Zagwyn Too Many Pumpkins by Linda White Patty s Pumpkin Patch by Teri Sloat Native Americans called pumpkins isqoutm squash. 4 5 12 6 7 8 9 10 11 Pumpkins are harvested in the fall. Illinois is the leading state in pumpkin production, growing 90-95% of all processed pumpkins. It takes 110 days for a pumpkin vine to produce mature pumpkins. The length of the circle around the pumpkin is called the circumference. Eighty percent of all the pumpkins produced commercially in the U. S. are produced within a 90-mile radius of Peoria, Illinois. 13 14 15 16 17 18 Pumpkins originated in Central America. The largest pumpkin ever grown weighed 1,140 pounds. Pumpkins are a great source of vitamin A and potassium. Pumpkins are a fruit. In 2010, Illinois produced 427 million pounds of pumpkins. 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 In early colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling. The largest pumpkin pie ever made was over five feet in diameter and weighed over 350 pounds. Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites. Morton, Illinois, just 10 miles southeast of Peoria, calls itself the Pumpkin Capital of the World. As of 2007, Illinois has 502 farms that grow pumpkins on 13,679 acres statewide. (Data surveyed every 5 years) 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 Pumpkin flowers are edible. Pumpkins are 90 percent water. Pumpkins are members of the vine crops family alled cucurbits. The Connecticut field variety is the traditional American pumpkin. Native Americans flattened strips of pumpkins, dried them and made mats.
Wheat (late season)
Words and terms to learn: Harvest, flour, bread, spike head, bushel, flour mills Winter wheat, yields, straw, combines, pasta, wheat berry June 2013 Recommended Reading: Food: Bread by Louise Spilsbury Bread Comes to Life: A Garden of Wheat and Loaf to Eat by George Levenson From Wheat to Pasta by Robert Egan The Wheat Doll by Alison Randall Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 The head of a wheat plant A bushel of wheat weighs 3 4 5 6 7 8 is called a spike head. about 60 pounds. 9 16 10 A combine cuts the wheat 11 12 A wheat head contains 13 14 Wheat is grown in 42 15 Spring wheat is planted in To harvest means 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Wheat contains a lot 25 26 30 7 14 21 and then cleans and separates the kernels from the plant. of protein, which is good for you. the spring and harvested in late summer or early fall. July 2013 27 28 In 2009, each American 29 Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday 30 1 Illinois produces soft red 2 3 winter wheat, which is used in cake mixes and pretzels. 50 to 75 kernels. states in the United States. 4 5 A kernel of wheat, sometimes 6 8 9 Wheat yields have improved 10 11 Wheat kernels the wheat plant grows. 12 13 by approximately one-half bushel per acre each year since 1900. are ground into flour. called the wheat berry, is the seed from which 15 A wheat plant grows 16 17 Did you know that 12% 18 19 A new variety of wheat can 20 to be 2 to 4 feet high. of the world s wheat crop is produced in America? for farmers to plant. 22 23 The rest of the wheat plant 24 25 Wheat is used in bread, 26 27 below the head is called straw, which is bundled and Wheat is the principal U.S. cereal grain for export and domestic consumption. to remove wheat kernels from the wheat plant. pasta, cereal, pretzels and licorice. consumed an average 134.6 pounds of wheat cereal and flour products. take as long as 17 years to develop before it is available used as animal bedding. 28 29 Wheat is harvested, 30 31 A modern combine 1 2 3 or taken out of the fields, by combines. can harvest 1,000 bushels of wheat per hour. The wheat from area farms is collected at grain elevators and then shipped to flour mills.
Ag Mags are available on-line and in classroom sets of 30. www.iaafoundation.org IAITC is supported through contributors to the IAA Foundation. This publication was generously provided by AT&T. AG MaGS The Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom Ag Mags are four-page, colorful agricultural magazines for kids. They contain information about agriculture, classroom activities, agricultural career interviews and bright pictures. Ag Mags are available on-line and in classroom sets of 30. Contact your local County Farm Bureau to order some today! Apples Beef Corn Dairy Horse Horticulture Nutrition Pizza Pork Poultry Pumpkin Renewable Energy Soil Soybeans Specialty Crop Tree Urban Water 1701 Towanda Avenue Bloomington, IL 61701 309-557-3334 aitc@ilfb.org Visit us on our website at www.agintheclassroom.org