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Butterflies, Spiders and 'Doc' Bohart
Butterflies fluttered in, spiders jumped or crawled in, and "Doc" Bohart, holding "Beau," strolled...
Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, strikes a pose as "Doc" Bohart at the Bohart Museum Society's Halloween party. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Professor Jason Bond, director of the Bohart Museum and UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey (dressed as a spider), former Bohart Museum director, share a laugh. Bond is an arachnologist and Kimsey, a hymenopterist. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Faculty members and their wives enjoyed the Halloween party. From left are associate professor Geoffrey Attardo and wife, Meg; Kristine Bond; Professor Stephen (Fringy) Richards, and Professor Jason Bond, director of the Bohart Museum. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis alumnus and artist Francisco Basso dressed as a spider. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis retired faculty member Robert Kimsey, a forensic entomologist, wore his traditional ghillie suit as he served beverages. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis alumnus Allen Chew created the invitation to the Bohart Museum Society Halloween party. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, former Bohart Museum director, and Professor Jason Bond, who suceeded her, cut the Bohart Museum Society cake. (Photo by Greg Kareofelas)
For the Love of Insects
How many kids have you seen running and screaming every time they encounter an insect? Maybe not...
Thea Schmidt, 4, of Folsom points excitedly to the tenants of the live petting zoo at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Thea Schmidt, 4, delights in holding a stick insect in the Bohart Museum of Entomology's live petting zoo. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Elliot Sauder, 7, and his sister Sutton, 9, of Sacramento are eager to look at a butterfly specimen under a microscope at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Elliot Sauder, 7, peers at a specimen under a microscope. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
What's More Fun Than Netting a Butterfly?
What's more fun that netting a butterfly? Netting two (or more) butterflies. UC Davis doctoral...
Braden Nguyen, 3, of Davis, stretches to net a paper butterfly tossed by UC Davis doctoral student Christofer Brothers at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Eighteen-month-old Owen Nguyen of Davis checks out a vial holding a bug. At right is UC Davis doctoral candidate Christofer Brothers. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Future entomologists? The Nguyen brothers of Davis--Branden, 3, and Owen, 18 months old--pose with UC Davis doctoral candidate Christofer Brothers. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Owen Nguyen, 18 months old, looks at a bee vacuum at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house. Scientists use these to capture, identify and release bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Butte County first graders enjoy ‘ricetastic’ day at local farm
UC Cooperative Extension advisors, educators join growers in showcasing rice production
When Tracy Schohr volunteered in her son's pre-K class a couple years ago, she was stunned to find out that only two of the 20 children had ever been around a tractor. And this was in the rural Butte County community of Gridley, in the heart of California's rice-growing region.
Seeking to introduce more young children to agriculture, Schohr – the University of California Cooperative Extension livestock and natural resources advisor for the area – and her friend Lisa Donati created an event to showcase rice farming.
After the debut of “Ricetastic Day” last year with about 140 students from Gridley in attendance, this year's event on Sept. 19 attracted more than 240 schoolchildren – this time from across south Butte County.
First graders from McKinley Primary School in Gridley, Manzanita Elementary School, Biggs Elementary School and Richvale Elementary School – along with their teachers and many family members – enjoyed hands-on experiences at Schohr's rice and cattle ranch.
“There's a dwindling population that produces the food that we eat across America, so how can we have more people know, appreciate and love agriculture if we don't give them that opportunity?” said Schohr. “That's what this day is really about – to teach them about rice, to teach them about their community, how healthy rice can be, and how the farming and ranching can also create habitat for wildlife. It's all-encompassing.”
Event stations share different aspects of rice
Schohr, who grew up on the family ranch in Gridley, remembers coming with her McKinley schoolmates for a visit. But those field trips had comprised only lunch and a quick “drive-through” tour of the historic farming operation.
For Ricetastic Day, however, Schohr organized – with generous help from local growers and community partners – a more comprehensive half-day of activities. After her brother, Ryan Schohr, welcomed the participants to the family farm, the students formed groups that were led by Gridley FFA youth on a rotation through a variety of stations.
At the milling station, Luis Espino, UCCE rice farming systems advisor, demonstrated how his mini mill machines remove the husks from rough rice to make brown rice, and then polish away the bran layer to make white rice. He had the children see and feel the difference as the rice moved through processing.
“I didn't even know brown rice existed!” exclaimed Elsie, a first grader at McKinley.
A native of Peru, Espino came to study agriculture through his lifelong fascination with biology and living things – and he said events like Ricetastic Day can inspire a similar passion in young people.
“It might spark their curiosity so that they might go into these areas of work in the future or have a career in agriculture, when they see that people do this for a living,” Espino said.
Ray Stogsdill, another McKinley school alumnus, returned to Gridley after college to pursue just such a career. A staff research associate in the lab of UC Davis professor Bruce Linquist, Stogsdill manages on-farm rice variety testing across the region. He volunteered to help Schohr with Ricetastic Day by talking about some of the heavy equipment and providing his perspective for the kids.
“They drive by the fields and they don't know what's out there,” he said. “This gives them a chance to know what they're driving by, so they can say, ‘We have rice here and this is how it works; this is how it grows.' It gives them an idea of what's going on around them.”
Where rice fits within a healthy diet was the focus for the CalFresh Healthy Living, UC Cooperative Extension team, comprising nutrition educators Sunshine Hawjj, Joanna Aguilar and Kenia Estrada, as well as community nutrition, health and food security advisor Veronica VanCleave-Hunt. They talked about how rice – like other grains in that vital food group – gives people energy, and then taught the students an energetic “ricetastic” movement activity.
“Because our program is part of UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, it's important to make the connection between where our food comes from and how it gets on our plate – especially with young kids, so that we can promote value for our local agriculture and our food systems,” VanCleave-Hunt explained.
Activities spark further conversations, learning about agriculture
With rice harvest late due to late planting in the spring, Eric Waterbury of Waterbury Farms was able to take some time to attend the event. Although his family has been growing rice for three generations, he said he appreciates opportunities for the broader community to see all aspects of his work – from the equipment to the processing.
“If the kids walk away from this with one thing, I hope it's that they realize every time they have a meal, somebody was out there working hard to provide that meal,” he said. “It wasn't just the person at the grocery store that provided it for them.”
Schohr added that Ricetastic Day was only possible through the support of the community. Butte County Farm Bureau and Natural Resources Conservation Service staff helped kids make art with colorful dyed rice; neighboring farmer Tinker Storm described how the harvester and “bankout” wagon work; and rice farmers Shelley Beck and Sue Orme read aloud “Daddy's Got Dirt: A California Rice Story,” a children's book written by a local rice grower.
With rice at the center of physical activities, arts and crafts, and science lessons for the day, the students learned a lot to take home.
“It's nice that the kids got these hands-on learning experiences,” said Ryan Schohr, “so they can go home tonight and, at the dinner table, talk about it with their parents or brothers and sisters, over dinner or over homework – and share what they learned here on the farm and about their community.”
Rebecca Christy, a first- and second-grade teacher at Biggs Elementary, said she is excited to return to the classroom and hear from her students about all that they learned during the day.
“Every morning right now I'm seeing the big trucks going by our school, and so I'll be able to point that out to them, ‘Where are they going? What are they doing?'” she said. “I can't wait to get back to school and let them tell me about all of this.”
One of her students, Ximena, was finishing her brownbag lunch as the group watched one of the Schohr Ranch harvesters rumble over the field. Despite enjoying a rice cake and a rice cracker earlier, she said her meal was missing one thing.
“Where is my rice, Miss Christy?” she said. “I want rice!”
Buds, Butterflies and Books...
It's delightful to see a child browsing through an insect book. And it's double...
A children's book on the California state insect, the dogface butterfly, draws the interest of twins Ford and Wyatt Devine, 2, of Vacaville.The book was displayed at the Vacaville Museum Guild's Children's Party. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
