Dr. Naveen Kumar, horticultural specialist in Extension and assistant professor in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences, treated 21 children from UMES’ Child and Family Development Center with a fall field trip.
Kumar showed the children his pumpkin patch, where he gave each a bright yellow blossom and explained how they turn into green and then orange pumpkins growing on the vines that were before them. He then moved on to tell them about the garden, showing and letting them take tomatoes and okra from the vines and pointing out the strawberry plants.
After the garden, the children moved through his corn maze where he asked them to pick which way to go to lead the group out. Along the way, Kumar talked about the crop and let the children take ears of corn. Following his lively presentation, each child received a small pumpkin as they loaded a tractor-pulled wagon for a ride.
Ronnie Haymaker, an agriculture technician, led the hay ride, stopping first to watch the new harvester cut corn, then to visit the apple orchard, and lastly to see the goats.
“Our two, three and four-year-old children were active listeners, enthusiastically engaged and enthralled with each new learning experience they encountered throughout their very special field trip to the farm,” said Dr. Donna Long, an associate professor in the Department of Human Ecology and the UMES Child and Family Development Center director.
