Vanessa Martinez
Staff Writer
Families and community members enjoyed the Fall in the Farm gathering at Fairplex in Pomona, where they participated in activities, workshops and demonstrations Sunday.
Fall in the Farm is an annual seasonal event to teach visitors about American agriculture.
The event hosted lessons on healthy food options and workshops and activities including rope making, olive oil tasting, face painting and stick horse racing.
The Batista Family Farm, a farm in Ontario, held a cow milking demonstration in the barn.
Jenella Pawluk, a Cal Poly Pomona sophomore, and Nancy Nobles, a Cal Poly Pomona senior, interns at the Batista Family Farm, presented Lucy, a hosting cow, which is a cow that is used only for milk. In one day, a hosting cow usually produces six to ten gallons of milk, Pawluk said.
“They’ll teach you how to actually do the hands-on milking and teach you how to manage a dairy farm,” Pawluk said.
“The Batista Farm is … very helpful and they want you to learn,” said Nobles, who is studying animal science and hopes to work with work with large animals after college.
The event also showcased egg hatching seminars.
Different stations showed each stage of the development of a chicken, from keeping an egg in a heated box at a specific temperature, to actually seeing the baby chick crack open the egg.
“Experiencing the nature is what brings me here and makes me want to volunteer,” said Paula Cole who has been volunteering for three years now at the Farm.
Cole said she enjoys educating children and helping them grow. At the event Cole spoke to guests about egg hatching, pointing out the evolving stages of chicken.
Cole said she plans to volunteer and help the community and become more involved with the farm life.
“It was informative and I saw a lot of things I did not know about the farm life,” said Shanette Oliver who came with her six grandchildren and her daughter Jessica Handy.
“The people at the event were nice and family oriented,” Oliver said.
She added that Dia De Los Puercos, a local restaurant that teams up with Fairplex to bring their food to events, was delicious.
They served samples of homemade pork with pomegranate seeds throughout the event.
The pork was cooked to be crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside.
“I love seeing all the various partners and organizations out here promoting the work that they do,” Handy said.
She added that she loves to see activities for children that promote agriculture.
“I think as a society we are a little bit removed from farming life and agriculture, so it is really great to see events promoting healthy practices,” Handy said.
Vanessa Martinez can be reached at vanessa.martinez4@laverne.edu.
Vanessa Martinez
