Memories of the 1st Ag Day in San Francisco

Although I have heard the story on several occasions it still puts a smile on my face to hear my Dad or Mom reminisce about the 1^st organized Farm Day in San Francisco.  The year was 1986 and I was almost 5 years old.   I can remember my Mom getting me up early that day so that we could get an early breakfast, get dressed and hurry down to the dairy barn to help my Dad get the necessary tack, feed and straw into the livestock trailer. We were going to take a trip to San Francisco with one of my Brother’s FFA cows and calf to a school in San Francisco for Farm Day. 

My Dad and I at the 1st Farm Day

 

Many farmers and ranchers in area had made the commitment to travel to San Francisco and show case their specific farm.  There were dairy cows and calves, beef cows and calves, chickens, a sow and her piglets, goats, a horse and a lama.  The area farmers and ranchers were to rendezvous with their livestock trailers at the Marin County Civic Center and we would caravan into the City together.  It was exciting for such a young girl to be a part of such a wonderful event and I couldn’t wait to get on the road! 

Selected schools all over San Francisco were to receive a live farm that day at their school.  Once we reached our selected school I helped my parents unload the cow and her calf and get all the necessary feed and tack out for the day.  I also brought out the calf bottle so that the school kids could feed the calf if they wanted to. Once the children were let out to see all the animals I think they were amazed by the real live farm animals in their school yard were they would usually play.

It was a wonderful day helping my Dad and Mom teach the school children how to feed the baby calf, answer their questions and teach them about California Agriculture.  The San Francisco Chronicle was at our school to do a piece about the 1^st Farm Day in San Francisco. While walking through the “school yard farm” to see the sow and her piglets one of the students asked one of the farm day volunteers, “How do pigs lay bacon?”  Well that was the question of the day, according to my parents.  It was also the headline of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper the next day.  This question shows how much these children could learn from the event and hopefully they did.

At the time I had no idea what an impact Farm Day would have on agriculture in California.  My parents felt it was very important to educate our urban neighbors on where our food and fiber came from and this would just be the beginning of their passion to educate.  They as well as I continued to participate in Farm Day for many years and I hope we were able to educate and inspire many children about agriculture in California.

It’s 2011 I’m grown and I intend to share this memory with my daughter Hannah on how I traveled across the Golden Gate Bridge so many years ago to share with the students in San Francisco about farm animals and the importance and significance of agriculture in our everyday lives. I hope that this memory will inspire her to follow in her grandparent’s foot steps to educate others on the story of Ag in California.  I also hope that the memories of my experience so many years ago will inspire you to volunteer for the 25^th Anniversary of Farm Day in San Francisco to be held on October 20^th!