Traci Curry of NMAITC makes a presentation on agriculture to Cliff School 2nd graders.Alida Burchett (left) and Patricia Hunt prepare beef stew.With an invitation from Michelle Greeman, Cliff School Kindergarten teacher, the New Mexico Agriculture in the Classroom (NMAITC) and the Grant County Copper CowBelles teamed up on March 14th to make a presentation to four classrooms of Cliff School students with a program called "Stew for a Few."

Traci Curry, representing NMAITC engaged students from Pre-K, Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades with an exciting exploration of Agriculture including plants and animals, cattle ranching and how important it is to understand where our food comes from.

The kids were encouraged to ask any questions they may have about what agriculture does for us such as providing food, clothing, medicines and other products. A question about cotton resulted in the answer that their t-shirts, jeans and even underwear can be made from cotton and that answer brought on many giggles!

Traci kept the students busy with the slide show and Q&A while the CowBelles helpers Alida Burchett and Patricia Hunt were heating up stew in addition to sharing their experiences as local cattle ranchers. As a finale, Traci read the Dr. Suess story "Stew for a Few," a comical story about outrageous Suess characters inviting themselves to dinner for what they thought would be steak dinner. Each child wanting a taste then received a serving of stew to eat. It was full of vegetables and beef. The nutritional values of beef known as ZIP: Zinc, Iron and Protein were also explained.

The students were given a copy of the stew recipe and other information about agriculture to take home and had warm tummies full of delicious stew.

By Pat Hunt