And This Little Piggy Went To School For A Visit

The little pig looked comfy napping in the gymnasium at St. Mary’s School. And the second and third graders looked amazed, amused and disgusted, in turn, as they learned about the source of bacon and ham.

“The first thing I do with a baby pig is play dentist,” said Robyn Meenach, holding up a pair of clippers and a doll piglet. “They have eight sharp baby teeth and I clip them right off.” Snip, snip, she demonstated.

Otherwise, when the piglets are fighting over the mother pig’s nipples, they scratch each other. Those scratches can get infected.

This and other farm-related information flowed like manna at a mini-fair put on this week for St. Mary’s students by Project EAT, a program involving Americorps and the state Farm Service Agency. Meenach and Louise Belsby, who also visited St. Mary’s this week, are Americorps workers and also help run family farms.

“Why do pigs like mud?” Meenach asked.

“So they can get dirty,” was the popular answer.

“No, they’ll stay as clean as a farmer will keep them. But they have no sweat glands and they need to stay cool,” Meenach said, explaining that she and her husband keep six sows, in part so their children will have pigs for 4-H and Future Farmer of America projects.

“Why do I raise pigs?” Meenach asked.

“To keep them with their mothers,” answered an optimistic Lindsay Pavlischak.

“No, to make meat.” And the circle of young faces fell.

Meenach wasted no time here, but reminded the students about pork chops and bacon.

In other corners of the gym, more Americorps workers unfolded the wonders of honey bees, seeds, the mechanics of farming and ways farmers help wildlife.

Louise Belsby had brought along a little bread tin brimming with wheat plants. It didn’t hurt the wheat on her family farm too much when the deer and elk grazed on the wheat in the fall or early winter, she said. “The last time I counted, I could see 18 deer out there munching on our wheat plants.”

But Belsby got the biggest “oooh!” from her crowd of boys when she passed around pelts from a bobcat and a cougar as part of her wildlife presentation.

Project EAT Environment, Agriculture, Technology - started making presentations to adults and children this fall. The group has worked with more than 2,000 children so far.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo