Feeling Like a Rock Star in Chicago

I spent this last weekend at the Illinois Farm Bureau's conference in Chicago, and had a nano-taste of what a rock star must feel like. I never met so many people who had 1. heard of one of my books, and 2. wanted me to sign them. I actually had a line!!!

This adulation was all thanks to one of the best PR guys I have ever met -- Kevin Daugherty -- and his staff at Illinois Ag in the Classroom.  I gave a presentation to classroom teachers and Ag in the Classroom folks, who help teachers incorporate agriculture into their lessons. I spoke about how I came to write Farmer George (a family vacation trip to Mount Vernon), how I wrote it (over many revisions) and how it almost didn't fill the requirements of an "Ag book" (depicting agriculture accurately) because I had written "pushed the plow" (you guide the plow while an oxen pulls it).

I was just the warm up act. After the break, Kevin then showed how Farmer George can start a discussion about seeds, soil, compost, and horses with simple activities and additional materials from their magazines. Kevin even got the rarely-sighted man in the audience to make a Soil Sam by filling a knee-high stocking (non-reinforced!) with grass seed and soil. Anyone interested in these activities can access a PDF of the booklet here: http://www.agintheclassroom.org/TeacherResources/Lesson%20Booklets/Farmer%20George%20Plants%20a%20Nation%20Lessons.pdf  It gives directions to make Soil Sam, as well as several lessons on trees, horses, and my favorite, milling wheat.

And I've added additional lesson ideas (not ag related) on my website http://www.peggythomaswrites.com/Teacher-s-Guides.html.

Enjoy!