Visitors see baby animals, farm work demos at Farmpark’s Farmer Monday event

While they were out of the classroom on a sunny Presidents Day, children who visited Farmer Monday at the Lake Metroparks Farmpark in Kirtland learned about preparing maple sugar, shelling corn and other farm activities.

Farmer Monday was one of three events that Lake Metroparks hosted for families while kids were off from school on Feb. 20. According to Event Manager Andy McGovern, the Farmpark event was designed to show visitors how farmers spend their time in the winter.

"They don't just sit around because there's no crops in the field," he said. "They’ve got animals to take care of, they’ve got things they’ve got to make."

Farmpark Educational Manager Christina Bellas said Farmer Monday has been held for at least 15 years. She noted that "consistency" and "excitement" are added by the fact that the event usually falls around the time that lambs are born.

"People know what we’re about, so they enjoy returning time after time," she added.

Visitor Amy Snow came with her family for their second Farmer Monday. She said that their favorite activities included making candles, riding ponies and seeing the baby animals.

"We just love coming and checking out all the babies and riding on the wagon rides with the horses and everything," she added.

Guests who went inside the park's Plant Science Center could participate in candle making and watch as park interpreter Bethany Toth demonstrated a corn sheller that she said dated from around 1870.

At the visitor center, meanwhile, staff demonstrated how to hand-milk a cow and turn the milk into cheese, said interpreter Aiden Bindokas.

Visitors could also watch as McGovern and others prepared for the park's upcoming Maple Sugaring Weekends, which will take place on March 4-5 and 11-12. He explained that various maple products will be for sale at that event, while the park will also teach visitors how to harvest sap at home.

"The season started a little early this year," he said, estimating that the park had already made around 175 gallons of maple sugar. He described that number as "good," but added that "because of the way the weather's been this year, it's very unique."

McGovern also said maple sugaring had a historic role in the United States.

"This is one of the things that farmers do in the wintertime," he added. "So, it's another kind of crop, and in the colonial days, this was a big deal. You make sugar. Sugar, as we all know, was a big trade item, and so this was one of the big things that…colonial-wise, they use to do."

Bellas described the educational value of Farmer Monday by saying, "We’re continuing to teach folks where their food comes from, and a little bit about how farmers raise animals so we can enjoy food and fiber."

"There's something about being here and watching people go, ‘Oh, that's how that plant grows. That's what you guys milk the cows,’" Bellas added.

In addition to welcoming guests for Farmer Monday, Lake Metroparks marked Presidents Day by hosting Water Day at Jordan Creek Park and Prehistoric Ohio at Penitentiary Glen Reservation.

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