Down on the farm

Andrew Wainer

Plavan Elementary School kindergartners sojourned to Orange County’s

agricultural past on Friday, taking a barnyard tour of Centennial Farm,

where they were able to cradle baby chickens and come face to face with a

1-ton Holstein cow.

The farm, on the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, brings in

50,000 students a year for guided tours that gives classes a unique

hands-on experience with agriculture and animal husbandry.

Lynne Davis’ class ran from goat to rooster to rabbit, petting and

playing with the nonplused animals.

“Can we take one home?” one enrapt child asked.

“Who are you?” another student asked a non-responsive crow.

Davis, who has been bringing her Fountain Valley school classes to the

farm for years, believes strongly in the program’s benefit for students.

“This is a perfect kickoff for our classroom farm unit,” Davis said. “We

will show the kids how important the farm is to our culture and society.”

Class tours of the sunny 3.5-acre farms are led by volunteer docents.

Jesse Goens, who volunteers one day a week, said the combination of

nature and kids was irresistible for him. “I knew I had to give back to

the community, and when I looked at the volunteer opportunities

available, this program hit home,’ a sweaty Goens said after finishing a

one-hour tour of the grounds.

Part of Goens’ tour includes agricultural basics; all students were able

to sow their own radishes, which were planted in the farmyard. A quick

egg fertilization course included cuddling with the end product -- baby

chickens.

The farm produces a myriad of crops throughout the year. The harvest is

given away to the public and donated to charity. All the traditional farm

animals are also raised, including sheep, pigs, goats, chickens, turkeys,

rabbits and a working team of oxen.

Centennial Farm is subsidized by the Orange County Fairgrounds and the

Centennial Farm Foundation.

The students relished the opportunity to touch and feel animals that are

no longer a part of the Orange County landscape.

“My favorite part was petting the goats and pigs because I usually don’t

get to pet animals,” pigtailed Asia Anderson said.

“I liked holding the chicks,” Dylan Stewart said.

Tour leader Goens was equally charged by Friday’s tour, his first. “It

was a blast. This makes me want to study more about the farm and the

animals.”

Centennial Farm is open to the public from September to May, 9 a.m. to 4

p.m. Admission is free. School tours can be arranged by calling Teresa

Mason at (714) 708-1618.