LASCASSAS, Tenn. — Nearly 1,300 Murfreesboro City Schools’ third graders were fascinated by the butter-making process and much more during their fifth annual “Farm2School” field trip to the MTSU Farm and Dairy in Lascassas, Tennessee.

The students visited the university’s Experiential Learning and Research Center — which includes the farm and dairy — Wednesday, May 8.

Assisted by Aubrenie Jones, right, of the Rutherford County Health Department, third graders from the Murfreesboro City Schools hold and shake containers of butter they eventually will snack on with crackers after they watched butter being made with milk from cattle at MTSU’s Experiential Learning and Research Center Wednesday, May 8. The youngsters visited the university’s farm in Lascassas, Tenn., during the school system’s “Day on the Farm,” part of the school system’s “Farm2School” initiative as well as a longstanding educational partnership with MTSU. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

The farm experience is part of a partnership between the city school system and MTSU. The visit was led by School of Agriculture Director Jessica Carter, farm-dairy Director Matthew Wade and several students, faculty members and staff.

Participating elementary schools included Black Fox, Bradley and Cason Lane academies, Discovery School at Bellwood, Erma Siegel, Hobgood, John Pittard, Mitchell-Neilson, Northfield, Overall Creek, Reeves Rogers and Scales.

School buses dropped off children at 9:15 and 11:15 a.m. for two-hour visits, where they learned about cows and their feed, chickens, goats and other animals; bees and honey; farm equipment; and the milking parlor and MTSU Creamery chocolate milk. An average of 80 students gathered at a time at each of the five stations around the farm’s dairy and garden areas.

There was a whole lot of shakin’ going on at the two butter stations, as each child received a small plastic container of cream and was told to shake until the liquid turned to butter.

“This has been really fun,” said Ivy Sampson, 9, a Discovery School at Bellwood student. “I enjoyed making the butter, and it was really good making the lima bean necklace look like a greenhouse.”

She said she also enjoyed “seeing how the apple trees have grown since last year.”

MTSU School of Agriculture professor Maegan Hollis explains the workings of a cow’s stomach to third graders from the Murfreesboro City Schools at MTSU’s Experiential Learning and Research Center Wednesday, May 8, during the school system’s “Day on the Farm” visit to the university’s farm in Lascassas, Tenn. The children’s trip is part of the school system’s “Farm2School” initiative as well as a longstanding educational partnership with MTSU. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

Mitchell-Neilson student Ryleigh Mullen, 9, also enjoyed the butter-making process.

“I like shaking it and how that turns it into butter,” she said, savoring her first visit to the MTSU Farm.

David Howse, 9, an Erma Siegel student, called the field trip “very cool … seeing the goats, cow and making the lima bean necklace. It was a bunch of fun.”

The School of Agriculture is one of 11 departments in the College of Basic and Applied Sciences  To learn more, call 615-898-2523.

— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)

Third graders from the Murfreesboro City Schools examine silage used for cattle feed at MTSU’s Experiential Learning and Research Center Wednesday, May 8, during the school system’s “Day on the Farm” visit to the university’s farm in Lascassas, Tenn. The trip is part of the school system’s “Farm2School” initiative as well as a longstanding educational partnership with MTSU. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)

Third graders from the Murfreesboro City Schools learn about goats at MTSU’s Experiential Learning and Research Center Wednesday, May 8, during the school system’s “Day on the Farm” visit to the university’s farm in Lascassas, Tenn. The trip is part of the school system’s “Farm2School” initiative as well as a longstanding educational partnership with MTSU. (MTSU photo by Andy Heidt)