1,300 City Schools’ third-graders experience MTSU farm life.

Mitchell-Neilson Elementary School third-grader Taylor Vandenburgh did what many of her peers chose not to do: She scooped up some silage used to feed MTSU dairy cows, just to obtain a whiff of it.

Other students petted cows and calves, drank chocolate milk from the cows, made a craft out of dried beans and yarn and learned about tractors, honey from bees and other aspects of the working farm in Lascassas, Tennessee.

To view video from the event, visit https://youtu.be/vLom-CkECsw.

About 1,300 Murfreesboro City Schools’ third-graders visited the university’s Experiential Learning and Research Center — the farm and dairy — Wednesday (May 17) as part of the third “Farm2School” field trip in as many years.

The farm experience is part of a partnership between Murfreesboro City Schools and MTSU.

In addition to Mitchell-Neilson, other schools participating on the warm and breezy day included Black Fox, Bradley Academy, Cason Lane Academy, Discovery

School, Erma Siegel, Hobgood, John Pittard, Northfield, Overall Creek, Reeves-Rogers and Scales.

Mitchell-Neilson’s Jasmine Dykes, 9, enjoyed “making butter and petting the cows.” After drinking chocolate milk, she said, “it was good.” The best part of making butter for her was that “I got to shake it.”

A number of MTSU and City Schools’ staff coordinated the four-hour event. Various MTSU students and staff shared about the dairy, garden and life on a farm.

Stations the children visited included tractor safety, educational craft, garden area pig display, honey bees, making butter and chocolate milk.

MTSU and Murfreesboro City Schools have collaborated to bring more than 35,000 students for five Education Days at MTSU women’s basketball games and teamed for many student-teaching events and educational and academic endeavors through the years.

Murfreesboro City Schools participates in the national Farm2School Network program.