Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Graves-Chapple to Hold Open House

The Graves-Chapple Research Center is opening its doors for anyone interested in celebrating and learning about agriculture, gardening and food.

The event, “What’s In Our Big Backyard?” will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, September 17 at the Graves-Chapple Research Center near Corning, Mo.

“This is an opportunity for us to talk with anyone that is interested in agriculture,” Superintendent Jim Crawford said. “We really want people to come in and ask questions, have fun and just really enjoy themselves.”

The event is free to attend and will include a free lunch. The event includes presentations, live demonstrations and several booths.

The event will be family friendly as well, with a petting zoo, coloring table and trolley ride for children.

“We’re excited to get the entire family to the farm. It will be a great atmosphere to ask questions,” Crawford said. “We’ll have all kinds of activities for every age group.”

Topics include lawn and garden tips, energy conservation for the home and loess hills restoration projects. A highlight will be for attendees to Explore a cow’s digestive tract using the cannulated cow, a cow that has had a door surgically implanted into its digestive tract. “The cannulated cow is always the most popular station at our Youth Ag Days.  We wanted to give the public a chance to utilize this great teaching aid to learn a little bit more about where their food comes from” Crawford said.

“Everyone is tied to agriculture in some way,” Crawford said. “There is a lot of bad information out there where people aren’t telling the whole story about agriculture. We want to pass along the correct information.”

Pink pumpkins will be on sale for $5 each with the proceeds going to cancer awareness.  Eight types of ornamental corn and 4 types of ornamental gourds will also be available for purchase as a “U pick it”.

The Graves-Chapple Research Center is located at 29955 Outer Road, Fairfax, MO 64446. For more information, call 660-744-6231 or email crawfordj@missouri.edu.

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