By MAGGIE MCMURRAY
Moapa Valley Progress
One of the most popular attractions at the Clark County Fair every year is the Agriculture Barn. Barn directors Kaluna and Jen Aki have expanded the scope of the exhibits in what was formerly known as the small animal barn, to celebrate the broader subject of agriculture in all its aspects and to help people become more connected to their food, the earth, and agriculture in general.
“We are excited to promote agriculture,” Kaluna Aki said. “That is really our #1 goal every year and this year we have more information and displays than ever.”
Work to prepare the exhibits for the barn begins well before the fair. This year the Akis are planning a new garden display that highlights container gardening. Container gardening can be done by anyone, anywhere, and requires no special equipment or large areas to produce incredible results.
In order to be prepared for the exhibit, the Akis borrowed space at the University of Nevada Cooperative Extension greenhouse and have been growing plants and starts for weeks.
“We will be focusing on plants that everyone can grow in this area and that do well in containers,” Kaluna said. “We will be demonstrating artichokes, salad mixes, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, squash, and a lot of varieties of herbs.”
Other events also require forward planning. Every year the barn provides a hatching display. Chicken eggs take 21 days to hatch, so Jen Aki has been working well ahead collecting fertile eggs from donors and starting them in incubators on every spare surface of her home. She is timing them exactly so they will hatch at the fair. Watching the eggs hatch is a favorite barn activity of all ages so they work really hard to get the highest hatching rate possible.
There are a lot of other crowd favorites that are returning this year as well. RC Farms will supply a sow and piglets and there will be plenty of small and not-so-small animals, including beef and dairy cattle, horses, goats, chickens, waterfowl, and rabbits. Kids will get to dig for vegetables to exchange for prizes in the vegetable garden. There will also be goat milking demonstrations and farrier (horseshoeing) demonstrations.
Several agriculture related businesses will be on hand also. There will be a new display by RC Verde Compost on the uses of compost and how it is made. Countrywide Insurance, a partner of Nevada Farm Bureau, will also be there, along with the Nevada Beef Council and the United States Department of Agriculture.
Nevada Farm Bureau will be returning with their kid-friendly display of agriculture-related computers games and other games for kids to play. Of course, they will be bringing their friend “Maggie the Milk Cow” back for anyone who wants first-hand experience in milking a cow—or at least about as close as you can get without actually being on the farm.
“We are excited to come to the fair and teach people about Farm Bureau,” Farm Bureau spokeswoman Cindy Hardy said. “We love to interact with the public and get our message out. Farm Bureau membership has so many benefits and we love people to know what they are supporting.”
Another new display will be “Healing Veterans through Backyard Agriculture,” a program started by Sergeant Dennis M. Stuckey II of the US Marine Corp.
Stuckey remembers the hard time he had waiting for the five years it took to get his benefits from the Veterans Administration. So he began this program to help others who are also waiting. The program provides veterans waiting for benefits with a chicken coop or a garden for their backyard to give them something to occupy their time and their minds while they are waiting for other help.
The 4-H program will also have a presence in the building. There will be a 4-H informational booth and a lot of fun activities going on. 4-H chicken and rabbit showmanship will take place on the Saturday and Sunday of fair, and 4-H clubs will be doing a chicken bingo fundraiser at 1:30, 4:30, and 7:00pm every day of the fair. 4-H club members will be selling tickets for $2 apiece. Half the money collected will go to the winner, and half to the 4-H club.
There will also be a slideshow recognizing the new National 4-H “Grow True Leaders” campaign. The slideshow will consist of pictures of local 4-H members from the past, as well as pictures of celebrities who used to belong to 4-H. 4-H is still collecting pictures and encourages anyone who has ever shown in 4-H to find a picture of themselves showing and submit it to sproull@unce.org, or drop it off at the 4-H office in the Logandale Cooperative Extension building.
Kaluna Aki is excited about how the barn is shaping up. “There is a great trend right now towards knowing where your food comes from and being more involved in personal food production,” he said. “This is something that anyone can do regardless of whether they are from: the city or the country. Our purpose is to help, encourage, and educate these people and get them excited about agriculture. If we can do that, or help them in any way, it will be another fantastic Clark County Fair for us.”
