In an effort to promote agriculture in the classroom, the Mason County Farm Bureau built a Book Barn that will travel to the public library and local schools.
The Book Barn is currently being housed in the Mason County Public Library and was debuted to children and parents on July 2, during story hour.
Mason County Farm Bureau members Mike Walton, Dick Clary and Ralph Cooper came in to present the Book Barn and read some of the stories that are now available to children.
“We put the book barn in here on June 10, but this has been our first debut with the Book Barn project starting,” said Sally Walton, woman's chairmen for the Mason County Farm Bureau.
According to Sally Walton, the project began in April of 2014 when the bureau decided to apply for a grant that would allow them to build the Book Barn.
“We started in April of last year by applying for a mini grant from the Kentucky Farm Bureau and we had to have the whole process lined up before we could even apply for that,” Sally Walton said. “Then once we received the grant in November we could officially start construction, so then that started in January.”
The Book Barn was designed by Farm Bureau Director Jim Grant and was constructed by Hardymon Lumber Company employee Cletus Cord. The barn was then made to look even more authentic after local artist and painter Jackie Murray painted the “Kentucky Star” quilt pattern on the barn along with additional signage.
The Book Barn also has wheels and handles so that it can be easily transported to different locations.
The $500 grant covered all of the construction, according to Walton, but an additional $500 was used to purchase books for the book barn.
Additional book donations were also received from Mason County 4-H Teen Council, Mason County Master Gardeners and the Washington Study Club.
The books currently in the Book Barn are for Pre-K to second grade readers and contain books that cover many different aspects of agriculture.
If the Book Barn works well, Walton says additional books may then be purchased to reach children with higher reading levels. The project has the possibility of reaching all grades from Pre-K through high school.
“We would replace the books with older age group books and then take the Book Barn to the older age school,” Walton said. “So for example, we would take it to the intermediate school after replacing the books, so that the books are for their age group.”
Mason County Farm Bureau President, Dick Clary, hopes that the Book Barn will teach children the importance of agriculture.
“They need to know where their food comes from and they need to know how everything works on a farm,” Clary said. “They say that they get their food from the grocery store but it's gotta come from a farm somewhere, sometime and they need to know where the stuff comes from.”
Clary also hopes that by teaching the importance of agriculture at a young age, the children will become interested in farming themselves.
“Years ago when I was growing up, almost everyone had some relation to a farm and nowadays most of them are gone or the majority of them are,” Clary said. “Less than two percent of people actually farm and it's less every year. It's more important to me to know where stuff comes from and how it works.”
Walton hopes that the Book Barn will also prove to be a good resource for teachers as well.
“We also want to provide resources to the teachers in various schools,” Walton said. “So let's just say if the Book Barn goes to Straub Elementary, the teachers can then go and check out the books and take them back to their classrooms and use them as resources for some of their curriculum.”
While the teachers are allowed to check out books from the Book Barn, the children are only allowed to read the books while they are in the library.
Since the Book Barn has just made its debut, Walton is unsure whether or not there will be more Book Barns built in the future.
“At this point our second phase would be to add more books to the current barn, but if it goes over well we might build another,” Walton said.
Because the Book Barn was designed to travel easily to and from different locations, it is scheduled to be on display at different schools throughout the school year.
“We are scheduled for Straub Elementary, the Nativity Montessori School and then St. Patrick's so far,” Walton said. “I'm also going to call Mason County head start because the library staff thinks that they would be very interested in the Book Barn.”
According to Walton, each time the Book Barn is brought to a new location, the Farm Bureau will come in and do a presentation similar to the story hour at the library, to introduce the students and staff to the project.
“If anyone else is interested in hosting the Book Barn, please feel free to contact me,” Walton said. “We would love to get as many people involved as possible.”
For more information about the Book Barn, contact Sally Walton at 606-375-5732.
(story provided by The Ledger Independent, online at: http://www.maysville-online.com)