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Hazlehurst Farm-City Day produces bumper crop of smiles
Where can you milk a goat, dig your own potato, see plenty of smiles and enjoy other signs, sounds and smells of a family farm? At a Farm-City Day, of course!
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The annual Farm-City Day held at the Hazlehurst, Georgia, farm of Herman and Corrine Sellers allows visitors to savor the simplicity of life on the farm. Young "farmers" learn all about hogs, digging potatoes, picking peaches, milking cows and more. The Sellers, in conjunction with the Hazlehurst Chamber of Commerce and the Jeff County Farm Bureau Women’s Committee and Promotion and Education Committee, organize the popular event.
The first Hazlehurst Farm-City Day, held 13 years ago at the Sellers’ farm, featured just a handful of exhibits and children from Jeff Davis County, where the Sellers live. The 2007 Farm-City Day mushroomed to over thirty educational exhibits and welcomes over 800 children and 500 adults from four neighboring counties. |
The Hazlehurst Farm-City celebration is really a two-day event. The evening before Farm-City Day, community, 4-H, FFA and Youth Leadership Club volunteers enjoy a Low Country Boil dinner at the Sellers’ farm.
On the morning of Farm-City Day, the air is filled with the tantalizing aroma of biscuits baking and sausage sizzling on a hot grill. Early in the morning, exhibitors set up their displays while volunteers receive last-minute instructions before the buses, vans, and cars begin pouring in.
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When the children arrive, the fun really begins. There’s lot to see and do. The children can milk goats, pet a Belgium horse, check out the catfish pond or take a close-up look at baby alligators, baby chicks and rabbits. A Jessup police rollover simulator teaches seatbelt safety. |
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Fort Valley College brings chickens, goats and a cow, while the Georgia Dairy Association, with its portable milking station, demonstrates how cows give milk. |
| Other popular exhibits included a wagon ride to visit the Sellers’ pigs. This year, the children were captivated by some adorable little piglets that were only a day old. |
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The children also visit a processing house where they learn how sausage is made, what spices go into sausage, and where those spices originate.
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And as a special treat, the kids could get their hands dirty and dig up their very own potato! |
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The excitement and amazement on the children’s faces is well worth all the hard work that goes into Farm-City Day, say its organizers. The day ends with a bag lunch on the Sellers’ lawn followed by a magic show and ice cream. |
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