Agricultural News
This Weeks Ag in the Classroom, Christmas in July with Oklahoma Christmas Tree Farmers
Thu, 23 Jul 2020 09:27:45 CDT
Summertime is here and the kiddos are out of school with many parents are at home with their kiddos, wondering, "What do we do now?" Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom has come up with some excellent daily activities you can do with your kids and family.
Today we are featuring Christmas in July! Did you know that Christmas tree farmers are working around the clock all year long to make sure we have trees for Christmas? There are close to 15,000 farms growing Christmas trees in the US and over 100,000 people are employed full or part-time in the industry. In the US there about 1 million acres dedicated to tree farming. Each acre provides enough oxygen for 18 people. On a well-managed Christmas tree farm, 90 percent of the land is occupied by vigorously growing tree crops at all times. With an average tree production cycle of ten years, counted from the time a seedling is planted, this ensures the farmer a regular annual crop ready for harvest. Scotch pine and Virginia pine are the two most common species grown for Christmas trees in Oklahoma.
As Christmas trees became popular in the US, some individuals began a campaign opposing the use of evergreens for this purpose, declaring that if the cutting of Christmas trees continued, our forests would soon be depleted. President Theodore Roosevelt - known for his campaign for the conservation of natural resources - banned the use of such trees for White House festivities. Shortly afterward he discovered that two of his sons had smuggled a tree into the mansion and set it up in their room. The boys appealed to their father's good friend, Gifford Pinchot, "America's first professional forester." Pinchot convinced the president that if young evergreens were properly cut, it was helpful rather than harmful.
Click HERE to see all the fun activities to do for Christmas in July by doing some Christmas Tree Math, Learning about Christmas tree farmers, make model Christmas trees and more!
And don't forget, Ag in the Classroom offers daily activities to do with your kiddos on their website, and their facebook page.
Also, AITC is still having some awesome speakers at their virtual conference, now through July 30, you can get all the details Here.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI
Top Agricultural News
More Headlines...
