WENATCHEE, Wash. — Second graders from Wenatchee and Eastmont schools will spend the next two days touring the Washington State University Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center, learning about the importance of apples to the Wenatchee Valley.
“This will be the third official ‘Awesome Apple Adventure’ event we’ve held at the station,” according to director Jay Brunner. “But it was done informally for a couple of years prior on a pilot basis.”
This year’s Awesome Apple Adventure will be presented Sept. 29 and 30 at the WSU TFREC located at 1100 N. Western Ave. in Wenatchee. Classes will be on-site from 9:30 to 10:45 am, and from 12 to 1:45 pm with a lunch break in between. The Wenatchee Valley Museum, Wenatchee School District, Wenatchee Public Library, Stemilt, and the WSU Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center are the sponsors.
Spokespeople from the sponsoring agencies will be available for comment.
“Second graders in the two school districts study apples as part of their science and social studies units,” according to Mike Doerr who is coordinating the event for the TFREC. “But classroom instruction can only take them so far. Many students pass orchards, fruit storage units, and packing and shipping houses every day, but have no idea what goes on inside.”
The students will be taken through the year in the life of an orchard. Topics will include why Wenatchee is a good place to grow apples, basic tree nutrition and physiology, and the role of an irrigation system. Among the topics covered during the field trip will be winter pruning, spring planting, pollinating, thinning, irrigation, pest management, apple maturity and harvest.
They will also learn about the packing and shipping of apples, and the history and cultural significance of growing apples to the community.
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