by D'Lyn Ford

Leave it to kids to find a fresh-picked approach to telling the story of agriculture in the Mesilla Valley. That's exactly what a group of 26 fifth-graders did last summer as part of an oral history project with NMSU and the New Mexico Farm and Ranch Heritage Museum.

The kids delved into the backgrounds of two major crops in southern New Mexico--chile and cotton.

"We don't want this to be a dusty, musty museum of the past," said Carrie Hernandez, education coordinator for the museum and an NMSU graduate in agricultural and extension education. "We want this to be a magical place for kids, where they can do hands-on projects and have fun."

As part of "Remember the Past," a privately funded project, kids examined cotton growing in the field and learned how to pick the best green chile.

"If you come back with your families, look for the bigger, firmer pods," advised Joe Lujan of Lujan Brothers Farms, who hosted young chile researchers at the farm north of Las Cruces. Another group visited Charles Tharp's cotton fields north of town.

Besides taking in the sights, the junior historians learned how to use communications technology to document their farm tours. They snapped photos with disposable cameras, listened through headphones and peered through video viewfinders, as they gathered the raw material for their final projects: videotapes and displays about chile and cotton.

The following day, the kids wrote questions for farmers, drawing on their training from Jane Loy O'Cain, the museum's oral historian; and Bob Hart, curator of history and interpretation.

With a hand from Ken Downer and Tomilee Turner of NMSU's agricultural communications department, the kids set up video equipment at the museum for studio interviews. The cotton research group talked to Tom Simpson, who operates Simpson Farms northwest of Las Cruces.

The kids' questions ranged from technical to personal: Which kinds of cotton have you grown on your farm? What do you think about new technology in farming? If you weren't a farmer, what do you think you would be doing?

Simpson, who answered all the questions with aplomb, thought the interviewers did a good job.

"The reason I volunteered is I believe that kids do not see much of agriculture, and we have a duty to teach them everything we can so they're informed about the communities where they live," he said. "Besides that, I love kids. I think it's very important that they see that the farmer is a person, just like their mom and dad."

The chile group interviewed Emma Jean Cervantes of Cervantes Enterprises, based in La Mesa. "She said our New Mexican chile goes around the world, like to Saudi Arabia," explained David Dominguez, who gathered chile facts with gusto.

With their information collected, the students faced the challenge of turning footage and interviews into educational videos. But they weren't about to tell a dry story.

The cotton group wove together a 13-minute video, "Why Cotton is Cotton," with kids selecting the shots and doing the narration for the piece. The chile kids, who were fascinated by the ostriches as well as the chile at Lujan Brothers Farms, created a hybrid production, "Learning About Chile the Ostrich Way."

Both productions were a hit with participants and parents at a premiere that capped off the six-day oral history project. Plans call for the tapes to be made available to schools throughout the state and perhaps shown at the museum. Several of the students talked about the project during career day at a local middle school.

At least one participant developed an interest in communications from the experience. "I learned I'd like to work with a video camera," said Sarah Kramer. "But I really didn't have a favorite thing. I liked all of it."

Organizers hope the experience ultimately will help participants tune in to their personal history.

"We hope that they learn how to talk to their families, to friends, to learn how to collect history about themselves," Hernandez said.

The oral history project was the first part of an educational outreach effort that involves NMSU, the museum and other supporting groups, she said.

Other projects include pulling together children's books and teacher materials, as well as organizing volunteer speakers and fair exhibits for kids.

Students from NMSU's College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences--including student ambassadors, speakers' bureau members and college clubs--get involved with younger students at the museum.

NMSU student volunteers have given more than 5,000 hours of their time for outreach projects with the museum and other agricultural groups. They speak to kids about careers in agriculture, help with educational puppet shows, pitch in at fairs and festivals, and promote a traveling bug zoo from the entomology, plant pathology and weed science department.

Many other projects are in the works to help educate kids about agriculture. In another generation, these junior historians will be the ones telling agriculture's story for a new group of youngsters.