Did anyone know that we have mint in Indiana? This is not a very common crop but it is very important to a lot of people. Mint oil is in our tooth paste, chewing gum, mouthwash, ice cream flavoring, and many other goods we buy every day.

So why am I telling you about this? Because mint is part of a unique program being put on by Tippecanoe County 4-H to teach local fourth graders about agriculture.

This upcoming Tuesday and Wednesday nearly 1,000 fourth graders from local elementary schools will take a trip to the Tippecanoe County Fair Grounds to learn about things such as mint farming, corn harvesting, and tractors and farm machinery. The event covers 18 different topics and also lets the kids get some firsthand experience with livestock animals.

As part of the Purdue Collegiate Farm Bureau, I got to go along with my fellow officers to teach the kids about mint production and it was a very neat experience. We brought posters of how the mint is harvested and then let them smell pure mint oil (supervised of course since it is very strong) and then gave them a few mint treats to take home. They loved it!

Our favorite part of the day was seeing the kids get so excited about learning new things. We had a table where we sat all of the mint products you could buy from the store and let the kids smell mint at the beginning and end of the line. The funniest thing was seeing the children going down the table and even trying to smell the boxes the mint stuff was packaged in even though it didn’t smell! Haha It was so cute because they just thought it was part of what they were supposed to be smelling even thought it was just a presentation example.

This year, Ag Days will be on April 5-6^th from 9-3pm at the Fair Grounds exhibit building.

Members from Collegiate Farm Bureau are so excited to have been invited back to teach this year’s fourth graders about mint production.

So if you are in the area, make sure to come out to the Tippecanoe County Fair Grounds and see all of the fun exhibits and check the mint out for yourself!