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Many children might think that fresh food simply comes from the grocery store and not a farm.

That's why it's important to show children that corn comes from the ground and cheese is made from cow's milk. But the first step in doing that is educating the educators about agriculture. At the end of June, approximately 115 teachers and volunteers took part in the first annual Ohio Farm Bureau Federation's "Let's Get Growing" teacher workshop held at COSI in Columbus.

"The goal is to work with Farm Bureau members and teachers to show them new, quality resources for the kids," said Judy Roush, OFBF's promotion and education specialist. Roush also just completed her term as president of the national Agriculture in the Classroom Consortium.

Roush got the idea from attending national conferences to find out what other states were offering schoolchildren. Topics for Ohio's teacher workshop included a hands-on session using seeds, plants and bulbs in the classroom and other such make-and-take sessions.

A popular session was the Agriculture Adventures COW program; teachers learned how to bring the program, complete with a fiberglass cow for milking, to classrooms. (COSI on Wheels presents the program; OFBF is a sponsor.)

Also on hand was a 6-foot tall, four-panel quilt shaped like a pyramid that showed various continents, food and how and where food is grown. It was designed and made by a group of quilters for Micki Zartman, volunteer project coordinator at Ohio State University to help people learn about world hunger issues.

"It teaches that hunger is everyone's problem," said Amy Fovargue, Ag in the Classroom coordinator for OSU Extension in Licking County. "When you ask kids what it feels like to be hungry, they usually say 'grumpy.' And then you ask what if you felt that every day?"

The quilt is available for schools, libraries, children's hospitals, fairs and farmers’ markets. Contact Fovargue about borrowing the quilt and kit of educational materials at 740-349-6900. For information on bringing COSI on Wheels to a school, go to www.cosi.org and click on educators.

Caption: The Farm Gate to Plate side of the World Food Prize Invitational Quilt Project shows a road from farms leading to stores to demonstrate where food comes from.