Amid all the angst last week over Election Day and Amendment 4, not the mention those low marks in reading and math, Monongalia County’s Board of Education received a respite – in the form of a Red Delicious apple.
And not just one.
Whole bags of them.
Golden Delicious, too.
Fuji, even.
Cameo and Granny Smith, also.
All delivered by the officers of the Future Farmers of America chapter at University High School.
The offerings were from the FFA’s recent apple fundraiser at UHS.
“We got a lot of support from our teachers in the sale,” chapter treasurer Aubrey Carroll said.
The chapter, in turn, has been growing lots of goodwill in the community, she added, with appearances at the Monongalia County Fair, the Wadestown Fair and the Buckwheat Festival in neighboring Preston County.
There are also greenhouse sales and a slot in the upcoming Agriculture Olympics, she added, not to mention all that cross-pollinating with the WVU Extension Service.
FFA chapters are part of a heritage that people may not always think of, regarding the Mountain State.
Farming.
Family farms, specifically.
Despite its mountainous terrain, West Virginia is currently home to more than 20,000 such endeavors, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other sources.
And a good 95% of those farms are family-owned, the USDA says, with each averaging around 157 acres.
Farming had deep roots in Arthurdale, Preston County, the nation’s first Homestead community championed by Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1930s.
Along with a wood or stone house – complete with electricity and heat, plus a refrigerator and bathroom – each dwelling included up to four adjacent acres, so families could grow their own vegetables or raise livestock.
Chapter advisor Whitney Porter Lenhart told the BOE she appreciated the hard work, dedication and respect for that heritage demonstrated daily by the students who love to celebrate the soil.
Lenhart grew up working a dairy farm near Pennsylvania that her great-grandfather started in 1927.
All their cows were milked by hand until 1947, when the machines came in.
In 2014, the State Fair of West Virginia and the West Virginia Farm Bureau came in with a high honor for those deep roots.
Both entities presented the Farming Heritage Award to the six generations keeping the farm going.
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