6th grade, Sutter county
Illustrated by Delta High School Students
Have you ever thought about agriculture when you go on a field trip?
Did you know that there's lots of agriculture when you go on your
field trip? When you look outside you can see fields and other things
that make up California. Well, today I have a story for you about
agriculture.
Today was my big day. I was going to San Francisco on a field trip with my class. When I walked on the bus and sat down I thought of all the amazing things that could happen. I didn't think of anything big.
As we were on the road I saw a big red tractor and a field of tomatoes.
Yuck! When I looked a little farther, I saw two red things standing up
and coming towards the moving bus.
I must have been day dreaming.
They went right through the open window and said, "Hey, do you think
we're disgusting? Well, think again." I couldn't believe my eyes, two
red tomatoes talking to me. They started to call their friends. They
said, "We are here to give you lots of information. We are very juicy
and high in fiber and vitamins, too. There are at least 4,000 different kinds of
tomatoes. We are called red tomatoes, because of the color of our skin.
We are getting ready to be harvested."
"First, we are put in a big truck that holds lots of us, and then we
are shipped to the processing plant. Then we are washed in different
kinds of liquids to wash off bacteria.
Then we are sorted into the good
tomatoes and the bad tomatoes. And then, we are shipped to large
supermarkets. Some of us, or would you say the bad tomatoes, are
put in buckets and thrown away. Also at the factory, we are made
into catsup, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato juice, tomato bread,
salsa, pizza sauce, tomato soup, and sun-dried tomatoes. Some of our
seeds are planted in water and dead salmon. Most of us live out in the
sun. Others are planted in greenhouses."
"We are actually fruit, but people prefer to call us vegetables. We are one of out of 1,000,000 plants grown in California. People love us a lot. We are one of Californians' favorite vegetables, or should we say - FRUIT!"
"Hey, we have to go. The truck is here and all my friends are getting harvested. I hope you learned a lot about tomatoes." I sure did.
WOW! Was that a dream or what? What's this? It's a tomato. I guess I wasn't dreaming after all.