April, 2013
- April is National Gardening Month
- April Fools' Day
- Ag Day in Oklahoma
- Thomas Jefferson
- Last Frost Date
- Earth Day
- 89ers Day
- Arbor Day
- Made in Oklahoma Month
- Floriculture
- Goats
- Soybeans
- National Poetry Month
- Oklahoma Vegetable of the Month: Peas
- Oklahoma Fruit of the Month: Strawberries
- Ag in Art: Wild Strawberries, Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin
April Fool!
There are many theories about the origins of April Fools' Day.
National Soybean Month
The soybean is sometimes called "the miracle bean." Find out why.
Earth Day is April 22
What Oklahoma farm animals are by nature recylers and re-users?
Last Frost Date
In Oklahoma, the average date of the last frost is sometime this month.
Arbor Day is April 27
Mighty Oaks From Little Acorns
Wild fires can be frightening, but is fire always a bad thing? The Role of Fire in Healthy Prairie, Brush and Forest Land
April is Made in Oklahoma Month
Spring farmers' markets spring to life in Oklahoma during April.
Oklahoma Vegetable of the Month: Peas
Oklahoma Fruit of the Month: Strawberries
April is National Gardening Month
Gardening is great exercise! Go outside and plant something!
Floriculture
"Earth laughs in flowers." Ralph Waldo Emerson
April is National Poetry Month
In April
by James Hearst
This I saw on an April day:
Warm rain spilt from a sun-lined cloud,
A sky-flung wave of gold at evening,
And a cock pheasant treading a dusty path
Shy and proud.
And this I found in an April field:
A new white calf in the sun at noon,
A flash of blue in a cool moss bank,
And tips of tulips promising flowers
To a blue-winged loon.
And this I tried to understand
As I scrubbed the rust from my brightening plow:
The movement of seed in furrowed earth,
And a blackbird whistling sweet and clear
From a green-sprayed bough.
Spring Plowing, Thomas Hart Benton
Look for OAITC at these events during April.
April 4 - Ag Day at the Capitol
April 18 - Science Fest at the OKC Zoo
April 26 - OAITC and SWOSU
Ag Day in Oklahoma is April 4
This year's theme is "The Magic of Agriculture."
OAITC will be at the state Capitol handing out awards to winners of our Ag Day contests and our 2013 Teacher of the Year.
Celebrate Ag Day with these lessons and other resources
April 13 is the Birthday of Thomas Jefferson
"No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of
the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden."
- Thomas Jefferson
89ers Day is April 22
Oklahoma Ag in History Lessons
What Oklahoma farm animal played a key role in Oklahoma's land runs? Find out here: A Handy Measure
Writing Prompt: Pretend you are a newspaper reporter at the Oklahoma land run of 1889. Write a first-hand account.
Land Run of 1889 (Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture)
Photographs of the American West (National Archives, includes many photos from land runs and early Oklahoma)
Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom
Oklahoma Ag in the Classroom is a program of the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry and the Oklahoma State Department of Education.