ANTRIM COUNTY - Field trips, always a memorable part of school, especially around the holidays.
The Bellaire Youth Initiative sponsored a field trip for Bellaire Elementary kids to go to a Christmas tree farm. Where the students were able to learn about how trees grow from the ground up. They also got to meet Santa.
“I’ve seen a cow, a sheep and a donkey and some camels,” explains one student Barry Gatty. “It’s really cool,”
Students from Bellaire Elementary were able to enjoy a day out on the Christmas tree farm, meeting animals and Santa on his sleigh.
“I also asked, if you want chocolate milk or white milk, and he wants chocolate milk with marshmallows and warm,” shares Gatty.
The students learned a lesson about tree farming and what it takes to grow a Christmas tree.
“This was kind of a new event, something we want to build on each year. I kind of enjoyed having the kids here. You know, they learned they had a lot of questions. So, answer those, and hopefully next year we’ll get them back, plus more,” explains Kirt Helsel, Tree Farmer from Messiah’s Tree Farm.
Students are learning that Christmas trees take time to grow.
“When it’s six feet, it takes nine years,” shares student Cameron Keiser.
“I learned to grow under the ground. And there was water under the ground,” says Gatty.
Kirt Helsel is a 3rd generation tree farmer who learned from his grandfather and dad about tree farming and he enjoys sharing that knowledge with potential future farmers.
“They’ve taught us a lot, you know, and where, you know, you observe being a farmer, you observe, you know, the different conditions, weather conditions that get thrown at you, but also you carry on the knowledge of, what worked in the past. And it’s always we’re learning something. Every year we learn, we learn something,” shares Helsel.
And Helsel gave us a lesson too.
“Our rotation from the time of planting till the time we finish harvesting, our land is bare again. So, then we build the ground back up and replant it. This particular farm is on the fourth, fourth crop of trees. So that’s typically, over 45 years.”
Helsel explains why this is important to pass down.
“Well, we see, you know, things, things are changing, rapidly with everything being outsourced. And there’s a lot of things that are made here in, in our, our state, this area that, it’s very important to the economy.”
Each student will also be given a book chosen by their teacher from the Bellaire Youth Initiative to have a new book before Christmas.
