Drive Through Florida: Vegetables, a Florida Agriculture Literacy Day book

2016·11.6 MB·English

by  Florida. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Arlette Roberge, Ann Kinsey, Mark Cason.

t h r o u g h
d r i v e
Florida Agriculture
Literacy Day
is an annual event held each spring in which
hundreds of agriculture industry representatives d a
o r i
read a designated children’s book about agriculture l
f
in elementary school classrooms around the
state. The event is a partnership between Florida
Agriculture in the Classroom, Inc. and the Florida
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Florida Agriculture
in the Classroom vegetables
is a non-profit organization charged with educating
Fthlororiudga hte 1a2cthhe grsr aadned a sbtuoduet nthtse i inm kpinodrtearngcaert oefn F lorida A Florida Agriculture Literacy Day Book
agriculture. It is funded by sales of the agriculture Written by
specialty license plate known as the “Ag Tag.” Arlette Roberge
Fplroorvididae A Aggrircicuultluturere i nL ittherea Ccyla Dssaryo obmoo iks sa abnled t oot her AIllnuns tKriantsieoyn a anndd M Daerski Cgans boyn
related items free of charge because of the funding
it receives from the Ag Tag.
“Educate Students About Florida Agriculture”
Commissioner Adam H. Putnam www.FreshFromFlorida.com [phone] www.AgTag.org
Special thanks to Florida Farm Bureau’s Women’s Committee for its support.
2 3
E Holmes
s Santa O W
c k Nassau
amb Rosa aloo alton ashington Jackson Gadsden Hamilton C
i s W J o
a a u n Leon e Madison ul Duval
Bay C alh o Wakulla osreff Taylor Suw aibm Baker 7
Liberty n ann Union Clay St.
e Brad J
Franklin Lafayette e ford o 8
G h
Gulf cli ns
h
Alachua
Dixie sir Putnam Fla
t gl
er
Drive Through Levy
Marion
Volusia
Florida
Lake
Citrus
Do you
S
know me? I’m u Seminole
m
t
Ole Red and I’m going e
Hernando r Orange
to take you on a tour vegetables
of vegetable farms all
Pasco
over Florida. Do you
tomatoes
1 B
remember another word
(Pages 6-7) Osceola r
e
for farming? It is Agriculture is P Hillsborough v
agriculture. the business of squash eni Polk ar
growing crops and 2 (Pages 8-9) all 2 d
s
raising animals for Indian
River
food and other uses. snap beans
3
Are you ready to go? (Pages 10-11) Manatee Hardee Ok
e
sTehaetnb ebltusc kalen dy oguert sweet corn 1 Highlands echo St. Lucie
4 DeSoto b
ready for our (Pages 12-13) ee
Sarasota Martin
trip!
lettuce
5
(Pages 14-15)
Charlotte Glades 10
bell peppers 9 11
6
(Pages 16-17) Lee Hendry
Palm Beach
potatoes 4 5 6
7
(Pages 18-19)
Broward
cabbage
Collier
8
(Page 20)
cucumbers
9
(Page 21) Dade
M
o
celery nr
o 3
10 (Page 22) e
radishes
11 (Page 23)
more Fun Facts
(Pages 24-25)
4 5
o
to
h
P
e
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A
V
F
F
Tomato Plants
in Field
Florida tomatoes are
grown on between
30,000
a
d
Lots Flori
of tomatoes es of and
v
grow in Manatee hi
Arc 40,000
County. Let’s go e
at
see them. St
Moving the Tomato
Crop, 1921 acres of land each year.
In the 1800s, Florida farmers
started to send tomatoes by Harvested
railroad or boat to the north.
Americans
Now we send fresh tomatoes all consume
over the United States, and to 75 %
Canada and other countries.
of all
tomatoes as
We grow so many tomatoes in
sauces, salsas
Florida that if you harvested them
o and ketchup.
ot
manatee all at the same time they would Ph
e
weigh more than one billion A Fil
V
Sorting Tomatoes FF
pounds.
Tomatoes love our sunshine! We
grow them in the winter months
when it is too cold in many other
eating PIZZA
states.
o
french fries toh
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and Ketchup eliF With all this sunny weather,
A
V
F
Can you imagine eating a pizza F Florida grows many different Scientists call tomatoes a
Tomatoes Growing
without tomato sauce or French Today we know that tomatoes are kinds of tomatoes – small, FRUIT
on Plant
fries without ketchup? We don’t healthy and delicious. But did you medium and large.
,
have to worry because we are know that early colonists thought but cooks call them a
number one in the nation for that tomatoes were poisonous Little by little, people realized And the more sun the tomato VEGETABLE
fresh tomatoes. because they were bright red? how great they tasted. gets, the sweeter it is! Small, Medium and .
Large Tomatoes
6 7
squash flower
summer squash The
SHELLS
We love to
eat squash and
Did you know that a flower can
Hillsborough County has from winter squash
the greatest number of be a male or female? Squash can be used
squash farms. plants have male and female as containers.
flowers on the same plant. They
must be pollinated and growers
pay beekeepers to have bee Squash comes in many
COLORS
colonies do the work!

including yellow,
There are different types of
tan, purple, blue,
squash – winter and summer.
white, green and
Both winter and summer squash orange.
can be grown in Florida but we
grow more summer squash than
winter squash.
Did you know that the pumpkin
oto is in the same family as the yellow
h
P
e squash? And many pumpkin pies
liF S Winter squash is
A are made from winter squash.
F
I/F hillsborough used in pumpkin pies
U 9,000 What would Thanksgiving be
Checking squash plant
without them!
for pests
There are over
20
Squash isn’t just something we
eat; it is also the name of a sport,
different types
or something you might do to of squash.
bugs. Florida is the number one squash
growing state because squash
askutasquash
But the name for the vegetable likes the heat and we have plenty
o
comes from the Indian word of it. Florida farmers grow squash tohP
(ah-skoot-ah-skwosh), eliF
askutasquash (ah-skoot-ah- on more than 9,000 acres of land. meaning “eaten raw or uncooked.” SA
F
skwosh), meaning “eaten raw or (An acre is about the size of a I/FU
uncooked.” football field. )
Winter squash
8 9
o
to
h
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e
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A
V
F
F
On the vine
Snap beans
do not
like the
Snap beans like to grow in loamy cold. They
Next stop
will be
is down to Miami- soil and hot weather. South
damaged
Dade County where Florida has plenty of those two
when the
most of our snap beans
things. There are two common weather
o
are grown. So buckle to
types of snap beans: bush beans hP falls
up and let’s go e
see! and pole beans. Bush beans are liF AV below
F 28
F
planted in rows and pole beans
Processing and
are planted against a teepee
sorting
degrees.
so they can climb. But in South
Florida we grow mostly bush
beans.
SPILL
Have you ever eaten green bean

casserole on Thanksgiving? I the beans – is a
phrase used when
bet you didn’t know that fresh
describing somebody
Florida snap beans are used for
who tells a secret
Thanksgiving dinners all over the
or the truth.
country!
Snap beans will
continue to
o
to COOK
h
P
e
liF A
VF miami-dade
F after you remove them
from boiling water.
Snap beans ready Snap bean plant
for shipment
Have you ever heard of the “three
Do you know why we call them sisters of gardening?” American
snap beans? Because they snap Indians planted corn, snap beans
when bent. But whether you call and squash together. As they
Preparing snap
them snap beans, string beans or grow, they support each other
beans for dinner
three sisters of gardening
green beans, they are all the same. just like sisters.
10 11
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to
h
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A
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I/F
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Farm manager
Let’s
checking corn To get a
take a short Harvested corn corn cob full of
drive north to KERNELS
Palm Beach County

to learn about
each silk needs
sweet corn.
to be pollinated with
pollen from the tassel.
o The
to
h
P SILK
e
liF
A
V
FF Corn harvesting
is the female part
machinery
of the plant.
The male is the
TASSEL
Sweet corn was grown by the

American Indians and first collected on the top
by European settlers in the 1700s. of the plant.
In the past, sweet corn was not People used parched
corn kernels as a
really that sweet. But plant breeders
COFFEE
a have worked hard to make sweet
d
ori
Fl corn, sweeter.
of substitute during
es
adirolF fo se palm beach State Archiv Tsuopdeayr ,s mwoesett ccoorrnn .g Wroew anre i nv eFrlyo rluidcak yis the Civil War.
v
ih
crA because super sweet corn likes our
etatS Farmer with corn muck, sandy or limestone soils.
crop in Panama City,
Seminole women
Florida 1915
pounding corn in When the first Spanish and French We grow so much sweet corn
Sweet corn is a whole
Everglades City.
settlers came to the new world because of our ideal growing It tastes great! grain food, high in
they learned how to grow Indian By the 1800s most Florida settlers conditions that Florida is the FIBER
Do you like corn at summer corn or maize from the American grew their own corn to feed number one producer of it in the So enjoy all the sweet corn that

barbeques? Indians. themselves and their livestock. United States. you like, we have plenty. and low in fat.
12 13
Yummy
Americans eat
in salads
30
There is Crunchy

a lot growing in sandwiches
pounds of lettuce
in Palm Beach
per person
County. Our
every year.
next stop is a
Lettuce is another great Florida
lettuce farm!
vegetable that keeps us healthy.
Without it we wouldn’t have
salads to eat and sandwiches
o
would not crunch when we take a to
h
P
e
bite. That would not be much fun. liF
A
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There are two types of lettuce:
Non-heading
non-heading and heading lettuce. lettuce
Florida farmers grow more non-
heading lettuce.
Lettuce is a
Romaine and leaf lettuce are member of
the sunflower
grown the most in Florida. These
FAMILY
are non-heading lettuces. They
o palm beach
tohP like Florida’s warmer weather and .
e
liF SA have lots of vitamins. oto
F h
I/FU File P
A
Iceberg lettuce is a heading FV
F
variety of lettuce. These types of
Heading lettuce
lettuces get their name because
Green and
red leaf lettuce Lettuce can grow in many they are shaped like your head.
different soils, but it really
likes the muck soil near Lake Farmers use over 9,900 acres of
Okeechobee. land from 87 different farms to Lettuce leaves that
are darker in
grow all the different kinds of o
oto toh color contain more
S File Ph Lsoemttuectiem ise as gcoroowl sne oasno tnh ecr soapm. Iet is lettuce. That’s a lot of lettuce! P eliF SA VITAMINS
A F
UF/IF land as sweet corn, which is called I/FU
and minerals than the
Packing lettuce
crop rotation. paler color varieties.
14 15
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to
h
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V
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Pepper plant
Bell peppers are
COUSINS

Do you to pimentos and
hear that cayenne peppers.
When green, yellow and red
bell ringing?
Let’s stay here in peppers are sold together what
Palm Beach County do you think we call them? That’s
PAPRIKA
to learn about
right we call them “traffic light” Cleaning and
bell peppers.
processing
peppers!
is a spice made
from dried peppers.
Farmers plant bell peppers from
July to February, but they do not
like real hot weather. Bell peppers
are usually harvested between
November and May.
palm beach Our farmers harvest more than
o
350 million bushels of peppers toh
P
e
each year, which makes us liF
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A
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number two in the nation. It takes I/F
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a lot of people to get our bell
Growing
Stuffed with meat peppers to the supermarket. hydroponic peppers PEPPERS

can also be brown,
purple, maroon or
You can eat them fresh, grilled, white.
pan-fried or stuff them with meat
Green, yellow and
red peppers or rice for baking.
A bell pepper may look like a Do you know that a green, a
d
bell, but it does not sound like a yellow, and red bell pepper are irolF
fo
bell. Bell peppers get their name all the same pepper? Peppers se
v
ih
c
because they have three or four get sweeter and milder tasting as rA
e
ta
lobes on the bottom and a handle they change in color from green tS
Grilled on skewers
like a bell. to red and get riper on the plant.
16 17
o
to
h
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e
liF
A
V
FF Modern The potato was the
machinery FIRST
Hop back
o
in as we head toh vegetable to be
P
north to St. Johns eliF grown in space.
A
County where we can V
F
F Potato plant
put our “eyes” on
potatoes!
hoto otohP
A File P eliF AV
V F
F F
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Gold potatoes Red potatoes Americans eat an
average of
Lots of people like potatoes, 1 2 5
There are many varieties of and Florida farmers harvest over

potatoes, usually with red, gold or 35,000 acres of potatoes each pounds of potatoes per
white skins. year. That’s about 26,000 football person each year.
st. johns
fields!
Potatoes grow underground
Thomas Jefferson
during cooler weather as tubers What do we do with all those introduced
FRENCH
at the ends of stems. They are fresh potatoes? We make potato
grown for both the fresh market salad, baked potatoes, mashed
and to make potato chips. potatoes, French fries... I could go FRIES
on and on.

to the United States
Wagon of potato of America.
barrels, 1910s
He tried many different crops,
In 1890, Thomas Horace Hastings but Irish potatoes grew the best.
New harvesting
wanted to grow vegetables to Today, the town of Hastings is machine, 1947
sell to hotels near St. Augustine. known as Florida’s Potato Capital.
French fries
Baked potato
18 19