About 424 third-graders, teachers and parents from Pleasant Ridge, Harvest and Woodland Meadows elementary schools in Saline went on a tour of Michigan agriculture during Project RED (Rural Education Days), held annually at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds.

The students returned to school with new information, a taste of many Michigan-made products, and a seedling.

The adults said they learned something new, too.

Donna Jedele of Saline has been volunteering at the event for many years. She lives on a farm, and her older daughters are in 4-H. Her family raises corn, beans, wheat, hay and straw.

Amanda Jedele is in third grade and was attending her first Rural Education Days with classmates from Pleasant Ridge Elementary School.

Older sisters Amy and Angela Jedele were group leaders, leading the third-graders from stop to stop along their journey that gave the students an overview of Michigan commodities, delved into water resources, taught them about dairy cows and corn cultivation, and offered them an up-close meeting with farm animals.

“It’s fun and a learning experience for the kids, but every year you learn a little something new,” Donna Jedele said, adding that she’d overheard a gentleman say although he lived near the DuRussell farm, he didn’t know that the well-known farmer grew potatoes.

Michigan is second only to California in the variety of its agricultural products.

“Agriculture is the second most important industry in the state,” said Jackie Martin, MSU 4-H extension coordinator.

MSU Extension, the Washtenaw County Farm Bureau and the Washtenaw Farm Council sponsor the annual event, which this year celebrated its 21st anniversary.

Kyle Olberg of Saline, a Future Farmers of America member, said he likes to bring his steers to the event and answer the kid’s questions.

But for many of the students, it was their first time taking an agricultural tour of Michigan where among other facts they learned that the state grows more than half of the tart cherries produced in the country.

This fact came as a surprise to Lisa Rickert, a third-grader's mom. The admitted “city girl” said she also picked up a few dairy tips as well. She learned that the gestation period for a cow is the same as a human’s and said she now understands the milking process from cow to container.

“I learned where the foods come from in Michigan,” said Dan Rickert, 9, a student at Pleasant Ridge, and “that only female cows give milk.”

Solomon Patray, 9, also a student at Pleasant Ridge, said it was the first time he’d petted a pony. He said he learned that “there was corn syrup in pop."

"But we don’t really drink carbonated drinks (in our house)," he said. Teacher Lorrie Nelzbacker of Pleasant Ridge said she’d been taking students to Project RED for 10 years: “It brings an appreciation of the strong farming community and of what we use every day.”

She said that all third-grade classes are invited to the event but because of the cost of buses, fewer schools can afford it.

“Our PTA pays for the cost of the buses,” she said.

Project RED takes place for three days each April at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds and draws more than 2,500 third-graders from across the county.

Lisa Allmendinger is a regional reporter with AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Saline stories, visit our Saline page.