Day One - Destiny, Nicole and Olivia

   October 13, 2017

Mike Smith showing us how the get the clam bags in from the gulf.

Today we went to Cedar Keys Aquaculture Farm. We learned about the process of clams being grown, harvested, packaged, and sold. Something that we thought that was interesting is how the clams are grown. They put seedlings (baby clams) on a net and they leave them there to grow up to 15 years or so. Once they are big enough they are harvested to be prepared for shipping to the customer.

Inside the packing facilities.

 The way they prepare the clams is that they put them in this machine that spins, which gets the unnecessary objects of the clams. Once the clams are ready the put them in a sorting machine which puts them in bags. When they have enough clams in the bags they weigh them until they are 5 pounds. Which takes them to a machine to then be stapled shut in a bag and then the clams are ready to be sold. I thought this was a pretty interesting thing to know where clams are coming from.

Next we drove to the Central Florida Equine Learning Unit located in Ocala, FL. Dr Judy Downer then came to lead us on a tour.

Entrance to the horse barn at the Equine Unit of Central Florida College.

She took us to the horse stables first. Each stable had matted floors and bars that opened up into windows for the horses to stick their heads out.

We then headed to another section of the barn where cows are held for many things such as insemination, squeeze chute which calms the cows down, vaccinations, check on pregnancies and a lot more.

From there we went across the fields to the chicken coops, green house, and one of the many gardens on the 100 acre property with a nice view of the land.