Miriam Rosenbohm of rural Bartonville is the recipient of the 2012 Peoria County Farm Bureau Ag Service Award. The award has been presented to a Peoria County resident each year since 1996 at the Farm Bureau’s annual meeting. It recognizes an individual who has given their time and talent for the betterment of agriculture. This year’s award was presented at the 100th annual meeting held at Dunlap High School on November 10.
Miriam grew up in a semi rural area near East Peoria. After marriage to her husband Fred, she began the sharp learning curve of life on the farm and the adoption of 150 dairy cows that needed attention every morning and night.
During their first year of marriage, Miriam worked for her uncle as secretary of a heating/AC business. George Perisho, who was the Extension Advisor at the time, was very helpful in convincing them that Miriam needed to be on the farm working beside her husband Fred. So, she went to work on the farm and did the record keeping.
Fred’s mother was running a program called Visit A Farm Day for school children. It was an excellent program, but Miriam saw a need for bringing students to the farm on an ongoing basis instead of focusing on a specific time. After assisting with the Visit A Farm Day and learning the basics of farm tours, Miriam began hosting students on their dairy operation. That was 33 years ago. She has since showcased production agriculture to thousands of pre-school thru high school students, teaching about our food and fiber system. The students see, listen and learn about tractors, grain bins, a hay shed, chickens, sheep, ponies, cows and calves. Miriam even milks a cow and educates the curious students about what the cows eat, their age, and the difference in breeds of cattle. Her sister-in-law June Rosenbohm states “Although some animals on the farm may be more cost than income, she still has them so she can show city kids more animals.” This illustrates the kind and giving heart that Miriam has for agriculture and educating our youth.
Miriam started projects hosted on their farm titled Farm Camp (2 per year); Sheep Shearing Day, Christmas in the Barn (2-3 Saturday’s in December), Little Farmers Camp (4-5 per year for kids under age 8, they get to help with the farm chores) and 1 Vet Camp per year.
Last year they also accommodated a LEGO Club of Peoria. Grade school and high school students were given a research project on Food Safety. After all of the learning on the Rosenbohm farm, they put together a skit, put it on YouTube, and won the Regional.
Last February, Miriam gave 37 classroom presentations in 8 schools on dairy cows as part of the Farm Bureau’s Ag Literacy program. In October, she spoke to Bradley University’s OLLI class about how they care for their farm animals. During the first weekend of the Spoon River Drive, the farm was host to 300 visitors for an event titled, Harvest Kickoff.
Today, Miriam is as busy as ever with no plans of slowing down. You can go to the farm’s website at www.lindenhillfarms.com to see what a great effort their family is making to educate the public about production agriculture.
Contact information: Peoria County Farm Bureau 309-686-7070