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DES MOINES, Iowa — In the middle of the packed state fairgrounds in Des Moines sits a small slice of the rural Iowa experience.

“It’s a really good experience and it’s fun and it kind of teaches you about hard work,” said Eleanor, a fairgoer who participates in the Little Hands On The Farm experience every year.

From learning the ins and outs of agriculture to taking responsibility and working together, these little hands have been learning big lessons here for two decades.

“These kids can come in and it’s a very safe environment that the parents can feel pretty good about it and they can go around to the different things and kids can be kids. There’s nothing in here that they can hurt or that will hurt them. The parents can relax for a little bit before they go out to the hectic streets out there and the kids just learn about agriculture and how that affects them in their everyday lives,” said Monica Friday, superintendent of Little Hands On The Farm.

Each barn houses a different agricultural experience where kids are given daily tasks just like a real farmer, such as milking a cow, brushing sheep’s wool, planting seeds, and driving a tractor.

“I come from a rural community where a lot of these kids, they know about these things, but we kind of forget about those kids that don’t know and I just love that education part of this; that learning that bacon comes from a pig and the cheeseburgers come from the beef and just things that I take for granted and some of the people in our community that we can just teach everybody that,” said Friday.

Of course, after a hard days work, every little farmer gets a reward for a job well done.

“It’s a great learning experience, it’s free, and they get to pick out a little treat at the end,” said Courtney, a parent who took her three kids through the experience.

Little Hands On The Farm has sat on East 33rd St. for twenty years, providing free and educational fun for fairgoers of all ages, and planting the seeds of curiosity into our state’s future farmers.

Little Hands On The Farm is located next to the Animal Learning Center. They are open every day of the fair from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.