Fremont ~ Joia Fishman likes all things old-fashioned.

So it was no surprise to find the 8-year-old at Ardenwood Historic Farm on Sunday, learning firsthand how wheat becomes bread.

"It looked like fun, and I never really harvested wheat before," said Joia, donning a yellow bonnet, blue country dress, white apron and tennis shoes.

"I like old-fashioned things because it's not like modern times. Before, they did different things in different ways."

Joia, who will be a third-grader at Strobridge Elementary School in Hayward this fall, was one of 30 children and adults who lent a hand hauling in the sheaves from the fields, separating the wheat from the chaff, and milling grain into flour.

After they were done, they got a chance to reap the benefits of their labor: whole-wheat and sourdough/focaccia bread baked fresh in the farm's wood-fired oven.

Sunday kicked off the first of three wheat-harvest days at the north Fremont farm, located just off Highway 84. The next harvests are scheduled from 1 to 2:30 p.m., July 18 and July 25.

The harvest is one of several summer activities at Ardenwood -- including picking berries and making old-fashioned ice cream -- that park naturalists say helps children understand abstract concepts about the food they eat.

"Most kids these days don't have the opportunity to see where their food comes from. They think they can get their loaf of bread from the store." said naturalist Tara Reinertson.

"Here they can see part of the process of how it goes from the field to food." Connor Merkle, 5, was supposed to go to Great America on Sunday.

But he forgot all about the Santa Clara theme park after a ride out to the wheat fields on a horse-drawn wagon with his younger sister and four cousins.

There the honorary farmers watched a demonstration of how the stalks are reaped with a scythe, a sharp, metal tool attached to a long wooden handle.

They jumped on a cloth over a wheat bundle and beat it with a flail -- a tool to separate the seeds from the straw. And they winnowed the papery chaff from the kernel.

Finally, they turned the kernels into flour using a hand grinder.

"I don't think kids want to sit around, play video games and watch TV all day," said Connor's father, Scott Merkle, whose family was visiting from Rocklin. "My kids like it when we get them outside."

Ardenwood Historic Farm is located at 34600 Ardenwood Blvd. For information, call 796-0663 or log on to www.ebparks.org/parks/arden.htm

The Oakland Tribune: Cityside
Leanne McLaughlin, Managing Editor
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