Last week the Clay Central/Everly third grade classroom hosted Clay County Farm Bureau representative Jennifer McCarten as a guest speaker on the wide world of agriculture. The class partook in a web-creating activity in which students used pictures and string to show how daily objects or household items such as towels, clothing, food or even shoes all come from resources derived from the farm.

This subject hits close to home since CC/E is nestled in a vast farming community where farmers' livelihoods depend on the supply and demand of their hard-worked crop. Many local producers are generation farmers that knew when they were young that farming was in their veins and future.

The structure of farming has morphed in many ways, but the heart of it holds firm in the small-town, close-knit Iowan culture. Farmers feed the world, and although the gratitude of the world may be hard for the farmer to hear or feel, the CC/E communities can confidently let farmers know "thank you" for all they do.