Visitors to the Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives Education Center at the 2018 Farm Science Review will get to check out the world-record-holding Buckeye Bullet battery-powered vehicle, as well as lots of interactive displays and educational shows. (Photo courtesy Ohio State University)
Farm life often is seen by outsiders as slow, easy-paced, even leisurely. Actual farmers, of course, know that’s not the case, as the nearly endless to-do list almost always seems to require 26 hours in a day to complete, even at top speed.
So perhaps folks will be inspired by some of the work going on at Ohio State University’s Center for Automotive Research — a piece of which will be on display in the Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives Education Center at this year’s Farm Science Review, Sept. 18–20 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center just outside London, Ohio.
There, visitors will get an up-close look at the Venturi Buckeye Bullet 3, one of the premier student research projects ever undertaken at the university. It’s the vehicle that holds the world land speed record for battery-powered automobiles, having traveled 341 mph across Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats in September 2016.
“People are going to be amazed and inspired when they walk into the building and see the Buckeye Bullet,” says Janet Rehberg, director of cooperative development at Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives, the statewide member organization that serves Ohio’s 24 distribution co-ops. “We always like to talk about the value and importance of electricity, so it’s exciting to be able to show off the world’s fastest electric car when people come to see us at the Farm Science Review.”
More than 130,000 people are expected through the gates at this year’s event, which is a program of Ohio State’s College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES). Ohio’s Electric Cooperatives’ building is one of the largest permanent structures at the center.
Improvements have been made so visitors will have better access to both parking and the exhibits.
“Anyone involved in agriculture, whether you have a backyard garden to feed your family or thousands of acres, will find products, services, and knowledge from exhibitors and CFAES experts to improve your operation,” says Nick Zachrich, the event’s director.
Tickets to the event are available for $7 online and at county extension offices and some local agribusinesses (kids ages 5 and under get in free). Tickets also can be purchased at the gate for $10.
Ohio electric cooperative members can enter to win a $100 bill credit by completing the entry form on the inside back cover of the September issue of Ohio Cooperative Living and bringing it to the OEC Education Center.
Along with the Buckeye Bullet, the OEC Education Center also will host a slew of energy demonstrations. Energy advisors from Ohio electric co-ops will talk with visitors about ways to save on energy bills, and innovative vendors will offer products and services for homes and farms.
Even the popular cooking demonstrations in the OEC building are getting an update this year. Patty Miller and Sherry Bickel will appear for their 29th year, doing up to four cooking demonstrations per day and sharing the scrumptious results on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
In the past, the pair focused on microwave cooking, but they will add some recipes for the pressure cooker this year. They plan to make artichoke and blue cheese spread, cheesy chili mac, creamy Brussels sprouts, and Mexican chocolate cake. On Thursday, the OSU Extension’s 4-H Youth Development and Family and Consumer Sciences programs will put on a few shows about cooking with kids, breakfast on a budget, and dining with diabetes.
