Robeson County 4-H

Ask a member of our 4-H Junior Master Gardener Day Camp and they can tell you what P.L.A.N.T.S. stands for. If you need a clue, it is the six essential things any plant needs to grow: Place, whether it is in the ground or the appropriate pot and living conditions; Light, every plant needs some type of light source, preferably the sun; Air, every plant needs to breathe and help turn carbon dioxide into oxygen; Nutrients, every plant just like humans needs food; Thirsty, plants need water just like any living thing; Soil, almost all plants need soil to grow in. This is just one of many little things are soon to be certified Junior Master Gardeners learned. Our youth were very fluid today, focusing on all things water for much of the day. They learned that their bodies are made up of almost 70% water and did the math to figure out how many pounds in each of them is water weight. They also learned about the water cycle and know that when it rains plants drinking of rain water is call...

It was an early morning for our JMG day campers on Tuesday . We loaded up first thing in the morning to head to Durham to the Life Sciences Museum. Once we unloaded from the vans we loaded ourselves into the Butterfly Pavilion to check out the inhabitants and to see a butterfly release first thing. The entomologist told us that at around 11 in the morning the butterflies are waking up and at their most active and by three in the afternoon they are starting to rest. Several of our campers were treated to the surprise of having a butterfly land on them or walk with them. From the butterfly pavilion we split up into two groups and headed on our way. We got to visit a small farm animal area complete with pot belly pigs, bunnies, goats, cows, sheep, and a donkey with a ball. Then we checked out some smaller creatures, insects. Not just any insects, we saw things like really big tarantulas, cockroaches, ants, spiders, and even poisonous frogs. Some of our youth took to a microscope to see ...

Monday was the first sprout of our 4-H Junior Master Gardeners Day Camp . 12 youth between the ages of 9-13 arrived ready to get dirty and learn about everything related to green. After starting off making their rules and consequences the youth dug right in and learned about taking soil samples. They split up into three groups and went outside to practice using the soil probe and mixing samples to put in their boxes. Then back inside to talk high tech plants. Okay maybe not high tech but they were definitely designer plants. The question was asked can every part of a hamburger be grown? Of course, so if this is the case what does a hamburger plant look like? The youth each designed their own version of a hamburger plant and shared their theories on what it would include. Then after creating plants they had a chance to dissect plants. Flowers to be specific. They youth took apart flowers and greenery to put into a homemade plant press. At the end of the week the youth will use the pre...

Many people wonder what the four H's stand for in 4-H. Any present and past member can tell you they stand for Head, Heart, Hands and Health. In the early days of 4-H boys learned about new ways of growing crops with increased yields as part of boys corn clubs. While girls took part in canning clubs that taught them new and better ways to preserve foods. Now, a hundred years later, we work with youth (both boys and girls) on healthier ways to eat and teaching them about food supplies, and food chains. So it seems rather appropriate that 4-H had the opportunity to debut marketing material as part of the Annual Grand Opening Event at the Robeson County Farmers' Market. The market sits in the parking lot of the old Agriculture Building on Elm Street in Downtown Lumberton. Approximately a dozen Robeson County Farmers sell everything from flowers to vegetables, fruits to eggs. To sell at the market producers must raise their crops in Robeson County so buyers know that they are buyin...

Christopher Bullard is loving all the doors 4-H is opening for him. Not only did he recently attend 4-H Citizenship Focus North Carolina but he had the opportunity to go to camp. Not any camp. Cooperative Leadership camp held at the FFA Center at White Lake . It is a hot camp for more than just the temperatures. To attend this sponsored five day camp youth must have a proven record of leadership experiences and potential. It is open to rising sophomores, juniors, and seniors in North Carolina but only 150 are chosen for this experience. Christopher said it was, "mostly fun, with a lot of challenging acti vities." This is no surprise since the camp is focused on team work, developing leadership skills, and learning about the free enterprise system. During the camp the youth actually create their own T-Shirt Cooperative and assign jobs and duties that allow them to test their leadership skills. The camp is not all work. They do have time to enjoy the incredible lake, take par...

You should have seen it. A contingency of almost 50 from Robeson County arrived at District Activity Day in Lee County and boy oh boy were we hot! It wasn't just the heat of the day that zapped us as we got out of the vans at Southern Lee High School in Sanford , it was the heat of the competition that had us raring to go. For those who do not know, 4-H District Activity Day is an annual event where youth from 15 counties come together to compete in Public Speaking and Presentations. Public Speaking consist of 5-10 minute original speeches that they youth research, write and deliver. Presentations are where the youth create posters or PowerPoint presentations and use them as part of a demonstration speech. The top two youth in each age division and category go forward to represent the South Central District at the state competition in Raleigh next month as part of 4-H Congress. To go to District Robeson County 4-H members had to win gold or silver on the county level as part of C...

More and more these days we are hearing stories about how 4-H is impacting individuals, communities, and now the environment. Below is a link to an incredible story about a young Florida 4-H member and how her 4-H project may help rebuild coral reefs when the oil leak is finally stopped in the Gulf of Mexico. Click here to see this amazing story that aired on the CBS evening news this week . Or you can read about this work by clicking on this link . Imagine the impact you might have while studying something that interests you. Keep up the good work 4-H'ers!

Robeson County 4-H's Summer Fun program kicked off in May with our 4-H Etiquette Day Camp. Only followed by our soon to be annual Babysitting Recertification Day Camp. To be eligible for this day camp you had to be certified last year in our first ever mini babysitting day camp. Six youth returned this year to recertify in CPR. Pat Smart, the director of the Robeson County Red Cross, came in to conduct this official certification. After a day of refresher in child and infant CPR our six experienced babysitters took their written and practical tests (the same ones the adults take). We are proud to say that they passed with flying colors. When we were done we play an Etiquette board game, which refreshed them on the manners of working with others, proper business manners (such as you can not ditch a job just because you have a better offer, you must fulfill your commitment to the first commitment), and was just plain old fashioned fun. At the end of the day each of the youth said ...

Our own Aggie Rogers received the "Pride in Lumberton" Award Monday Night at the Lumberton City Council Meeting. Councilman John Cantey, Jr. Presented Aggie with the award for her role in organizing a community day over Memorial Day weekend. Councilman Cantey praised Aggie for all her hard work to make the community better, and talked about her work with 4-H clubs and giving youth opportunities to better their lives. In the audience to see Aggie get her award were her sisters Addie Mae Caple and Bessie Jones, her daughter in law Gwen Rogers, her grandson Reece, 4-H volunteers Marilyn Merritt and Larry Russ as well as Shea Ann DeJarnette. Everyone is so happy for Aggie who truly deserves this award. If you see her don't forget to congratulate her, or you can e-mail your congratulations to Aggie_Rogers@ncsu.edu . Way to go Aggie!

This morning three very well dressed, and extremely well educated, 4-H members headed to Raleigh for our state 4-H North Carolina Citizenship Focus program. This is a two fold program. It introduces 4-H members to how laws and policies are created and passed, gives them a front row look at government, and allows them to market their local 4-H programs to state lawmakers. Christian McRae, Korina Pittman, and Christopher Bullard accompanied our own Aggie Rogers to Raleigh for the three day event. As part of the event all four met with local lawmakers and shared with them the importance of 4-H in their local communities, issues that they as youth would like to address and learned about how the lawmakers handle things in Raleigh. All three also created an action plan which they will bring back to Robeson County to implement. They were each asked to pick topics that they feel passionately about and create a way to address the issues within their communities, as well as create adult and yout...

The members of the "Dirty Dozen" 4-H Shooting Sports Club met at the range today for their monthly meeting. Club members started working from ground level, learning how to balance their rifles and adjust their sites to hit the target. After a little practice club members took on their mothers, and 4-H Agent. The ladies got a quick lesson, and for those who had never shot a rifle before it was a unique experience. The ladies hit the deck and took aim with a fairly decent showing. However after a practice round the youth claimed the win in this impromptu shooting competition. Not to worry the ladies will be ready for round two. After the fun of competition the youth went back to the firing line to get a little green and wet. The club recycled some plastic water bottles that their club leader filled with 4-H green water. The bottles were hung from the target cables with twine and the challenge was on. As the youth aimed for the bottles to hit and empty them, the cl...

It is a blur of colorful scenes, smiles, laughing, and stories galore of fun times and and amazing adventures. The lucky few who volunteered to work on the county scrapbook are having the opportunity of a lifetime. They get to not only tell stories of their incredible 4-H experiences through photos but also hear about others great adventures as we come across the photos. Christopher Bullard and Korina Pittman have both worked on the scrapbook while Libby Burney came in with her cricket to do extraordinary things. This group also got help from Aggie Rogers and Shea Ann DeJarnette as they worked to help print pictures and put together pages. Since there was so much work left to be done on the county scrapbook Libby Burney offered to dedicate her club meetings this month to getting the book done. Her club members have been coming in and putting together some incredible pages. It may be the most detailed scrapbook ever. Thank you to everyone who has worked on this incredible piece and we ...