Robeson County 4-H

They came from far and near to participate in Robeson County 4-H County Activity Day this year. For those of you who don't know what a 4-H County Activity Day is, it is actually very simple. Two competitions are going on simultaneously; Public Speaking and Presentations. The difference between the two is that in Public Speaking a youth researches, writes, and delivers a five to seven minute speech on any topic they see fit (of course we prefer that it be 4-H appropriate). In Presentations the child uses posters (or a power point presentation) and props to demonstrate how to do something (anything from cooking to science), the youth picks the topic and creates their visual presentation. This year the competition was fierce in both rooms, but when the dust settled and the judges had given their input a great group of youth will have the opportunity to move on to District Activity Day in Montgomery County, June 25. In both competitions we started with the Cloverbuds, our 5-8 yea...

4-H Family Night is such a blast! For the 7 families that signed up for this one they not only had fun they gained some creative tools for their homes to help with organization and time management. As always we started at 6 p.m. with a family dinner. Fried chicken (fried by Bobby Rogers), mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls and cookies for desert was the star studded menu. However it was the family conversation that took place around the tables that was the most fun. We learned about each other and as Aggie says, "fellowshiped" sharing a few moments together before we got down to the activity at hand. In an effort to make organization and time management fun, each family made a magnetic, organizational board from a cookie sheet. They decorated it with all sorts of things to allow it to reflect their family personality. At the end of the night they had all had a great time and were ready to go home and use their boards to help keep track of important items and dates, like upco...

The chicks born in our 4-H office have received as much love and attention as if they were born in a classroom. As a matter of fact last night we had to take a break from our program so our youth could visit these adorable additions to our staff. However at this time we have had all the eggs hatch that are going to hatch. In the 4-H office that means we had a 70% hatch rate. Although we would love to keep these adorable, fluffy, little characters in our office and raise them , we realize part of this project is letting them go at the end. Our livestock agent has found a good home for them, and they will be with other chicks from a backyard flock. In a few days they will out grow their box and want more room so this is for the best (plus they keep reminding me that they grow fast and won't be this adorable for long.) The chicks that are hatched in the classrooms will also go to backyard flocks in the county and we are happy that our youth are learning about life cycles thanks to thi...

If you have not run into a member of the St. Paul's 4-H Pony club this week you have not heard about their exciting meeting this past weekend. Instead of the traditional club meeting and working on the horse skeleton they got folksy about 4-H in a big way. The club set up a booth at the annual North Carolina Folks Art Festival , in St. Paul's. About 17 members and parents turned out to man the booth during the day. They kids talked about 4-H and they gave out brochures and told anyone and everyone who would listen about all the fun they have in 4-H. You can read more about this event in the Robesonian and St. Paul's Review newspapers. Libby Burney, the organizational club leader for the St. Paul's 4-H Pony Club said that they had a fantastic time and the kids played and learned while marketing our 4-H program. We are hoping that this was such fun that they will continue to support this great event in future years. To learn more about the St. Paul's Pony club,...

You know how it is getting up and going to school or work...some days it's just a drag. When embryology is going on in our 4-H office, coming to work is anything but a drag. Mainly because we are promised a surprise each and every morning. As a matter of fact some days it is hard to pull ourselves away from the incubator when the little guys are pecking their way out of their shells. This morning was full of surprises. Penny, our 4-H Secretary, found our second chick had hatched last night before she left the building. We were especially excited that our first chick would have company in the brooder box during the night. When I came in this morning everything was very quiet so I thought maybe we had not had any hatches. Those chicks fooled me. When I looked in the incubator there were not one or two but eight baby chicks napping amongst the eggs in the incubator. I was so tickled you would have thought we gave birth to them ourselves back here in the 4-H office. They we...

I was working in the office and it sounded like the birds had gotten awfully close the the windows because they were chirping really loud. Then I thought twice and said check the incubator. It had only been an hour since I had noticed the slightly cracked egg with a beak pecking through. Sure enough right in the middle of the incubator was a chick, and it wasn't even the one I thought it would be. After rolling around in the incubator for awhile the little one was moved to the brooder box with fresh shavings, water, food and a light to keep him warm. A few hours later another chick hatched so we would have two in the brooder box tonight with possibly 5 more hatching by morning. So far the schools are reporting a 60% hatch rate, which we hope will improve as we hear from more schools. Stay tuned for the updates on chick hatch the sequel right here on the 4-H blog.

The United Way Day of Caring is always a great day in Robeson County to help people and highlight the incredible work that the 18 agencies do in this county. Robeson County 4-H is one of those agencies, and we love the Day of Caring for a variety of reasons. The first reason is because we are generally in a position to show how our youth can help others. This year the members of the "Dirty Rascals"Junior Master Gardener 4-H Club traveled to Southeastern Hospice House to do a little landscaping . The youth, parents, and volunteers planted hostas, and flowers to brighten up the garden area. They had a lot of fun and hope to make this an annual project (no flower pun intended). Also in the works is a picnic table that has been ordered and some volunteers will put together for them (we will keep you up to date on that project). The second reason we enjoy the day of caring is that we have the opportunity to set up a table at Jerry Johnson Chevrolet and market o...

For one 4-H member coming to the fair and having fun working as a Junior fair board member has paid off. Cierra Buckman, Chairperson of the 2009 Junior fair board and 4-H County Council President received $1,500 in scholarships at the Robeson Regional Agricultural Board Meeting Tuesday night. As Coble Wilson, Jr., President of the Robeson Fair Board, presented her a check he explain how proud the fair was to have such an exceptional youth represent our fair. Cierra will receive $500 from the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair and $1,000 for the State Fair Association. She plans to use her scholarship money as she continues to pursue her studies at Francis Marion University in South Carolina. Cierra has served on the Junior fair board for two years now and became eligible for these scholarship thanks to her hard work, leadership abilities and dedication to the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair.

The sound of clucking, snorting, and even a moo or two could be heard thought the livestock building at the Robeson Regional Agricultural Fairgrounds. No it isn't fair time but it is time for our 4-H youth to start getting ready for the 2009 Livestock shows. Part of getting ready is learning how to properly take care of their animals and that is what Saturday was all about. On hand we had Some really beautiful chickens, a really sweet rabbit, and couple of cute little piggies (who have been nicknamed Boston & Butt). The loudest of all was Charlie Brown a large goat who seemed to think he is a horse. Although there was not a cow on site...there was some mooing and leading of heifers ring side (they said they were pretending to be heifers, please do not mistake this for an editorial comment). Before we played with the animals we got down to business. A brief overview of project records, and bio security started the morning with lessons on how to show and what to wear...

Everything you wanted to know about 4-H and then some was wrapped up in our 4-H 101 training. About 20 volunteers and parents turned out for this training opportunity. Each received a specially made notebook with instructions on everything from ARI (Application, resume, Interview) to web references. It was a great training with food, time to share ideas, and introductions to programs that everyone had heard of but might not have yet experienced. The volunteers said the notebook would be a great resource for them as they moved forward in 4-H. We will also create a mail and e-mail list so that as updated material comes in we can get it to them to keep their notebooks as up to date as possible. Our next volunteer training will center on curriculum and will be held September 29th and is open to anyone who would like more information about the researched based curriculum that 4H offers.