Planning for the Future

It was up to our 4-H County Council and Volunteer Leader officers to come together tonight and plan what will happen in our near future. The officers started by planning the meeting that will take place on Monday, March 7, at 6 pm. Then they started working on new projects.

Plans were set in place by Christopher Bullard and Libby Burney to pass out blank scrapbook pages to the clubs to make sure they each have the opportunity to create pages for this year's county scrapbook which will be turned in and judged on the district level at district activity day in June. Last year four clubs created pages and the reporters hope that we have 100% club representation this year. The two have also set two dates for youth to come to the 4-H office and work on the county scrapbook. Those dates will be announced at our meeting Monday night.

Then it was time for the youth to work on their special project. Our County Council Officers want to create a Cloverbud retreat for our youngest 5-8 year old youth. Although plans are still being made we have heard things like overnight, games, snacks, and fun mentioned.

To find out more about these projects and more county events come to the 4-H County Council and Volunteer Leaders meeting on Monday. The meeting will start at 6 pm and officers will conduct a club role call to see who has the highest percentage of members there.

Cold Fusion of Learning

Every winter our 4-H members look forward to a South Central District tradition, Winter Enrichment. Today was the day our teens had anticipated as we travelled to Sandhills community college to represent Robeson County for district business and take part in educational workshops. What made this year especially great was that we were joined by the Bladen County delegation and an adult volunteer from Columbus County. Dillon McCartney, Santiago Robinson, and T'asha Shelby represented Robeson County. Dillon Dennis, Meranda Dennis, Victoria Evans, Rachel Harbough, Luke Hill, Alan Monk, and Laura Willis represented Bladen County. Alice Cooper from Columbus county was kind enough to travel with our group to this annual event.

15 counties come together at Winter Enrichment for education and to conduct district business. This year more than 60 youth attended the event. The district officers, past and present, lead the four workshops offered to youth. Darren Leffler, District President conducted the electric project. Youth had the opportunity to learn about circuits and soldering as part of the electric project which had youth assembling mood indicators. Courtney Miller taught a workshop on "Health Rocks!" which is a curriculum based on avoiding risky behaviors. Laura Willis taught a leadership workshop in which youth gained insight on the type of leadership skills they have so that they know how to focus their skills. Our District Reporter held a scrapbook workshop to help get the district scrapbook together. Each county brought photos with them to make sure each county has at least one page showing what they have done this year.

After the workshops it was time for the business meeting. T'asha took over the camera to provide up close and personal photos of this exciting meeting. The youth gave county reports updating everyone on what has been going on in their 4-H programs. Those considering running for district office introduced themselves and those planning to run for state office also introduced themselves. the group paused for a moment to wish Cathy Brown, the 4-H Agent from Hoke County, a very happy birthday. After the business meeting everyone joined in pizza and a little socializing before heading home. It was a fun day for all took part in the year's Winter Enrichment.

Project Grading, Hard Work or Fun?

In case you have not figured it out, Robeson County 4-H loves our dedicated and helpful group of adult volunteers. When we call they jump up and take the challenge for us and we are always in debt to them. Yesterday was not different as six of our volunteers stepped forward to help us judge project records for another county. In January 4-H volunteers from Cumberland County as well as their new County Extension Director came down to Robeson County to judge our records. In return we offered to judge theirs. So a call went out at the end of last week for anyone interested to come and judge.

We were thrilled to have Tanya Underwood, Veronica Powell, Libby Burney, Sonny Sampson, Kenneth Bethea and Marilyn Merritt join us for grading. Kenneth and Marilyn are experienced project record graders. Libby has experience from Florida and it did not take her long to catch on to the North Carolina way of project record grading. Sonny, Veronica and Tanya were first timers and willing to jump in and try it. With experienced members surrounding them we judged all 40 of their project records in six hours. Penny McCartney and Shea Ann DeJarnette had the distinct honor of writing notes to each of the cloverbuds on their wonderful project records and Tanya also helped out with those.

Although the process took a little longer than most of the first timers thought it would, it gave them a good idea of how a project record should look and ideas on how to go about getting their 4-Her's to do one. As Marilyn said, "Pay attention because your kids need to do one now for next year!" We are looking forward to some excellent project records at the end of the year and this is the perfect time for members to get started writing everything down to make it easier when the deadline comes at the end of the year.

We would like to say thank you to the Cumberland County Volunteers for judging our records, and a special thank you to our volunteers for judging theirs. 4-H Volunteers ROCK!

Get Growing

The Dirty Rascals Junior Master Gardener 4-H Club meeting yesterday for their first meeting of 2011 (the January meeting was snowed out!). After going through the schedule for the rest of the year the group got started on their big fund raiser of the year, the Master Gardener Plant Sale. Now if you are looking at your calendar thinking this is a little early to prep for a plant sale that doesn't happen until the end of April you might be right. The difference here is that the youth are using the AeroGarden that they purchased with the help of the Master Gardeners to start their herbs for the sale.

The AeroGarden comes with special trays and sponges that allow for seed starting. All three machines are being used to start wonderful herbs that should be just the right size for sale at the end of April. The JMG members planted; Cinnamon Bail, Italian Basil, Cilantro, Italian Parsley, Chives, Thyme, Oregano, Summer Savory, Sweet Marjoram, Dill, Lemon Basil, Rosemary, Catnip and Lavender. If all the seeds sprout this may be the largest variety of plants the youth have ever had for sale. Each plant will be $2 at the sale. The Master Gardeners hold this sale each year as their fundraiser for the various community projects that they take on. The Master gardeners raise the plants that are sold at the plant sale, each of their plants, no matter what size are $2. Along with the plant you can often talk with the Master Gardener who raised and it can give you expert advice on the best planting place, care, and instruction so you can have a green thumb with what they sell you. The Dirty Rascal Junior Master Gardeners keep the proceeds from their sale to help support club activities.

The AeroGardens will be in the kitchen at the Robeson County Cooperative Extension office, while the seedlings get started. The youth will come by and check on the plants between now and their next meeting to make sure they get the water and nutrients they need before they are transplanted for sale. Through this project they will not only learn about hydroponic gardening but also seedlings and how to harden plants, transplant them, and about biodegradable garden products. So not only is this project fun, it is accidentally educational, and a money maker for the club.

Stay tuned for more information about the Master Gardener and Dirty Rascal Junior Master Gardener Sale which will be the last weekend in April.

St. Paul's Pony Club Members Are Sciencerific!

Two members of the St. Paul's 4-H Pony Club made headlines this week as they placed in their school science fairs. Christian Tice won second place in the Piney Grove Elementary School science fair, for fourth graders. Let's give him a hand!

Brianna Cryer was in the sixth grade Piney Grove Elementary School science fair. She did an awesome job!

-Photos and report were submitted by St. Pauls 4-H Pony club leader Libby Burney.

Volunteers Click

The beginning of February is always a great time in 4-H because it marks our annual 4-H State Volunteer Leaders Conference. As in previous years this one was held at the Sheraton Imperial in Durham. The theme for 2011 was "Click it with 4-H: Play, Work, Reward." This year 12 volunteers and staff members represented Robeson County at the conference. We even had three first time attendees; Veronica Powell, Rhonda Drye, and Jeff Wright. We started Saturday morning very early travelling to Raleigh so we could be ready to start in our workshops at 8:30. There were over 50 workshops offered this year with topics which ranged from developmental cycles of youth to how to properly shake someones hands, livestock judging and yes, getting down and dirty in the garden. Our volunteers attended leadership workshops, electric, livestock judging, gardening, etiquette, and much more. They are so excited to share what they learned and put it all into action here in Robeson County.

After attending three workshops in the morning we had a break for a box lunch and district meetings. Veronica Powell is the newly elected district secretary for our district and saved the day by arriving with minutes she had taken at the last meeting which was district fall day. We had several announcements about the conference and various items during the meeting then took a short break to check into our rooms. After checking out the accommodations and freshening up we headed back down for the remainder of the workshops.

Our own 4-H Agent Shea Ann DeJarnette partnered with Angela Shaver, the Bladen County 4-H Agent to teach two leadership workshops. "Are You Up to the Leadership Challenge" is a gold level ACE class that is based on the book Leadership Challenge by Kouzes & Posner. The second workshop, "Taking Green from Good to Great" is an emerald level ACE course based on the book by Jim Collins, From Good to Great. Shea Ann also partnered with Christy Strickland our Robeson County Family and Consumer Sciences Agent to teach about our Summer Fun Etiquette workshop. They even gave the volunteers their very own cd's filled with curriculum, an etiquette book, and activities that they can use in their counties.

After the workshops, volunteers had time to check out the items in the country store. The items are donated and sold to raise money for the state volunteer leaders association. They also had time to buy tickets for the basket raffle, and check out the items that would be sold at auction later in the night. Then it was time to get ready for the big event of the evening, the banquet.

The banquet started with a lovey dinner and quickly turned into the recognition event of 4-H's strongest assest, our volunteers. Wyatt Richardson with Monsanto spoke with the group about his companies dedication to 4-H and supporting the volunteer effort. Monsanto not only believes in the idea of supporting youth in their agricultural education, they support it financially. Monsanto has a program that allows farmers in each county to sign up through Monsanto for a drawing and donate $2,500 to their favorite local youth organization that promotes agriculture such as 4-H. After a moving message on our strong partnership with Monsanto, Dr. Joe Zublena, our new Extension Director addressed the group and thanked them for their efforts. Dr. Marshall Stewart, Department Head and State Program Leader for the Department of 4-H Youth Development and Family and Consumer Sciences not only thanked the group for their efforts but gave them an update on our state budget system and what that means to them and the 4-H program. He asked our volunteers to let others know, especially lawmakers, how important our budget is to the development of youth in our state. After the speakers our volunteers from around the state were recognized for their hard work and leadership in the counties. Awards are given in a variety of areas based on district and overall work.

After our dinner the group retired to another room at the Sheraton where were helped support our 4-H Volunteers through an auction. Items were made and donated to help raise more than $1,000 to support our volunteers and their training efforts.

After a good nights sleep we checked out and headed downstairs Sunday morning for our breakfast buffet and key note speaker. Dr. Jim Clark has been working on a history of the 4-H program and gave our leaders a history lesson of their role in building not only this incredible youth organization but also their own volunteer leaders association. He has written a book that is in the process of being published and will serve as a great history of our proud North Carolina 4-H program. After his address it was time for the business of swearing in the new officers on both the state and district levels. Veronica Powell was officially sworn in as the South Central District Secretary. We know she will do a fantastic job and will support her however we can as she fulfills her role.

After getting our clickers and memory sticks we piled up in the van and headed back to Robeson County. We had a fun filled learning adventure and I am sure you will hear more about it in the weeks ahead, especially at the next 4-H County Council and Volunteers Leaders Meeting in March.