Robeson County 4-H

                                        You could feel the tension in the air this morning as our 4-H members and their families loaded up and headed to Mount Olive College to take part in our first ever 4-H South East District Activity Day .  For those of you not familiar with this annual event here is a little background.  Youth compete in different age divisions (9-10, 11-13, and 14-19) in Public Speaking, Presentations (kind of like show and tell), and Entertains.  At the county level they compete against other club members in the county, those who place first and second earn the opportunity to go forward to compete at District Activity Day.  At District the 4-H members are competing against the top winners from 18 counties.  The top winners from this competition will move forward to state which w...

  That's right summer is almost here and parents are making plans for various camps and day camps.  Robeson County 4-H offers youth a variety of programs based on age.    This year we are excited to offer two brand new opportunities.  This first is for youth between the ages of 9-13, it is our Junior Chef Academy.  If you child likes food and cooking this is a day camp opportunity you will not want to miss.  The second event is for teens 14-18.  It is our time travel camp.  Youth will have the opportunity to travel back in time by going to Williamsburg, VA and experiencing 18th century life.  Participants will be shooting and completing a video project as part of this event.   Of course we have our traditional week long overnight camp at Betsy Jeff Penn and our Cloverbud Day Camp.  Please feel free to check out the information about all of our Summer programs by clicking this link .  You can download our brochure and pr...

Did you hear the little birdies talking around the county?  That's becuase round two of 4-H Embryology is here.  We have teachers in almost 20 classrooms in seven different schools taking part in the second round of this every popular 4-H school enrichment program.  Incubators went out on Monday, eggs are being set today.  Each classroom has a dozen fertile eggs provided by Hatcher Family Farms .  For the next 18 days the students will turn the eggs three times a day (that's why we put x's and o's on the eggs so we turn them all the same amount each time) and watch to make sure the incubator temperature is maintained at 100 degrees.  The week of May 6 we should here real life cheeping coming from all over the county as the eggs hatch and little chickens emerge.  Stay tuned for breaking news on this topic!

  Everywhere you looked at Biggs Park Mall today all you could see were parents, grandparents and children.  They weren't there shopping for clothes, they were shopping for learning opportunities.   Smart Start Day is an annual event that brings youth service providers together to showcase what they provide.  While talking with the parents there is usually some type of activity to keep the youth busy and happy.   This year the Robeson County 4-H table had a very special activity.  We had 4-H Lego members for the youth to get creative with.  Using ink pads and pencil erasers the youth used a pointillism technique to give their Lego people lots of character.   Parents had the chance to learn more about the 4-H program and Summer Opportunities that are available for 5-18 year olds.  Smart Start served youth under the age of 5.  That makes 4-H a natural partner as the youth graduated from their program to move into ours. ...

Tonight marked the official April meeting for the Dirty Rascal Junior Master Gardener 4-H Club. Club Leader Tanya Underwood kicked off the club meeting in. Official fashion by having Layla Locklear and Tristan Page lead the pledges. Then she got down to serious business by offering shout outs to those who participated in the 4-H Talent Showcase, and those going on to District Activity Day. Club members took a moment to check out the progress of their herbs in the hydroponic garden. This year the Master Gardeners have chosen not to have a plant sale so the Junior Master Gardeners are exploring other options for herb distribution this year. After the formal meeting Connie Locklear, Master Gardener and Layla's grandmother, showed us how to make pine needle baskets. She brought some long pine needles from a tree at her house and got everyone started with the project. All they needed were tobacco twine (used for tying up tobacco leaves for curing back in the day), a large eyed...

I must admit I was a little confused when I saw the All Around All Stars Arts and Crafts 4-H Club meeting reminder e-mail. In it, club leader Jessica Drake told everyone to be dressed to make a mess. Usually that type of language is found in the meeting reminder for the Junior Master Gardeners. So my curiosity was peaked especially when I saw the flower pots all lined up. It was up to the club members present to paint all the pots and saucers for a community service project coming up in May. The club members could paint any color they wanted and be as creative as they wanted with the pots. Creative they were. It was more than coloring pairings, we saw stripes, and camo paint being applied. Flowers and dots, pearl essence and impressionist painting going full tilt. Polka dots done with fingers, and some sort of drip/swirl technique (jury is still out on that one) that will make each pot unique. The pots will be sprayed with a clear acrylic before the next meeting. What wil...

 Tonight marked the second 4-H County Council and 4-H Volunteer Leaders' Association meeting for 2013.  In an effort to make the evening a little more exciting a game night theme was chosen.  Before the meeting began the County Council officers had fun with the early arrivals as they took part in Mad Libs.  Lets' just say some pretty ugly stories evolved from the placement of random adjectives, nouns, verbs, and adverbs.   Each club present offered a report with the game theme.  We had reports that included multiple games, were done in clue, bingo, darts, and even Mad Gab.  As we went through the agenda there were reports about all the activities that have occurred since our last meeting in February.  The group also had the opportunity to enjoy performances by Christian Tice and Tyrick Taylor of the St. Paul's 4-H Pony Club and Jeshaiah Moore of Young Leaders and Doin' It Big 4-H Clubs.  The three were the top point w...