Robeson County 4-H

Greetings Everyone, I am Taleek Harlee, and North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Robeson County Center, has welcomed me as the new 4-H intern.  I am a Robeson County native who attended Purnell Swett High School, where I found my love for agriculture through our Future Farmers of America (FFA) Organization.   It was my guidance counselor who put me in my first agricultural class, which lead me to finding my true passion.   I knew from that first semester of my agriscience class that this was my true passion and that I could make a career out of this field.  Later that year, I became a prominent member of the Purnell Swett FFA Chapter, where I served on many committees and took on different leadership roles.   By my senior year of high school, I was elected president of our chapter.  Under my leadership, I wanted the students at Purnell Swett to know that FFA was not just about agriculture, which lead to the campaign “Not Just Agriculture....

The following article was written by Wendy Maynor, 4-H Program Associate and was published in the Robesonian and Robeson Journal.  The article can also be located on the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Robeson County Center website. How many times have you heard someone say, “I want to make a difference” or “I want to see change”? It takes more than words and good intentions. It requires everyone making a concerted effort, accepting each other, and working together as a cohesive unit for the betterment of our youth and our community. Equally important is changing negative attitudes, being thankful for what we have, and focusing on the positive in people and our community.  There are no two people the same. We are all inherently different, and that is what makes each of us unique. It’s important for us to accept that we all have opinions – sometimes the same and sometimes different. Each of us have our own way of doing things, but that doesn’t always mean it’s the onl...

The following article was written by Joanna Rogers, 4-H EFNEP Program Assistant and was published in the Robesonian and Robeson Journal.  It can also be located on the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Robeson County Center web site. Today, many American families have strayed away from eating family dinners together. Family dinners can be defined as coming together to eat and enjoy each other’s company. We have grown accustomed to eating on the go, having the TV on to entertain, and having other electronic devices to distract us from one another. Did you know that having family dinners can improve your family dynamic? Children gain significant benefits from family dinners. A study done at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital found that those teens who ate with adult family members an average of at least five times a week were less likely to use drugs or fall victim to depression, compared to teens who ate with their parents only three times a week. Children feel a sense of lo...

You never know what might happen at a Dirty Rascals 4-H Junior Master Gardener Club meeting and this month's meeting was no different.  Our youth who made it on time got a chance to get down and dirty by ridding our raised bed gardens of kale that had sprung up since our last meeting.  We are starting to think it might be invasive at this rate.  After getting our frustrations out in the garden we added our scraps to our cold compost pile and went back inside to heat things up a little. Since Mother's Day is right around the corner we thought we might need to be a little creative and come up with a way to bring the garden to mom.  So our youth learned how to make an omelet in a jar.  Not only can you add ingredients from the garden to make it local and healthy, no stove is needed for this breakfast treat.  Everything is made in the jar, cooked in the jar (and in the microwave), and eaten from the jar.  Therefore there are not a bunch of dishes or me...

The links for the June and July Growing Together issues are now active. If you have difficulty opening the links, please try a browser with a built in PDF reader such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. June 2018    https://growingchild.com/growi ngtogether/index.php?i=5296nm July 2018    https://growingchild.com/growi ngtogether/index.php?i=1169uz

Below please see the link to the latest information from the NC State Horse Husbandry folks concerning 4-H Equine events. https://equinehusbandry.ces.ncsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/NC-4-H-Horse-Program-Newsletter-May-2018.pdf?fwd=no

  Does it seem a little early?  That’s because the fair is about six months away, but getting ready for it starts now.  Our 4-H members came out to the fair with high expectations and ready to learn all about the animals that they will be raising to show at fair .   After learning about project records and record keeping it was time to delve into the specifics.  Our Poultry folks got their laying hens and/or turkeys today.  The speckled Sussex are a relaxed chicken that should follow our participants around the yard.  Our turkeys are giant white turkeys and should offer our participants a challenge that only turkeys can provide in raising them.   The rabbits are Silver a Foxes and as cute as cute can be.  At four weeks old these cute brown and grey rabbits can get up to six pounds, but probably not by fair time.  Each rabbit was happy to be held and cuddled and was looking forward to going home with their new care taker.   We s...

  Very excited to announce that we were able to purchase a new tool to enhance the technology side of our educational programs.  This week a new SMART Board was installed at the Extension office and we are excited to learn about utilizing it and integrating this new technology into our programs.  Already we are seeing some great uses for this new technology and you can expect some changes to the same old same old programs and we implement this technology into our educational activities.