Robeson County 4-H

      It's hard to believe that today is the last day for our Jr. Chef Day Campers.  We have tried to give them all sorts of challenges along the way and like a group of smart and dedicated young people they have risen to our challenges.  Today we are focused on taste testing, team building, and of course cooking up something special.  Today our challenge word is goodbye, although most of our youth don't want to say it, we are practicing for the end of this grand adventure.   After listening to some of the conversations we decided we needed to work on a little team building.  So we refocused energies and asked our youth to write their name on a piece of paper.  We went ahead and added our adults and volunteers names to paper and proceeded to pass them around the group.  Each person was tasked with writing something positive about that person that no one else had written.  When teh youth got done we collected everything and gave it t...

    If there is anything we know that our campers like it is field trip day and riding in the van.  They like it so much they are trying to get us to have Van Day Camp where they just travel to places in the van.  Not sure about the educational value but they sure would have fun and have planned out quite the itinerary for one.  But I digress..today our challenge was to learn about different cooking opportunities in the real world.  Our challenge is to introduce them to careers and have them think about the value of food today.  Our magic challenge word is excuse me.  We are travelling to some populated areas, as you will see and invariably someone will forget to look around them and either bump into our group or members of our group will bump into them. So we thought this magic challenge word would be appropriate for today.   Our group loaded up the vans to head to Raleigh where our first stop was at the Great Harvest Bread Company .  T...

  We can not lie, we are making this one of the most challenging day camps yet.  Today we challenged our campers with their taste buds and their social skills.  The magic challenge word for the day was Hello.  We asked our youth as we travelled with mini-trips to speak and say hello to those around them.  It is a simple way to make someone feel welcome. After a few games and some team building our day campers jumped into the week long Sourdough Challenge.  This week we are learning about other ways to make bread rather than yeast.  Sourdough is a natural starter that can be traced back to it's DNA origins.  So a starter started in North Carolina will be different than a starter started in New York, or Demark, etc.  Our youth gathered their data, measured, fed their starter, and their favorite documenting the change of the aroma of the starter.  For many people aroma and taste go hand in hand so it is difficult for our youth to understand...

        Today our 4-H Jr. Chef Day Campers loaded up in the 15 passenger vans and headed to see exactly where their lunch was going to come from.  They were also excited to be joined by our Horticulture Extension Agent Mr. Mack Johnson and one of our 4-H Alums turned 4-H Volunteer, Brooke Canady.  Ms. Shea Ann also gave them their magic word challenge for the day, and it was, "Thank You.".  With instructions in hand of how to use their word our Chefs loaded up and headed out.  Today the traveling Chefs headed east toward Holly Ridge to visit a farm by the name of Xanadu.   Xanadu farms started just after World War II when the government was selling land at Topsail Island.  The Yow family purchased land and retired to their farm named Xanadu.  Decades later their great grand children are operating the farm and have become leading producers of biodynamic fruits and vegetables as well as event hosts by using their natural landscapes to...

    Our 4-Her's had their first day of Jr. Chef Day Camp and it seems as this week we will be working to challenge them daily as we go.  They are bright, eager, and passionate about their food.  Today we worked on getting the lay of the land and a little team building becuase they need to work as a team in the kitchen.   We split into two groups and one group went into the kitchen to start making lunch while the other groups was working on the great Sourdough Challenge.  The Sourdough Challenge allows our youth to make their own sourdough starter and learn the chemical properties of the starter and how they are growing microbes and bacterias and how they impact the food they eat.  Specifically sourdough bread.  Today they started the experiment by measuring flour and water, measuring the ingredients in their jars and collecting other data such as aroma and tempreture. While the great sourdough challenge was going in one room in the kitchen our Jr....

  2024 "Growing Good Kids" Book Award Recipients The Junior Master Gardener Program and the American Horticultural Society honor engaging and inspiring works of plant, garden and ecology-themed children’s literature through the “Growing Good Kids – Excellence in Children’s Literature Awards” Program. This year's book award recipients will be announced in July, and will be featured on the JMG website at the link below! View Past Award Winners HERE! Agua Fresca Recipe Beat the heat with this sweet summer treat! Use the link below to find Dinner Tonight's recipe for Watermelon & Lime Agua Fresca, and the Cucumber and Lime flavor! Click for Recipes Images and recipes are from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension's Dinner Tonight Website. View Video Tutorial for More How To & Recipe Ideas HERE! Sign up for a July JMG Workshop Today! View Available Trainings & Workshops Here! Allow us to help promote your training!  Complete this form to provide us details!