Who's the Fairest of them All?

Today marks the opening of the 66th annual Robeson Regional Agricultural Fair. It also marks the unveiling of all the hard work our 4-H members and volunteers have done with the club fair booths. Over the last few years there has been increased competition in this wonderful fundraising opportunity for our clubs. This year there were 13 booths in the 4-H area that answered the question...."4-H is...?". For each of our clubs 4-H is a little something different, which is hard for some people to understand. You see the concept of cows and cooking still are strong images when people see the clover. However I think our clubs did their best to illustrate the different attributes of 4-H.
This year the clubs that set up booths included: Bladen Ambassadors, Dirty Dozen 4-H Shooting Sports Club, Dirty Rascals Junior Master Gardener 4-H Club, Horsin' Around 4-H Horse Club, Inspirational Youth Leaders, Spiritual Generations, St. Paul's 4-H Pony Club, Super Clovers, United We Stand, Voices in Praise 4-H club, and Young Leaders. Over the past few years the fair booths have gotten very competitive. While it is a good spirited competition we must admit that that the creativity and quality of the booths has really increased as well. "I would say several of these booths are state fair quality booths," said Cathy Graham the Robeson County Extension Director. That is one of the things that made it hard for our judge this year. He spent more time trying to determine a winner in the 4-H booths than the other two areas combined. He narrowed it down to three, then two. Then he judged all the booths and came back to put on the ribbon for the best overall booth. When it was said and done the Dirty Rascals Junior Master gardener 4-H Club took second place for their thriller, spiller filler booth while the Dirty Dozen 4-H Shooting Sports Club took first and best overall for their fired up on safety booth.
St. Paul's and the Lumber River Federation FFA booths also took first and second in the FFA division. Congratulations to all of our booth winners at the fair!

Booths aren't the only place to see 4-H members at the fair. You can see some of their handiwork as part of the crafts, crops and art exhibits. Starting Saturday you will be able to see their hard work at the fair for those who raised animals. 4-H Animal check in starts at 8 am in the livestock building. Our first 4-H show of the season will begin at 2 pm.

Growing Communities

Robeson County Farmers have the opportunity to make a difference for Robeson County 4-H youth and Volunteers. Once again this year Monsanto is rewarding farmers and supporting agricultural education through their Growing Communities program. Eligible farmers have the chance to win $2,500 dollars that will go to a local nonprofit of their choice. Entrants must be 21 years or older and actively engaged in farming a minimum of 250 acres of corn, soybeans and/or cotton, or 40 acres of open field vegetables, or at least 10 acres of vegetables grown in protected culture. Entrants must reside in eligible counties where a minimum of 30,000 acres of corn and/or soybeans and/or cotton and/or vegetables are planted each year (Robeson County is an eligible county). Farmers who were eligible and/or participated in the program in 2010 may also make an application for 2011 if they meet the eligibility requirements.

To register all a farmer has to do is go to Monsanto's Grow Communities web site and register. If you know an eligible farmer please ask them to register and choose Robeson County 4-H as their benefactor. Farmers have until November 30th to register.

Focusing In on the Fair

The Dirty Dozen 4-H Shooting Sports Club met to finalize their fair booth plans. As part of their meeting they painted objects that would go in the booth, planned the spacing and what supplies might be needed for the youth to bring to finish off their booth. The plans for this club's booth are also top secret. So top secret as a matter of fact that we could not take photos of the plans for the blog post.

Also as part of this meeting the club members were required to give a speech on shooting sports. Each member did a impromptu speech which ranged on topics from safety to rifle mechanics, and even the benefits of different shooting positions. After receiving feedback from their club leaders Larry Russ and Peggy Monk the group finished up the details of their fair booth props and then adjourned.

The next club meeting will be held on October 28th at the Robeson County Fair Grounds starting at 4:30 to set up their fair booth.

Thrilling, Filling, and Spilling into the Fair

The Dirty Rascal Junior Master Gardener 4-H Club met this evening and went over their top secret fair booth plans. Now no one privileged to the plans is allowed to say too much but I can say they talked about thrilling planters, information that will fill your life, and plants that will spill over to make a statement. We were also told that fiber optics and woodworking projects will be included. Club leaders Ms. Messy Missy and Mrs. Tanya also worked with the youth on their special containers for planting.

After all the plans and container review there was time to be crafty. Mrs. Tanya had special 4-H crafts that she handed out to everyone. Each person got a chance to make a 4-H Christmas Ornament and a beaded 4-H key chain. The craft art kits are from oriental trading and were a lot of fun to make. Our older youth help the younger ones with any of the details that involved fine motor skills.

The club's next meeting will take place at the Robeson County Fairgrounds as they get ready to do their booth. That meeting will take place September 28th starting at 4:30 pm.

Special Election Called

As you may remember in August we held elections for County Council Officers and Volunteer Leader Officers. However a motion was made to table the meeting for County Council Officer elections to a later date. Today is that later date and boy, did our youth get the job done.

Christian McRae, was President-Elect and help run the elections for this year. Korina Pittman and T'Asia Shelby had already submitted their nomination forms for Secretary and Reporter so we needed to come up with a Parliamentarian and President-Elect for the coming year since Christian will become President. Nominations were opened from the floor and Dillon McCartney was nominated for Parliamentarian and Shabreya Vample and Justin Moore were nominated to run for President-Elect.

The ballots went out to each club with members present and Christian with a guiding volunteer hand counted the votes. When it was all over with Christian McRae will be the incoming President, Shabreya Vample will be President-Elect, Korina Pittman will be Secretary-Treasurer, T'Asia Shelby will be reporter and Dillon McCartney will be the new Parliamentarian. Our new officers will be inducted as part of the 4-H Youth Achievement event on December 2nd.

They will have orientation held on October 24 at the 4-H office at 6:30 pm.

It's a Wonder Our Teens had Fun

Volunteer service. That is one of the things we try to stress as part of our 4-H program. It is important for our youth to give back to their community and realize they are serving as a role model for younger youth who will one day follow in their footsteps. This summer we had four teen volunteers that we recognized; Chris Bullard, Megan Hurst, Korina Pittman and Santiago Acuna-Robinson. All four youth spent days and weeks of their summer working with other youth and volunteering (granted in a couple of cases they might have been voluntold) for various projects. Of course, they do not expect payment or reward for their efforts so that makes it especially nice when we can offer them something to say thank you for their help.
The teen volunteer retreat location was a secret. It was top secret as the teens tried to bribe their 4-H Agent with Diet Coke, hugs, undying grattitude and other spendiferous things to learn the final destination. However they would not learn the secret destination until we walked through the front doors of the most wonderful place we have gone yet.

We loaded our van up and pulled out just before ten. After a leasurly drive to Mrytle Beach we hunted for a destination lunch spot. Joe's crabshack seemed like the perfect location to scan the tourist attractions and check out all sorts of fun places. Little did our teen volunteers know that our table overlooked our destination spot and they worked to figure out where we were going. Things such as ice skating, zip lines, and sky diving were all mentioned. After a few photos and an filling lunch (but not too filling becuase as we told them, they were going to be active after lunch) we loaded back up and headed towards the main attraction.
Aggie and Shea Ann pulled a few more bluffs on the teens before heading into one of Mrtyle Beach's newest attractions, Wonder Works. Wonder works is a hands on science fun palace, or as they term it an amusement park for the mind. It includes activities such as an indoor ropes coourse, laser tag, and an adreline package. What our youth didn't know was this was not only a retreat for them to learn and have fun but we were using them to determine if this would be a good spot for our Bio-tech day camp. At the end of the day I can tell you they gave it a resounding two thumbs up and asked if they could come back.
Some of the things we experienced were super natural. We started in a hurricane wind tunnel where our youth donned safety glasses before experiencing hurricane force winds and had to hang on or they would have been tossed against a wall. From there they experienced the 360 bicycles. These extreme machines would rotate them up and over if they peddled hard enough. Santiago and Korina's efforts got them around not just one time but two. There were examples of levers and pullies attached to seats. As you sat in them you were expected to pull yourself up. It sounds and looks easier than it is, especially if you don't have the right set up on the pullies. There were grip machines, virtual air hockey, video walls, jumping meters, pitching machines, and so much more. All of that was just on the first floor.

Our youth were so excited about laser tag that they skiped over the next floor and went straight to the top level. There they played laser tag and braved the indoor ropes course that ran along the rather high ceiling in a rather large room. They were attached to steal beams and could chose which way to go and what obstacles to face. Unfortunatley that is all the time we had as we had to drive home to meet waiting parents. Needless to say our teens were exhausted but had a wonderful time, learned something and knew that their volunteer efforts were appreciated. We hope that they will continue to volunteer with 4-H and give back to their community in the future.

Careers Slide In

This is one of the days that has mixed blessings. Our cloverbuds are completing their week of Summer Fun and we will miss them but at the same time we are excited that they have learned so much and are a little better prepared to start back to school.

Today started with our typical coloring but then after learning about the schedule changes we settled in to work with Mrs. Tameka and Professor Popcorn. We reviewed the different food groups and what foods belong in which group. After playing a game with hula hoops it was time to jump into the kitchen and make our morning snack. Today they were particularly yummy as we made our own fruit kabobs. We could use kiwi, pineapple, grapes, and strawberries to create our edible works of art. After a few photos it was time to dig in and start enjoying all the naturally sweet goodness. We have really enjoyed the treats we learned to make with both Mrs. Tameka and Mrs. Janice.

After that it was time for a little science project. Miss Shea Ann wanted to show us what a temperature reaction can do. For an example we took all the broken crayons and peeled the paper off them them and placed them in muffin tins. Miss Shea Ann put them in the oven and they melted down. When they cooled we had each created our own crayon that we could take home with us. In some cases the colors blended and in others the colors didn't so when we use them the colors will be truly unique.

Chris and Megan, our wonderful teen leaders lead an Arts and Crafts activity for us. We each got to make finger puppets. Some of us made dogs, pigs, elephants, lions and more. It was a lot of fun gluing all the pieces together and learning how to follow instructions.

When we got done doing that (and washing our hands) there was a big surprise waiting for us. Mr. Larry, who is a Sergeant with the Robeson County Sheriff's office, and a 4-H Volunteer brought his patrol car for us to see. We climbed through it, played with the radios and buttons, tried on his hat and his bullet proof vest (it was really heavy). We found out that if you are in the back seat and close the door that you can't open it from inside. We asked him all sorts of questions about his job and what he does and we even asked him to join us for our special pizza lunch. Guess what? He did! Before he left he gave Miss Shea Ann official Sheriff office pencils that change colors when they get hot for each of us to take home. It was really neat and fun.

After our special lunch and a little play time for being so good Miss Shea Ann had a really special surprise. We got to see a slide show of all of us during the week. After the slide show she had one more surprise, we got to make our own ice cream sundaes (with a little help from Mrs. Penny). It was so good and we could pick anything we wanted to go on top. Then we went back in to the carpet and took group photos and asked to watch the slide show again. It was really neat to see ourselves on the big screen.

We had a blast during Cloverbud Day camp, we are just sad to see it end.