Jam Packed and Growing Roots

This article was written by Christy Strickland, County Extension Director.  It will be published in  the Robesonian and can be located on their website as well as on the website of North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Robeson County Center.

If you follow us on Facebook, you may have noticed a new feature posted on Fridays called “Extension Friday Follow-Up.”  It features highlights from the week involving Extension staff, clients, and volunteers; our 4-H agent does a great job capturing all the activity! With this in mind, I want to offer a follow-up on some of my experiences this summer. I have often shared personal knowledge I gain every day in my work with North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Robeson County Center.  We take our mission to promote research-based information very seriously and, often, take it upon ourselves to test things first before we share.  Here are just a few things I researched this summer for myself.

Rooting flowers can be fun and fruitful. We always have lots of things going on related to plants in our office. Most of the time, it’s related to some sort of disease agents are trying to figure out or a weed a client is trying to get rid of in their garden or field. The plants in the office are not often related to new growth. Recently, we had some blue hydrangeas, cut from a dear friend’s yard, in our office for an event. These beautiful flowers have been a favorite for many events in my own life. So when someone suggested we root some, I was eager to volunteer my help. Hopefully, you will see the fruits of our labor come springtime. The best part is all of the information I needed to be successful was available right here at Cooperative Extension.

This might be one of the best experiences I had this summer – being introduced to tomato jam! I didn’t even know it existed until now, and it’s great! While I love tomatoes, I was reluctant to think it would be good on the food normally enjoyed with jam. But tomato jam doesn’t even taste like tomatoes – its taste is similar to apple butter in my opinion. Luckily, food preservation classes were offered this summer, and I was able to enjoy the fruits of their labor.  Local tomatoes are still available, and I can’t wait to try my hand at making my own batch of jam. As usual, all I need to know to be successful is available through Extension.

Never underestimate how quickly young people can learn something new. It was my pleasure to help with the 4-H Arts and Crafts Day Camp this year. My coworker and I were given the task of teaching the group chicken scratch. This is needlework similar to cross stitch and is done on gingham fabric. Chicken scratch has been around for a long time, but we weren’t sure it would be very popular with our younger crafters; we were wrong. Not only did they learn quickly, they loved it!  So much so that we had to find more thread to help some campers add to their designs and complete their projects.

The last experience I want to share is very simple. When someone retires, you really miss them. I have known lots of people who have retired, but this was my first experience as a supervisor. Aletha Mebane, who served Extension for 20 years, had the most pleasant voice you have ever heard on the other end of a phone. We are doing our best to fill her shoes, but it is not easy. If you call our office over the next few weeks, you will hear a variety of pleasant and helpful voices from staff and volunteers eager to serve your needs. Thank you Mrs. Aletha for showing us how customer service should be done!

To learn more about Extension, please contact Christy Strickland, County Extension Director with North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Robeson County Center, at 671-3276, by E-mail at Christy_Strickland@ncsu.edu, or visit our website at http://robeson.ces.ncsu.edu/.

NC State University and N.C. A&T State University commit themselves to positive action to secure equal opportunity and prohibit discrimination and harassment regardless of age, color, disability, family and marital status, genetic information, national origin, political beliefs, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), gender identity, sexual orientation and veteran status. NC State, N.C. A&T, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and local governments cooperating.

Sumo Autobots Push Biotech to a Close

Our last day of Biotech and I can't say it is bittersweet.  Maybe a little salty from our afternoon popcorn, but all in all our youth cheered to the very last moment.  that might have had a whole lot to do with the sumo autobot matches that were taking place rather then the end of the camp.  All we know is they all left with smiles on their faces.
  Our day started in Robeson County.  Bladen and Hoke made the journey to Lumberton where everyone was happy to be reunited.  After a brief reminder of our activities on Monday our youth completed their post test from their time at the greenhouse and making their own hydroponic gardens.  Once the business was out of the way it was time to get down to some serious fun.
  Mr Mario, a middle school teacher in Hoke county made the trip to give our youth the opportunitiy to build their own mind storm Lego bots and learn more about coding.  Our morning was spent building the bots and learning how to download the code to their systems.  The youth learned about timing, turning, and more advance code so that they can race.
  After lunch our time was about adapting our autobots for sumo wrestling.  Sumo wrestling is a Japanese form of wrestling where two people work to gain leverage and push the other out of a drawn ring.  In this case round table tops were used that had tape on the edge to create the ring and the autobots pushed at another autobot opponent to get them out of the ring.  The first and last match were head to head and the second match was back to back.  Mr. Mario set up heats and there were brackets showing the matches and winners.  In the end the final match took more than two minutes to before a Robeson County team's bot was deemed the winner.
Before we knew it we were eating our final snack together before heading back to everyone's counties.  Needless to say we had to play the silent game, after all it wouldn't be a Robeson County 4-H Day Camp without the silent game.  When it was said and done we hope our youth had fun, learned something new, thought about something they never thought before, and will think about coming back to experience what we do year round in 4-H and get the whole 4-H experience.

The Sky is Truly the Limit Today

Day four of 4-H Biotech Day Camp had us travelling to Bladen Community College in, of all places, Bladen County.  Our campers took a great walking tour of the campus and were able to see the offerings of this campus.  After enjoying a walk on such a pretty day it was time to head to building 3 where we made science history.

Working with the BioAg Network we started our morning learning about colors, reflection and absorption, and engineering.  We used materials such as cupcake boxes, tin foil, construction paper, and markers to adapt those principals and create a solar oven.  Each 4-H camper worked diligently to engineer what they thought would be the perfect solar oven.  The catch is these weren't just prototypes, these would be working ovens with the goal of making a wonderful s'more.  After design was complete our campers took their ovens out to trafficless walkway for testing.  A graham cracker, chocolate, and marshmallow on top were placed in the oven and left for about an hour, as we headed over and ate lunch.

We had a Bladen County Legend for lunch.  Melvin's is a place that folks drive from all around to have and today the Bladen county staff delivered, literally.  We had hot dogs and hamburgers, chips, drinks, and a lot of conversation with all of our new friends.

After lunch it was time to head back to the solar ovens and checked out the melty, gooey. chocolaty mess of a s'more.  Our campers saw some design flaws and things that worked well in other ovens.  Overall they found out they could be engineers and chefs in one project.

It was time to head back inside to save the world from the Zombie College and learn lab safety rules.  Then our campers used combinations of antacid, vinegar, yeast, water, and baking soda to create a fuel to get our fictional stranded astronauts back from space.  Our campers worked diligently on different combinations to come up with the right one.  In the end each formula had its merits and they tested them all against each other by pouring their formulas into bags, forming a hypothesis, and seeing which ones worked best to solve the problem they were presented.

  This was just the backdrop to the next project.  The engineers built their very own rockets.  They engineered the design (some had wings, others fins, and even streamers), decorated them and prepared them for launching.  Of course that meant going back outside.  There our youth used a rocket fuel made of water and alka-seltzer.  The gas that was created gave serious lift to their creations.  We had rockets popping up all over campus.

  It was an uplifting day of learning.  We are looking forward to being at our home office tomorrow and hosting our friends on our final day of Biotech Day Camp.

        

Madagascar, Duke, NCSU...Left Us Howling!

It was an early morning but worth it as we hopped into the van like a lemur to head to the only Lemur Center in the World.  Just down the road from Duke University in Durham is the Duke Lemur Center.  We met with our Bladen and Hoke county counterparts at a place you would not expect right off the main road.
  Day three of 4-H Biotech Day Camp we jumped right into animal science.  Our day started with a movie and a tour of this one of a kind facility.  Did you know that Lemurs come from only one country?  They are also endangered becuase of humans.  The Duke Lemur Center studies, breeds, and helps educate the world about these unique two legged creatures with strong tails.  Many of the Lemurs in zoos have either been given or are on loan from this facility.  We learned that Lemurs are adaptable creatures and each breed have specific characteristics that allow it to survive in the different terrains and climates in Madagascar.  We also learned that this animal is led by its females.  There was so much information we couldn't possibly share it all here.  We would recommend visiting the center and seeing these fun and unique creatures for yourself.
After visiting the Lemur Center we loaded back up in our vans and headed to NC State for lunch.  It is move in time for International Graduate students and some undergraduate students so campus was busy.  We ate at Fountain Dining hall and got a chance to experience lunch with real live college students.  After lunch we headed to the Joyner Welcome Center  where we got our official maps and headed back on the main campus to get our parking passes.  Then we headed through campus to park and do a brief walking tour which ended at the Talley Student Union.
  Of course many of our campers thought it was a mall and we did our best to explain the difference.  After touring the building they got a chance to sample some of the best Ice Cream any where, Howling Cow Ice Cream.  Many of them said it was the best ice cream they had ever had.  When the cups were empty it was time to head back to our vans and our counties so we can do it all again tomorrow.  Can't wait to see what is in store for us tomorrow.  

The Science and Fortune Behind Art

Day two of 4-H Biotech Day Camp had us turning into Stars, or at least travelling to Star, NC.  We boarded the van this morning for a shorter trip then Monday as we traveled about half way in the same direction this time stopping in Montgomery County in a little town of Star.  There we visited an old school, turned sock plant, turned really cool artist spot known as StarWorks.
  We started our visit with a glass blowing demonstration.  We met some really cool folks who work with some really hot stuff.  Joe has been blowing glass for longer than most of our campers have been alive and introduced them to all the things it takes to make a pumpkin (no not the kind you grow in soil or even hydroponically) out of glass.  It took three glass artists to heat clear glass, add orange color, shape it, add green flecks, ridges, and a stem.  After all the heating, shaping, and blowing it was time to take it off the rod and gently place it in a 900 degree oven to cool off.  It will take more than a day to slowly cool the piece so that it doesn't crack or shatter.  Pretty cool, or hot should we say?
  After that we got to go for a tour of the facility.  We learned that the plant started as "The Country Life Academy" in the early 1900's.  It wasn't really school like we know them now.  It was a school that is kind of like 4-H.  It taught youth life skills and things they would need to know to be successful adults.  They learned about agriculture, homemaking, and other school things like reading and writing.  Later the building was added on to multiple times to be home to a thriving sock plant.  Like many North Carolina textile manufacturers the plant closed as textile jobs moved overseas.  In 2005 StarWorks was gifted the building and a creative process started to repair the building, raise funds to help renovate it, and create a artists space that would pull artists from around the world.  We got to see all the different types of clay they make from natural elements in the area and the process they go through to mix it and test it.  This clay is ordered around the world and helps to sustain this project.
  After seeing the clay being made it was time to get our hands in it.  We got a quick lesson in working with clay and then it was time to get our hands dirty and make a little something of our own.  The only thing stopping us was our imagination as we came up with creation after creation.  We boxed up our works of art and brought them back with us.  They can air dry or be fired in a kiln.  We learned about those too.  Some are electric, others operate with gas and then we learned about wood kilns.  We saw some really cool structures that were fired and got so hot they glowed.  That's really a glowing example of things that get fired.
  After leaving a really awesome day of learning about science in art we made our way towards Asheboro to eat at K&W.  We filled our stomachs with food that some was familiar, some was new, but it was all pretty good.   After getting our stomachs full it was time to hit the road again.
  This time we stopped at the North Carolina Pottery Center.  There we learned about the history of pottery starting with Native American potters through present day.  Our youth also got to see ornate pottery and functional pottery.  They saw everything from elegant to comical and all picked their favorites.  They also got to see how artists can be expressive in a variety of ways.  One of the displays they were able to see were of dinnerware settings.  They learned there is a lot that goes into pottery and hand made items and its not just as simple as playing with clay.
  When we got done touring we headed back to Robeson County.  Tomorrow we are going to meet the animals...with a little animal science.

Taking Over the World

  It's the first day of 4-H Biotech Day Camp and even though we spent a lot of time on the road by the end of the day we had learned to code the workforce of the future and grow our own food without soil.  Not bad for day one, Huh?
  For those of you not familiar with this camp, Biotech has been a partnership with Hoke and Bladen county for more than a decade now.  Each year we offer new opportunities so that youth who start at the camp at the age of 9 don't repeat anything in the five years they attend this camp.  Today was a first for all of us, and a whole lot of fun.
  We headed out early as we hit the road for A&T University in Greensboro, NC.  Once we got there we worked with Misty Terry and her staff to program Lego Mindstorm robotic mobile units.  Our youth learned how to code, how to make the machines move through a maze, and how to trouble shoot mechanical difficulties.  What they weren't expecting was having to work as part of a team, with youth they might not have met until a few minutes before this activity.  They also had to give a presentation at the end of the time and talk about what they learned and what they did to make it all work.  We had Lego units rolling around everywhere and it was a ton of fun.
  We took a break to eat lunch because we were so hungry.  Thanks to Chick Fill A for delivering to us at the University.  We took time to sit and get to know our new friends before piling back up in our vans and heading to the farm.
  Actually A&T has a lot of farms for research.  We headed to the hydroponic farm just a couple of miles from campus.  There are youth learned from Kurt about the different parts of seeds, plant terminology, and how to build their own hydroponic growing system from a takeout tray.  You had the opportunity to plant a variety of things in their trays and will just need to add water with a little miracle grow to make it all work.    We also planted plants in their permanent hydroponic system in the greenhouse and will get updates as our plants grow.
  Before we knew it it was time to head back to Lumberton.  It was a lot of fun and we might have accidentally learned a little bit along the way.  Stay tuned for tomorrow as we all become Stars.

Changing the World

  We tell our 4-H members that the sky is the limit for them.  We encourage them to strike out and change the world for the better.  Today, on the last day of Congress that was the case.  It was time for our annual community service project and our youth joined together to prepare, package, and ready for distribution more than 80,000 meals.  These meals will go to families in need right here in North Carolina.
  4-H partnered with Feeding Children Everywhere to make these nutritious meals.  The red lentil meals include seasonings, grains, and protein.  Each bag made is six meals.  Each box pack by an assembly line includes 48 bags.  It was a labor of love, pride, and education by our youth packing meals to help other youth.  Not even a complaint about a hairnet by one of them.  Of course some were more fashionable in their hairnets then others....
  After the stacking the boxes and getting the photos it was time to wind up the 2017 Congress.  We had our slideshow, and a few last minute exciting announcements.  Our very own Maurice Rogers was selected for 4-H National Congress thanks to his hard work, and our own Alex Evans was selected to attend National 4-H Conference.  So proud of these two and their hard work.
  After we said goodbye to our friends and loaded up to head home we came up with a new tradition.  the state 4-H program publishes a yearbook highlighting the year's events and the counties.  Starting this year each member of our county delegation will sign the book, and a list of highlights and successes will be written in the book.  The books stay on our coffee table in the lobby for folks to look at for a year and then are placed in our office library.  This way our youth can give their impression of Congress and they will go down in Robeson County 4-H History, just like this 4-H Congress has now.