4-H Communication Arts

 

Greg, Angelina, Zeke and Graham all competed in the county 4-H Communication Arts Contest.  All are eligible to advance to the District Contest.  Greg will be at the State FFA Convention, but the rest of the kids plan to attend and compete.  I was able to get pics of all but Greg & Angelina while they were visiting with the judges.

Graham went first!!  He’s a Cloverbud, so he can do a recitation of any length.  He chose ‘The Land of Counterpane’ by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Zeke was up a little later.  He chose to talk about Joaquin Miller and recite his most famous poem, ‘Columbus.’ 

Dash recited an excerpt from Theodore Roosevelt’s speech, ‘The Strenuous Life,’ given at the Chicago Hamilton Club.  I told Greg I chose it for him because I wanted him to learn something from it!  The title itself hints at the content; good lessons for a teen.

Angelina chose to do a demonstration this year (again!).  She made birdseed ornaments and titled the demo ‘Treats for Tweets.’ 

All the kids did a nice job.  There are, of course, areas they could improve, but that’s what’s great about 4-H.  The judges did a great job of providing positive critique that can be applied to improve their presentations before the district contest in June.

 And, CAN YOU BELIEVE JUNE IS NEXT WEEKEND!!!

While the boys were away…

 

…we had some girls over to play.  I didn’t get a picture of the whole group, even though I intended to do so.  Oh well, we were just having too much fun.  Our 4-H club did a stencil painting project a couple months ago, and Miss T’s family wasn’t able to attend.  I promised that I’d have Miss T and her sister out to do more of the painting and this past weekend when the boys were away seemed perfect.  We invited another family, whose girls enjoyed the project and wanted to do more, as well. 

Angelina, Marcus and I headed to LaMoure to pick up Miss T and her sister after school was done (for the year for them) and then headed out to the country to pick up the other girls (who also finished up school for the year on Friday).  Five girls total, and the trip back to our farm was pretty quiet.  We’ve not done anything like this before, and truthfully, the girls didn’t know each other that well as they are different ages and attend different schools (though all attend the same church). 

Once they all got going on the painting, though, they let the quietness fall to the side and really started to have fun.  Two of the girls painted plastic buckets and the other three did various glass objects.  Angelina and Miss T are shown below with a sampling of their work. 

After completing the project they all went outside to do chores (gather eggs & other fun stuff) and then proceeded to just play.  One of the moms arrived and it was just so fun to sit and visit.  She wanted to clean up for me, but I didn’t let her!!  No regrets.  It was just pizza and paper plates.  I told her I was selfish and just wanted to visit. 

What a great, rare, girls night!

And we have a winner!

Remember me telling you about the grain/seed samples that the oldest three cleaned to exhibit at the Valley City Winter Show?  Well, all the barley samples are taken out and sent to the State Barley Show.  All three kids had samples that were judged in the Barley Show and all three exhibited samples that won ribbons and prize money.

However, Angelina’s Conlon Barley Sample received First Place in the 4-H Division and Sweepstakes in the Malting Category at the 69th Annual North Dakota State Barley Show.  Her winning sample of Conlon Barley is on display at the ND Barley Council office in Fargo.

4-H Achievement Days 2012

Monday, June 25, 2012.  Officially known as 4-H Prep Day in our household.  It’s the day on which ALL the baking is done and many last minute tasks are completed.  We make sure all the small animals are clipped and primped.  Tack and food for the big animals is readied.  Clothing is laid out for the next day’s static exhibit showing/interview judging.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012.  Early in the morning, garden produce was picked, cleaned and set up for display.  Static exhibits (no animals today for our family) were loaded up.  Dash and I were assigned to be judges’ helpers, so we left for town early.

I sat at the sewing/needlework table, enabling me to hear Zach’s response to the judge when he was asked if he ‘liked his sewing project’.  His reply?  “No.”  Silly kiddo!  He didn’t complain at all during the project and he did really well.  The judges encouraged him to keep sewing!

Our kids’ projects for 2012:

Dash: Cooking/Baking – Pear Streusel Pie, Lemon Blueberry Quick Bread; Aerospace – 2 rockets; Crop Production – 2 grain samples; Welding – Snowmobile stand, Butterfly garden stake; Gardening – rhubarb; Poultry – rooster, hen; Rabbits – Senior Doe; Swine – barrow, gilt; Sheep – Mkt. Wether

Angelina: Cooking/Baking – Maple Pecan Cornbread, Double Chocolate Chip Cookies; Food Preservation – Bing Cherry Sauce; Sewing – dress, lace trimmed skirt, pillowcase; Crop Production – 2 grain samples; Gardening – potted flowers; Pottery – Hand formed name plaque; Poultry – hen; Rabbits – Senior Buck; Swine – barrow, gilt; Sheep – Mkt. Wether

Zeke (first year as ‘true’ 4-H member): Cooking/Baking – Brownies, Make Your Own Cocoa Mix; Aerospace – 2 rockets; Sewing – drawstring swim tote with front pocket; Woodworking – cutting board; Crop Production – 2 grain samples; Gardening – potted flowers; Poultry – hen; Rabbits – Senior Doe; Swine – barrow, gilt; Sheep – Mkt. Ewe

Graham (first year as Cloverbud): Cloverbud projects – 2 rockets, potted flowers; Rabbits – Senior Buck

After lunch, I went home with Louis!  It was definitely time for a nap.  Eric stayed behind to get the kids (Dash, Angelina and Zeke) to the Consumer Choices contest.  Dash placed 2nd in the Sr. Division, Angelina placed 1st (and was the only entrant) in the Jr. Division, and Zeke won the beginner division.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012.  Small animal (rabbit & poultry) showing began at 9:30am.  Dash, Angelina and Zeke showed poultry this year.  Dash won overall poultry with the Buff Orpington rooster and was also awarded overall poultry showman.  Angelina showed a bantam hen, while Dash & Zeke showed Ameraucana hens.  They were the only entrants in poultry.

Dash, Angelina, Zeke and Graham (his first year!) showed rabbits.  Our county had a large group of rabbits this year, making it quite a bit of fun!  Angelina was named overall rabbit showman.

A few families went together to order pizza for lunch.  We have such a fun group!  The Tractor Driving Contest began at noon.  Dash won the Sr. division this year.  It seemed to be particularly difficult for our senior entrants this year.  Plenty of stakes were bent, broke or knocked over by all.  They drove a large tractor and a trailer large enough to carry two snowmobiles.

Zeke and Angelina both competed in the Jr. division.  Lots of fun trying to maneuver the lawn mower tractor and trailer around cones and then back it into ‘storage’.

The swine show started at 3pm.  Dash, Angelina, and Zeke each showed a barrow and a gilt.  Zeke won both the barrow and gilt class – he was ALL smiles!  Angelina was awarded the overall swine showman.

In the sheep show, Angelina and Dash showed market wethers and Zeke showed a market ewe.  Dash won the overall sheep showman award.

Dash also won the overall showman award.  He, Angelina and another 4-H member competed in beef, swine and sheep (the only large animals exhibited at our Achievement Days). 

On to the ND State Fair at the end of July, 2012!!

4-H Communication Arts

Angelina, Zeke and Graham competed in the County Communication Arts Contest in early June.  I didn’t attend, but stayed home with Louis.  I knew I’d be taking a few kids to the District Communication Arts…and I was correct.  (Our county is small, therefore, most kids are given the choice to go to District.  We’ve always taken the kids to District if they’re eligible.) 

Angelina and Zeke were both eligible to go to the District competition on June 13, Zeke for the first year.  Angelina competed in the Pre-Teen Demonstration.  Her demo was titled Biscuits for Bella and she demonstrated how to make homemade dog biscuits.  I did manage to snap a few pics during her demonstration because I knew she wouldn’t be distracted and because it’s longer than 3 minutes and I wouldn’t ‘miss’ anything.

 

She really did a nice job, reflecting the amount of practice time she put in to prepare.

 

Angelina won the Pre-Teen Demonstration division.  Zeke was recognized for his Serious Interpretation of “The Village Blacksmith” – one of my favorite poems.  He also did a very nice job.  It was his first year competing at this level and though he was a little nervous, he didn’t let it show too much.

 

Cool project

 

On Monday night, Eric and I attended a 4-H Rustlin Up workshop for leaders and teens.  It went through about five different subject areas that are under development or are newly developed for project areas in 4-H.  Eric attended sessions related to Energy and Crop Judging.  I went to the Shopping (not my favorite past-time, but a great project area!) and Robotics.

The Robotics class was great and is a special interest area of Dash’s.  I came away with three different baggies of ‘experiments/projects’ to let the kids try.  The robot was most fun.

In addition to the supplies pictured below, you’ll need masking tape.  Zeke had this mostly figured out quite quickly.  He needed help with the eraser.

Supplies can be purchased at the dollar store and at jameco.com. 

4-H meeting

 

Our club meetings have started to run more smoothly.  Each year is a little better as the kids learn parli pro and know what to expect.  Sometimes it gets a little loud, but I think they still have fun.

Below the club officers are shown with Clover Shop Grant Award.  Our club applied for a grant to help with expenses associated with our Garden Workshop and Greenhouse Tour that has become an annual event in the Spring.  We won a grant!  The money will be used to cover the cost of supplies, reimburse the project leaders, and cover the cost of the community service aspect of the project.

Our project at this meeting was making butterfly/dragon-fly garden stakes from metal.  The older members helped the younger members before doing their own.  These kids are great!

You probably notice that we involve parents at each step, too.  We have great parent involvement in our group, and it’s so nice to have a variety of talents. 

You can just barely see the project in Mr. B’s hands.  They’re really cute and not something that will sit around the house … that’s something we always try to think about because most of us have more than one child!  We don’t want three, four or five of something that isn’t useful or purposeful.

We were missing a few families, but had a great time.

Way to go Sow & Sews!