Christian County 4-H Newsletter

Transcription

1 University of Illinois Extension Serving Christian, Jersey, Macoupin and Montgomery Counties Christian County 4-H Newsletter THE 4-H COMMITTEE NEEDS YOU! This fall each county will be forming and organizing a 4-H Committee. Some of the functions of the 4-H Committee include: > Assisting in developing a total 4-H program based on the needs of youth and the county and then actively carrying out the plan. >Planning for and assisting with the recruitment, education and recognition of 4-H members and 4-H volunteers. >Introducing new 4-H projects, programs or activities that are designed to attract new youth to the 4-H program. >Recommending policy and procedures for the county when not determined by state or national regulations. >Evaluating the overall 4-H program on a continuing basis. The Committee should be made up of 4-H Alum, Parents, Leaders, Volunteers, Community Members and most importantly older 4-H Members. If you are interested in being a member or know of someone whom you think might be interested, please contact Peggy Hampton, 4-H Youth Development Educator at or phampton@illinois.edu. DATES WILL BE COMING SOON FOR CHRISTIAN, JERSEY AND MONTGOMERY COUNTIES. Reporters, Club news is your job! Most local newspapers will print your reports. People enjoy reading about the good things you accomplish. is a wonderful and easy way to complete your duties as a reporter. your club news to these publications: 4-H Forecast-heberlin@uiuc.edu Breeze Courier-breeze-news@ctitech.com, Edinburg Herald Star-heraldstar@consolidated.net Morrisonville Times or Pana News Palladiumpananews@consolidated.net, TaylorvilleDailyNews.com-wtim@randyradio.com Due to staffing changes, Christian and Montgomery County Offices will be closed from 11:30-12:30 to provide a lunch hour for our secretary. We apologize for the inconvenience. 1 August 2012

2 Read the schedule carefully! A STATE FAIR PACKET has been sent to all 4-H members whose projects were selected for State Fair. The packet includes a tag for the project, a judging schedule, a map of the fair, an informational sheet and the State Fair requirements for that project. If you have not received your packet, please contact the Christian County Extension Office. Please, please, please read the judging schedule carefully as locations are new, check-in times are new, and different project levels are being judged at different times. For example, Photography 1 & 2 are in the morning while Photography 3, Photo Editing and the Clover Challenge are in the afternoon. PARKING PASSES & ADMISSION TICKETS Please check with the Christian County Extension Office to secure your tickets and passes. The lots we can park in have also changed so please look at your map carefully to see which entrance you need. Please remember that during the State Fair, the traffic flows in one direction around the State Fairgrounds AND can sometimes be slow or stopped. STATE FAIR WINDOW DISPLAY Be sure to check out Unit 18 s 4-H Window in the Illinois Building. The window is located on the south side of the building. Illinois State Fair 4-H Ice Cream Social and Family Gathering on the Directors Lawn, Saturday, August 11, 2012 from 4:00-6:00 p.m. 4:00 p.m.-registration and Ice Cream 4:45 p.m.-introductions & Recognition Reservations to: Illinois 4-H Foundation or register at website: On August 11, 12 & 13 Christian County 4-H Federation will be cleaning barns at the Illinois State Fair. We will be meeting at the Extension office about 6:30 p.m. and the start time in Springfield will be 8:00 p.m. The Shooting Stars are cleaning on Saturday, August 11, and the Lads & Lassies 4- H Club will be cleaning on Sunday, August 12. Federation will be cleaning on Monday evening. 4-H Federation supports and implements many of the county-wide activities that are enjoyed each year. 4-H Federation would appreciate any help you can provide on these dates. Carpooling from Taylorville will be an option. It is really a great educational, fun experience that your kids will talk about forever. The contracts require 2 supervisors and 15 youth to work until as signed projects are completed. Please call Jodi at if you will be available to help out in these endeavors. Hold the Date! Unit-wide 4-H Leader s Meeting September 22nd 2 August 2012

3 4-H CLOVER CHALLENGE GRANTS SPONSORED BY ILLINOIS SOYBEAN ASSOCIATION & PIONEER HI-BRED Attention 4-Hers, 15 to 18 years of age* you ve put a lot into your 4-H project now let it pay you back. The 4-H Clover Challenge Grant is a new opportunity open to members who have completed all levels of a project area relating to corn, soybeans, or small grains OR all levels of a foods, nutrition or animal science project that is tied to the use of corn, soybeans, or small grains. Accepted applicants will work with a mentor in taking their project to the next level and share their advanced project with others in at least two ways: through a presentation, video, GPS map, poster or any other approved communication method. 4-H Clover Challenge Grants are sponsored by The Illinois Soybean Association and Pioneer Hi-Bred International. Each sponsor is offering five $500 Clover Challenge Grants for H year. Additional information is available at (*age as of 9/1/2012) IL 4-H CLUB TREASURER BOOKS MUST BE COMPLETED WITH THE REQUIRED AUDITS AND SIGNATURES turned in by August 31, 2012 This is a state 4-H requirement. County 4-H records are due in the Extension office August 31, 2012 at 4:30 p.m. and are available online at: Reminder: Christian County 4-H Foundation will pay your next 4-H years enrollment fee for anyone who turn their records on time. Every child that turns in a 4-H record will be recognized at Achievement Night! Additional award opportunities Treasurer s Books are mandatory and need all required signatures and audits!!! Historian Scrapbooks with articles and events about the club. Secretary Workbook-Minutes from the meetings and documentation of all club business. Reporter Collection of all news articles written and submitted for publication. Livestock record books will be scored for a special award in the fall. Books are available at the Extension office or on line at The next Speaking for Illinois 4-H training is set for Saturday, September 29th in Winchester at the Scott County Extension Office. This is an opportunity for older 4-H members to help Extension staff with presentations to civic groups, county board members, donors, and legislators. SFI4-H trains 4-H members, age 14 and older, in public presentation skills, PYD BIGM information, and facts to share with stakeholders as they tell their 4-H story. SFI4-H youth are invited to help at the spring Legislative Connection event(s). Registration items are posted at: The final deadline for registration is September 19th for the training on the 29th. 3 August 2012

4 If you like to plan exciting events and get together with other teens once a month for a fun meeting, consider joining the Christian County 4-H Federation. The first meeting of the year will be on Tuesday, September 4, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. If you are unable to attend but would still like to join, contact Jodi. They will be setting up the calendar for the year at this meeting and electing officers. Some of the activities Federation members plan include promoting 4-H all year long in the county, the New Member party, Green Fling, an educational fun teen trip and end-of-year swim party. I believe the group is looking forward to a return trip to the Civil War re-enactment in Northern Illinois mid-october. And would welcome any help with Barn Cleaning at the State Fair. 4 August 2012

5 County Window displays should be in place by Sunday, October 7 and remain up for as much of October as you can! Please contact Jodi with your window locations and for any questions. There has not been a national event theme released. Christian County will be setting our theme to the 4-H Motto- Making the best betterwith family fun! Any club that puts in a window display will receive $25. All windows will be judged and could receive additional placing moneys. Check if you can do a presentation for your school or class. We have some neat Science experiments that could excite everyone. Spread the word about 4-H and all the experiences that are available. We want to represent all of our county communities during National 4-H week October 7-14, But utilizing the Taylorville Square during the Chamber of Commerce ChilliFest (October13 & 14, 2012) would be great publicity for 4-H. Please make sure Jodi knows where your window display will be! 2012 Salute to Agriculture Day-September 15, 2012! The College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) invites you to attend Fighting Illini vs. Charleston Southern. ACES tent located just west of the Assembly Hall main entrance/circle drive. The game time has been set for 11:00 a.m. The tailgate will open to the public at 9:00 a.m. Bring your 4- Hers and experience a fun day on the campus of the University of Illinois! FOOTBALL TICKETS FOR THIS EVENT WILL BE SOLD ONLINE ONLY AND ARE NOT AVAILABLE WITHOUT THE PURCHASE OF A MEAL. Please note that there are a limited number of football tickets for sale, available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Meal ticket: $10 Student Meal and Game ticket package: $15 Adult Meal and Game ticket package: $20 To order your tickets go online at: 4-H National Science Day - October 10, 2012 This year s experiment, the 4-H Eco-Bot Challenge, allows youth to enhance their engineering skills by assembling their own Eco-Bots and surface controls to manage an environmental clean-up. Youth will then test the interaction between the Eco-Bot s design features and various surface control configurations to determine the most effective clean-up solution for the simulated spill. This is the main event during National 4-H week in October, and each county will be receiving two kits. If you are interested in sharing this experiment at your school, contact Jodi at the Extension Office before September August 2012

6 Congratulations to all participants and winners! 6 August 2012

7 Christian County 4-H General Show-July 9th Kamila Allen Cooking 301 Bryce Barton Woodworking Brooke Bates Fashion Revue Alex Brockamp Cooking 401 Kara Brockamp Natural Resources Maria Brockamp Interior Design Anna Brookens Vegetable Gardening Catherine Brookens Food Preservation Drew Brookens Bicycle Rebekah Brookens Visual Arts David Bruns Sportsfishing Daniel Cornell Robotics Hannah Cornell Visual Arts Cameron Harmon Vegetable Gardening Amy Heberling Photography Chris Kindermann Microwave Magic State Fair Delegates Sarah Long Visual Arts Claire Lupton Sewing & Textiles Hannah Lupton Sewing & Textiles Madison Lush Animal Science Caleb McNeill Visual Arts Tanner Mickey Tractor Alli Richards Photography Issac Roethemeyer Welding Julia Shoop Visual Arts Sarah Paige Tarr Sewing & Textiles Quintin Tippitt Woodworking Caitlin Walter Visual Arts Kirra Walter Entomology Abby Winans Floriculture Felicity Witt Photography Go-Getters 4-H Club Intercultural Christian County 4-H Members will be exhibiting their projects on Friday, August 10th* at the Illinois State Fair. *Welding and Geospatial projects are exhibited on August 11th. 7 August 2012

8 Food Show and Demonstrations June 25th Clothing Show June 28th If you are at a 4-H event and take pictures, please share, them or allow me to download them for additional 4-H Activity Documentation Pictures are often the hardest thing to get accomplished, If you are at an event and enjoy taking pictures please volunteer to assit, ask if I have someone taking pictures I will gladly provide a camera if you would be interested. 8 August 2012

9 Send Us Your Feedback and/or Join us on August 23, 2012 at 6:30 p.m. for Leaders and Livestock Committee Meeting Thoughts, concerns and suggestions for 4-H, 4-H Fair, Auction and related Activities. Which H Shows did you participate in (please indicate the number of years you have exhibited in these areas)? Communications Foods Clothing General Horse Sheep Swine Goat Beef Did you learn from the judges? (circle one response) Yes No They learned from me Please rate your judging experience. (circle one response) Improvement Needed Great Experience Suggestions for improving your judging experience? Suggestions for improving the 4-H Fair? Suggestions for improving the Christian County 4-H program? Did you like doing all the livestock in one day? Yes No As Long Exhibitors Count stays similar! Without volunteers, the Christian County 4-H program would not exist. If you would be interested in serving on one of our many committees or other opportunities, please circle and fill in your contact information below: Committees: Foods & Nutrition Clothing Horse Expansion & Review Livestock General Projects Show Contact Information- Leadership Opportunities: 4-H Leader 4-H Project Leader Name Address Fair Help: Workshop Presenter Workshop assistant City State Phone Judge Judges assistant Other Opportunities: 4-H Foundation Board Extension Council 9 August 2012

10 Dear 4-H Families, Last summer was my first summer covering all four 4-H fairs. I thought it could not get any hotter than last year but unfortunately I was wrong. Luckily we did not lose any animals at the shows or have anyone get sick that I am aware of. A lot of this is testament to the 4-H leaders, volunteers, parents and staff who worked diligently to keep everyone hydrated, changed show times to the cooler part of the day, and supplied fans. I am so grateful for everyone s effort a big THANK YOU to everyone who helped and supported 4-H through this fair season. At this time of year I often reflect back to MY very first 4-H show. I was ten years old in those days you had to be ten to be in 4-H. I exhibited Funny Cake at the Foods Show. If you have not made Funny Cake before, it is a delicious and moist chocolate cake. The cake is made in one bowl. You first put all your dry ingredients in the bowl. Next you make three holes in the dry mixture and add a different liquid to each hole and then you pour cold water over this mixture. The directions tell you to stir until there are no lumps in the mixture and this is exactly what I did. There were no lumps to be seen. My cake was beautiful! The day of the show, the judge cut into my cake and gently placed a slice on a paper plate. She praised me on how beautiful my cake looked but then gently told me that because of all the air bubbles on the inside (I had stirred it too much) I would receive a red ribbon. At the time I was crushed because I knew my cake was beautiful. After that I was determined to make the best Funny Cake ever. I kept trying and trying to get rid of those air bubbles to the point that my family was pretty sick of eating Funny Cake. Over the years I have often reflected on this cake. You see it wasn t the air bubbles that really mattered. I wanted and needed to get it right and that meant trying again and again until I got it perfect. I have a great admiration for Red Ribbons. Because of a few Red Ribbons in my life I have learned to examine myself a little closer and strive a little harder to do MY best. I have grown as a person because of these Red Ribbons. What are you doing with your Red Ribbons? PEGGY HAMPTON Make Your Best Be er FUNNY CAKE Makes 9 Servings Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups flour 1 cup sugar 1/4 cup cocoa 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon vinegar 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/3 cup oil or melted butter, margarine or shortening (melt slowly so that it will not burn) 1 cup cold water 1. Preheat oven to 350 F. 2. Sift flour with the sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into an ungreased 8 x 8 x 2 pan. 3. With your mixing spoon, make 3 holes in the dry mixture in the pan. 4. Into one hole put the vinegar, into another hole put the vanilla, and into the last hole put the oil or melted butter, margarine or shortening. 5. Pour the cold water gradually over the mixture in the pan. 6. Stir the mixture until there are no lumps in it. Be sure to mix in the corners of the pan. 7. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan. 8. Bake about 35 minutes. The cake will begin to pull away from the edge of the pan when it is done. 9. Put the cake on a rack to cool. 10 August 2012

11 NEW PUBLICATIONS FOR The Helper s Guide for 4- H Cooking Series is helpful for volunteers who want to plan a series of meetings or workshops to help youth acquire food preparation skills and healthy eating habits. 4-H Cooking Cover and Spine can be inserted into the front and side cover of a three-ring notebook to organize multiple levels of the 4-H Cooking manuals. Archery Member Record Book, Rifle Member Record Book, and Shotgun Member Record Book are available for members of a 4-H Shooting Sports Club. Please note that Shooting Sports is a GROUP ONLY project and individual members cannot enroll in these projects. REVISED PROJECTS FOR H Cooking 101 updated nutrition information based on USDA s MyPlate guide. Nutrition facts and an index were added for all the 101 recipes. Citizenship 2 My Neighborhood new graphics and text. Discontinued Project Arts and Crafts: A Palette of Fun. SALUTE TO EXCELLENCE DUE SEPTEMBER 28TH Salute to Excellence nominations are being sought from counties for the Volunteer of the Year Award (less than 10 years) and the Lifetime Volunteer of the Year Award (10 or more years). One winner in each category will be chosen from the three Illinois Extension regions and then one state winner in each category will be named and sent to the national competition. Deadline for county nominations are due September 28th. Contact your local Extension office if you would like to nominate a 4-H leader for one of these two awards. August 9-19 Illinois State Fair Springfield-Shows and numerous activities. 10 Christian County 4-H Exhibit Day at Illinois State Fair 11 Welding and Geospatial Day at Illinois State Fair 23 4-H Leaders/Volunteer Meeting 7 p.m. 31 Christian County 4-H records are due to Extension Office September 3 Labor Day-Office Closed 22 Unit 18 Leader s Meeting October 6-8 Southern Illinois Leadership Conference-Carbondale 8-13 National 4-H Week Window displays up! 10 4-H National Science Day Chillifest, Taylorville Square November 1 Achievement Night 7:00 p.m. Premeire and Auction Checks from the Christian County 4-H Fair will be issued as soon as possible after the fair. 4-H Foundations intent is to have all auction transactions completed by October 1. Please be responsibile with your checks. Cash them promptly when you receive them! Premium checks may not be written until the State has provided the promised funding No replacement checks will be written! 11 August 2012

12 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS EXTENSION CHRISTIAN COUNTY 1120 N. Webster St. Taylorville, IL Phone Fax NON-PROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID TAYLORVILLE, IL PERMIT NO. 322 Address Service Requested We would like to thank everyone who helped at the H Fair, including those who assisted with the Communication Contest, Food and Clothing Shows, clean up at the Expo building, and during Fair week, July 8-12,2012. Thanks also to those who assisted with the auction and meal which was served by the Shooting Stars 4-H Club. Extra thanks to all the great parents for helping our children succeed and having them where they needed to be on time. Thanks to you, 4-H members, for taking pride in your work and completing so many great projects. You are what makes the 4-H program great! Spread the word! Don t keep 4-H a secret! Thanks, Amanda, Peggy, Jodi, and Sara Thank You Notes are important! Here are a few you might consider: *Premiere Donors for the shirts and premiums you received *The auctioneers, purchasers and bidders at the auction * Your 4-H leader *Your parents Let these people know you appreciate all they do for you! 12 August 2012