Four Generations of 4-H

4-Hers in our family

 

Earlier this month, Kinley went to 4-H camp at Rock Springs for the first time. Her Grandpa Alan - Eric's dad - texted us during her adventure to let us know that his mom - Kinley's Great Grandma Bonnie - was the first member of their family to attend Rock Springs. Kinley's arrival at camp signaled the fourth generation of their family connection to Rock Springs.

Randy, too, has great memories from his 4-H camping days at Rock Springs. It was decidedly more rustic back in his day when he stayed in a canvas-sided tent. At the time I was a 4-Her, Pratt County 4-Hers went to a camp in Ford County. So did my parents, so our 4-H camping experience didn't include Rock Springs.

However, Kinley and Brooke are the fourth generation of 4-Hers on both sides of the family. (Brooke will wait a few years before she has the Rock Springs experience.)

4-Hers in the Ladd Family

Last weekend, both sets of grandparents came for the Shawnee County Fair to see the girls' exhibits. It was Kinley's second year in 4-H. (Covid delayed her entry into the program the year before.) It was Brooke's first year as a member of the Auburn 4-H Club. 

As Pratt and Stafford County 4-Hers, members took shifts in the fair concession stand. One of the most valuable things (at least from a parent's standpoint) was helping kids figure out how to count back change; it seems a lot art these days. And, of course, 4-Hers also learned to work as a team, serve the public and be a small cog in a big event in a community - all skills that translate in a myriad of ways to life far beyond 4-H.

At the Shawnee County Fair, the 4-Hers serve a Saturday morning pancake breakfast.The pancake and sausage meal was delicious, but even more "appetizing" to me was the continued commitment to helping 4-Hers grow as people. "To make the best better" may be a slogan, but the program truly does teach life skills and leadership that can be used for the rest of their lives.

Of course, ribbons are something to work toward, and something to strive for. But there is intrinsic value far beyond the color of the ribbon. Some of them include:

• Setting goals. 
• Learning new skills.
• Learning parliamentary procedure and how to conduct and participate in a business meeting.
  
• Completing paperwork/project reports.
  
• Working with others.
• Volunteering in your community. 

Yes, Brooke got a reserve champion ribbon on her White Chocolate Blueberry Crunch Bread. (And Grandma's Kim's County Line got a shout-out as the recipe source, which was definitely fun to see). But I also watched Brooke work with her mom on preparing our Sunday meal. Following a recipe and producing a tasty meal is a skill she'll use for the rest of her life. Her family handed out plenty of praise for the delicious meal, but there were no ribbons awarded.

Kinley's sunflower decorated cupcakes earned a purple ribbon, too. It's great to know how to do these special occasion treats yourself. Have you priced similar items in a bakery?

For her arts and crafts project, Kinley decorated a food storage container for the newest member of the Ladd family, their dog, Summer.

 

After watching the dog showmanship and agility competition at the fair, Kinley came home and immediately started training Summer. That project is getting added to the roster next year.
 

Brooke's bee pencil holder was one chosen for the People's Choice Award in Arts and Crafts. (It was a penny a vote, but even the Grandpas stuffing the ballot box didn't garner her the win. And that was OK.)

 

Brooke earned champion for her clothing buymanship project, the dress she wore for Brent's and Susan's rehearsal dinner.

But maybe even more valuable was overcoming her fears and modeling in the public fashion show, where she got reserve champ for both her casual and dressy outfits.

Next year, Grandma Kim has been recruited to help Kinley with beginning a photography project. We spent some time looking at the 4-H photography exhibits at the fair, initially learning things about the Rule of Thirds, leading lines, framing and other basic principles. (I cleaned out a bunch of my 4-H project leader materials during my Covid de-cluttering. But Grandma already got an order for new Photography Leader manuals, and they arrived this week. Let's hope Kinley doesn't lose interest before the project sign-up next fall!)

No matter where 4-H is happening - a rural county in the middle of Kansas or a bigger urban area like Topeka - it's making a difference in the lives of youth and their families.

President's Project: To Make the Best Better!

 

I think I've dotted all my Is and crossed all my Ts now. On March 11, I installed my friend, Millie, as the next president of the Kansas Master Farm Homemakers Guild. And with that installation, I finished five years serving as an officer in the organization. (Randy finished up five years as an officer with Kansas Master Farmers.) Last week, I completed paperwork and wrote letters and thank you notes to end my term.

On the women's side, tradition has it that the outgoing president gets to choose a President's Project. Members - and others - are invited to contribute to a project of her choosing. 

I contacted Kansas 4-H Foundation Director Jake Worcester prior to the meeting for some ideas. I told him that 4-H foods and nutrition, as well as photography, were among my passions. After talking with Kansas 4-H state leaders, he suggested a project to help honor foods and nutrition exhibitors at the Kansas State Fair.

Foods and nutrition 4-H members have their food exhibits judged early on at the fair. There's only room for a few of those exhibits. And even those exhibits don't look too tasty by the end of the 10-day fair. 

The digital display board will be something similar to this.

My President's Project will help provide a digital display board in Centennial Hall on the Kansas State Fairgrounds where photos of the 4-Hers and their foods can be displayed during the duration of the state fair. It's a pilot project. If this display board works well, Kansas 4-H may add similar displays to honor other projects at the fair. 

Several of my fellow Kansas Master Farm Homemakers contributed to the digital display board. I know there are others of my friends whose roots in the 4-H program go just as deep as mine. If you'd like to contribute to the KMFHG President's Project, you may send a check made out to the Kansas 4-H Foundation with your contribution to:

 

Kansas 4-H Foundation

1680 Charles Pl., Suite 100

Manhattan, KS 66502

Please make a note that it should go toward the KMFHG President's Project.

The project was the perfect choice for me. 

I was a foods and nutrition member back in the 1960s & '70s in Pratt County.

 From the very first year of Jill's 4-H career, foods and nutrition was a favorite project.

Jill's first food demonstration on making a Raggedy Ann Salad

Foods demonstrations and exhibits were central to Jill's 4-H experience.  Jill and her friend, Holly, made dozens of pretzels one year. They made dozens of dinner rolls another. And they earned the right to take both those demonstrations to regional club day and the state fair.

Jill's friend, Holly, & Jill making pretzels for a demonstration

 

By the time she was veteran 4-Her, Jill was teaching others, and serving as a foods superintendent at the county fair.

She was the state award winner in the 4-H Foods and Nutrition Project her senior year.  

Last year, Kinley had her first experience as a foods and nutrition exhibitor at the Shawnee County Fair. She also gave her first foods talk for county club day, though it was a different experience having to do it on Zoom.

But this winter, she got to give her first in-person foods demonstration, making Energy Bites. She got a blue ribbon.

Brooke just began her 4-H journey last fall. But her very first Show and Tell at county club day was on foods and nutrition and My Plate.

The girls are the fourth generation in our family to be involved in the Kansas 4-H program. My parents were members back in the 1940s in Pratt County. Both were members of the Lincoln Bluebirds 4-H Club in Pratt County, the club that my siblings and I later joined. (During my time in the club, we consolidated with another club and became the Lincoln Climbers.)

Bob & Janis Moore - Pratt County Fair service award recipients

 in 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

All four of their children and all seven of their grandchildren were part of the 4-H program, two in Pratt County in the same club their grandparents attended, two in Stafford County and three in Clay County. Now that continues for five of their 10 great-grandchildren in Clay and Shawnee Counties.

Randy's parents were leaders in the Stafford County 4-H program, too, though we're not sure they were 4-H members themselves. For a dozen years, Randy & I were community leaders of the Corn Valley 4-H Club, the same club Randy was a part of back when he took his first cow to the fair. I'm still the 4-H foods superintendent at the Stafford County Fair.

In 2006, we celebrated 100 years of Kansas 4-H. The youth program has been part of the national landscape since 1902.

The 4-H website says:

The 4-H idea is simple: help young people and their families gain the skills they need to be proactive forces in their communities and develop ideas for a more innovative economy. That idea was the catalyst to begin the 4-H movement, and those values continue today.

The 4-H program continues to MAKE THE BEST BETTER!

I'm thankful that it's been all that and more for my family ... and will continue to be.

Kinley & Eric before their shift at the pancake feed. As Uncle Brent says, 4-H t-shirts haven't evolved a lot from the '90s.

***

A little more history: The Kansas Master Farmer award was started in 1927, by then-Kansas Farmer publisher Sen. Arthur Capper. A year later, The Farmer’s Wife magazine, which is no longer in print, started the Master Farm Homemaker Guild, with help from Kansas State University. More than 400 farm couples have been recognized and have become members of the Kansas Master Farmer Association and the Kansas Master Farm Homemakers Guild. The goal was to publicly honor excellence in farming, homemaking, farm living and rural citizenship. In 1953, Kansas State University Cooperative Extension Service took on the duty of the selection process and coordination of the annual honor banquet. Today, K-State Research and Extension and Kansas Farmer magazine co-sponsor the program, with financial support from Kansas Farm Bureau, Frontier Farm Credit and American AgCredit.

My Trouble with Pigs (and Covid-19)

My cleaning binge has uncovered a fairly valuable book. It may not be a bestseller, but it was definitely good for some deep belly laughs from the author's parents.

Jill was 10 at the time, so we'll excuse her spelling of "troubles." And the challenges of spelling out "Fritzemeier" are clearly evident on her book cover. With a name that's 11 letters long, you may have to drift onto the next line to complete the word.

It even had an ISBN number on the Stafford School library. It was classified as nonfiction because it chronicled Jill's journey with her 1994 4-H swine project., her first year in the project. Here is most of it (illustrated with photos from her 4-H book):

One day, I went over to Jeremiah's house with my family to get a pig. I hated the smell! I got a girl and a boy and then we weighed them. I named my pigs Pork and Beans. Leonard pulled them by the ears; I hated that.

Finally, we took them home. I loved them! I fed and watered them every day for a week.  Then I got tired of doing that. But I still had to water them. Once my dad left the water running. I did not have to water them that day. I left the water on too long and the whole pen was wet. ...

Two to three weeks later, dad broke his leg, so Grandpa, Mom and Brent helped me with the pigs. Sometimes, dad did, too. One day, I ran screaming up to our house. My mom thought my pigs were dead. I thought they had run away because I did not see them. They were behind the boards, and we had to fix the pen. It made us late for swimming.

Six weeks later, we took them to the fair; Dad still had his broken leg. I got a red ribbon, which I was not happy with. I sold Beans to the Farmers National Bank for about $150.00. Plus I got $80 for being in 4-H. 

Pork was slaughtered, which I was not happy about. When we had a meal from him, I did not eat it unless my mom and dad said I had to. I have not bought much with my money, but I have put half in the bank because mom and dad made me.

Our kids were never the most successful exhibitors in the Stafford County Fair swine show. But those red ribbons didn't mean there weren't valuable lessons learned along the way ... like feeding and watering an animal - even if you got tired of doing it. Or completing a job - even if it meant you were late to something fun like swimming.

We were mean parents. Yes, mom and dad made her put half in her account to begin a college savings fund. Her 4-H livestock projects ultimately helped her go to college. Same goes for her brother. And, in her teen years, some of the other funds she generated went toward jeans (or other clothes) that Mom might have deemed too pricey. She could make up the difference with her own money, if she so chose. And there was a lesson there, too.

It's been a long time since we've had 4-Hers at our house now. But we still provide money for awards. I continue to serve as the 4-H foods and nutrition superintendent at the county fair (and I've lost count of how many years I've done that, but probably for a quarter of a century - yikes!).

 It wasn't business as usual this year. With Covid-19, we didn't do conference judging for foods.

All the fun extras - like the concession stand, kiddie tractor pull and other entertainment - were sidelined in an effort to social distance and keep people safe. There were no open class entries, so I didn't have my normal armload of 8 x 10 photos to enter.

Conference judging teaches 4-Hers - and parents - a whole lot. A sheet of comments can't compare, but that's all we could do this year.

I witnessed my children's growth from the time they were first-year 4-Hers to the time they were confident, committed 4-H veterans.
This photo was from Jill's very first year for foods judging. She looks a little scared by the whole process. But year after year, she got better and better at it, and the judges eventually probably wondered if she'd ever quit talking.  And by the time she was veteran 4-Her, she was teaching others, and she, too, was serving as a foods superintendent at the county fair.

To me, that's the value of 4-H. It's not the ribbons, though, of course, the kids want the blue ribbon at the time.

Instead, it's the "sticktoitivness" that keeps kids feeding, watering and walking their animals or trying that recipe yet again or ripping out a crooked seam - the list goes on and on.

Runaway the bucket calf and Jill both being stubborn

You sometimes have to dig in your heels and keep practicing - day after day after day so that - eventually - you can persevere.

Runaway and Jill at the fair.

It means building things - whether physically building a woodworking project or a craft or a cattle pen - or building relationships between kids from other communities and adults who volunteer their time to help.

No, the county fairs around Kansas - and elsewhere in the U.S. - are a shadow of themselves this year. The Kansas State Fair has been canceled, as have many other state fairs across the U.S. But 4-H is still standing tall in what's important - To make the best better.

Growing through 4-H isn't like magic (though that self-determined project was one of Brent's favorites when he was a little guy.) 

 

There's no sleight of hand. It requires putting in the time and effort - as an individual, as a family and as a community.

 I pledge my head to clearer thinking,

My heart to greater loyalty

My hands to larger service

And my health to better living for my club, my community, my country and my world. 

Now if we could just get adults to do the same - especially that "clearer thinking" part.

   

Throwback Thursday on Friday

Throwback Thursday seems to be a popular feature on Facebook on Thursdays. However, I spent all day on Wednesday (and a good portion of Tuesday afternoon) at the Stafford County Fairgrounds, helping with the 4-H foods department. So my Throwback Thursday has evolved into a Throwback Friday blog post. (It seems that my motto this month is like the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland:  "The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.")

Our family has plenty of old photos related to the Stafford County Fair and the 4-H program. The photo at the top is from 1967. Randy was a 5th grader and in his first year in Stafford County 4-H with his first 4-H beef project.

Our kids continued that tradition 25 years later or so. Jill's and Brent's 4-H records take up a yardstick-long piece of book shelf real estate in the office. But what you learn in 4-H is much more valuable than you can encapsulate in a record book.

Before you can confidently lead your bucket calf into the show ring at the county fair, you have to put in the time.
You sometimes have to dig in your heels and keep practicing - day after day after day.

You have to go out and feed the calves before school and check on them after you get home.

But the 4-H program does more than help you figure out how to lead a calf in a show ring or how to show a pig.
It's about becoming a leader and teaching what you know to other people, too.

Jill's friend, Holly, & Jill making pretzels for a demonstration

Jill, several years later, teaching that skill to someone else - with the same apron!

A few years ago, The High Plains Journal ran a story about 4-H that shared this study:

Young people in 4-H are three times more likely to contribute to their communities than youth not participating in 4-H.

4-Hers all across the nation are empowered to take on the leading issues of their towns, counties and states and make a lasting difference. ... 4-H youth get the hands-on, real-world experience they need to become leaders and to make positive differences in their communities.

"The 4-H Study of Positive Youth Development"

 from Tufts University 

While I didn't take livestock to the Pratt County Fair, I did my share of foods talks and experimented with recipes before taking them to the fairgrounds to be judged. I learned to sew and crochet, too. But it was the leadership skills that most impacted my life as a child and today.

I made the cookies and the dress.

My family's involvement with 4-H started with my parents back in the 1940s. Both were members of the Lincoln Bluebirds 4-H Club in Pratt County, the club that my siblings and I later joined. (It later combined with another club and became the Lincoln Climbers.) All four of us and all seven of the grandchildren have been part of the 4-H program, two in Pratt County in the same club their grandparents attended, two in Stafford County and three in Clay County.

Randy's parents were leaders in the Stafford County 4-H program, too, though we're not sure they were 4-H members themselves. For a dozen years, Randy & I were community leaders of the Corn Valley 4-H Club, the same club Randy was a part of back when he took his first steer to the fair.

In 2006, we celebrated 100 years of Kansas 4-H. The youth program has been part of the national landscape since 1902.

The 4-H website says:

The 4-H idea is simple: help young people and their families gain the skills they need to be proactive forces in their communities and develop ideas for a more innovative economy. That idea was the catalyst to begin the 4-H movement, and those values continue today.

Growing through 4-H isn't like magic (though that self-determined project was one of Brent's favorites when he was a little guy.)
There's no sleight of hand. It requires putting in the time and effort - as an individual, as a family and as a community.

That's how the magic happens ... the kind that lasts a lifetime.

***

 

We aren't community leaders or project leaders anymore, but we do help out in small ways during the fair. I am a superintendent with 4-H foods judging, and Randy usually helps with the hogs, though he wasn't able to this year.We also are proud to sponsor some of the awards. We chose project areas that were important to us or our children, like the Grand Champion awards for foods and for bucket calf.  We also sponsor a dog award in memory of Randy's mom, Marie, who was a dog leader in the county for years.

The bucket calf award will get handed out this afternoon, and the market beef show is later tonight. It still tugs at my heart a little bit to watch pony-tailed girls and proud little boys walk into the ring with their bucket calves. I always wish I could hear what they are telling the judge!

Randy and I also made some entries. After our nearly month-long wheat saga (a wrap-up is coming next week), Randy earned a second-place finish in the Market Wheat Show. Since we got 2.20" of rain yesterday morning, he was there to pick up his prize. Several of my photos did well in the open class photography judging. Once a 4-Her, always a 4-Her, I guess!

This post is revised from the archives.