Fair Fare

 

Randy in 1967, a 5th grader and his first year in Stafford County 4-H with his first 4-H beef project.

 4-H is "very fun." Just look at any beginning 4-Her's permanent record book.

Randy's record book from his first year as a Stafford County 4-Her in 1967 said:

This year is my first year in 4-H. I have enjoyed it very much. Going to the 4-H things has been very fun. I really enjoyed the refreshments very much. I am looking forward very much to next year in 4-H. This year, I have enjoyed 4-H camp and have got lots of ribbons. 

My first 4-H story was also written in 1967, as a fourth grader. (The photo at the left was the one attached to my 4-H permanent record.) My story was longer. (There's a big surprise, right?) I used the word "fun" six times to describe my song leading job, picking out ingredients for my Snacks and Little Lunches project, 4-H Sunday and assorted other 4-H events. I also "enjoyed" things twice and "liked" 4-H another time or two. A glance at Jill's and Brent's record books mirrored our family's outlook that 4-H is "fun" and very likeable.

4-Hers - and their parents - have been "liking" the youth program for more than 100 years, long before there was a "like" button on Facebook pages. On Friday, we went to the Shawnee County Fair in Topeka to see Kinley's and Brooke's 4-H projects. Kinley and Brooke come from a long line of 4-Hers, including their maternal great-grandparents and their paternal great-grandmother (Bonnie Ladd). 

 

Bob & Janis Moore - Pratt County Fair service award recipients

 in 2011

 

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. (That club later merged with another, and we became the Lincoln Climbers.) 

 

Eric's family is similarly entrenched in the 4-H program. These days, Eric is one of the community leaders for the Auburn 4-H Club in Shawnee County. His dad, Alan, worked in both Kansas and Iowa Extension before retirement. Grandma Christy still judges her fair share of hand pet projects at county events.

 

Participating in county fairs is second nature to all of us - including Kinley and Brooke. This year's fair for the girls wrapped up on Sunday. 

 

But the girls excelled in the foods division. Kinley's Apple Cider Doughnut Cake with caramel frosting was Best of Show, giving her a chance to sell in the premium auction.

 

Kinley also had the top ribbon for decorated cookies or cupcakes.

This year's entry was a beach theme. The decorating/artistic part of food preparation appeals to Kinley, and she's had a purple ribbon in that category every year of her 4-H career.

Here she was in 2021 and her decorated watermelon cookies at her very first Shawnee County Fair. We all think she could sell the cookies professionally, but she'd have to get faster to make it economically feasible. Bonus: The leftover cookies were delicious!

 

Brooke also got to sell during the food premium auction. Her braided Everything Bagel bread got the champion ribbon in intermediate foods. 

 

I had to show the full balloon display created as a backdrop for this year's fair. 

Brooke had a great first year in photography. Two of her photos got champion and reserve champion in beginning photography for color photos. Until this year, I'd helped Kinley mount her photos for the fair. But this year, Kinley mounted her own and taught her younger sister. That's what 4-H is all about: Learning to do something and then passing it along to another 4-Her. 

Brooke also got a champion ribbon for her educational notebook on book genres, which helped complete her 4-H reading project.

Kinley and Summer were back in the dog obedience and agility competitions. 

Summer made it through the agility course with no errors, a first for this duo, which qualified for a purple ribbon. 

 

   

We did plenty of laughing getting Summer to the fairgrounds for the show. Kinley and Eric had to go early to help set up. Eric asked us to bring a wheelbarrow to help move all the paraphernalia after the show, so Summer couldn't sit in her customary spot in the back of the SUV. She invaded Brooke's personal space.

 

 

And she probably caused some second glances from other drivers at stop lights as we drove across Topeka to the Expo Center.

 

The fair ended on Sunday after the style show. Both girls earned purple ribbons in that competition and both qualified to compete at the Kansas State Fair fashion review in September.

The girls definitely had a better outcome at the Shawnee County Fair than I did at the Stafford County Fair the week before. But that's OK. I definitely have had my share of champion or reserve champion photos in open class in the past.

And I did well with the extra photo contests - one sponsored by the Kanza Chapter of the D.A.R. and another contest sponsored by Stafford County Economic Development. 

This composite photo was chosen by the D.A.R. as the winner in a contest celebrating America's 250th birthday. I created it several years ago and have used it on notecards, but I thought it was perfect for the sesquicentennial. 

This photo taken in a milo field last October got the top award in the commerce category from Stafford Eco/Devo.

That photo is now on a conference room wall at the Staley Leadership Building on the campus of Kansas State University. (Story HERE.) It will also be used for the South Central Community Foundation Match Day campaign this fall. The photo also got a blue ribbon in the fair's open class agriculture category. 

A cropped version of this panoramic sunset shot taken last December at Quivira National Wildlife Refuge was second in the Stafford County Places category. 

A story and photo about the Trojan Pop Shop in Stafford operated by three sets of sisters won first place in the business owner/blog category, a new category for the fair. I'll post that story in an upcoming blog. 

Other blue ribbon photos in open class were this one, taken on the Durango-Silverton train in Colorado last October ...

... And this photo I took when we were on vacation with the girls earlier this summer in Omaha at the Lauritzen Botanical Gardens. 

 

I had several other photos which were second- or third-place in their open class photography category and some that didn't place at all.

 

My online scrapbooking entry in arts and crafts got first place in its category. I try to do a book after our trips to collect the photos and the blog posts I write following the trip. 

 

While it wasn't a banner year for me at the Stafford County Fair, that's not why I do it anyway. I've been part of county fairs in one way or another for my entire life. It's a tradition that's worth preserving. 

 

And while it's great to collect purple ribbons and extra prize money, I hope what the girls ultimately collect from the 4-H experience is to take the 4-H pledge and the 4-H experience to heart.   

 

 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.

 The 4-H Pledge, Written in 1919 by Kansas 4-H Leader Otis Hall

 

It would probably be a better world if all of humanity would think about the principles that 4-Hers vow to uphold: Clearer thinking, greater loyalty, larger service, better living ... those are all attributes that would do this old world a whole lot of good.

For 120 years, 4-H has been changing lives. Back 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.

 

No wonder it's stuck around this long.    

Full Circle

 

Calm before the judging - The judge's tables and books are ready to go!

Today, I'll be at the Stafford County Fairgrounds for the 4-H foods judging. It will be like coming full circle. 

In July 1994, a little pony-tailed, solemn-faced girl sat down for her first 4-H foods judging. For the record, Jill was never that solemn or silent in subsequent years. But neither she or I knew what we were doing. I look at the photo of the judge evaluating her microwave cake and think we should have left it at home. Yes, a microwave food product was a 4-H foods class at the time - believe it or not. 

The building was hot, and the microwave cake was not her finest moment in the foods competition. But, honestly, I think that's what 4-H is all about anyway. It's all about learning and growth. (For the record, parents learn a whole bunch, too!)

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

As a senior in high school, Jill was the state winner for the 4-H Foods and Nutrition project. (She actually met her future husband at the Emerald Banquet state awards ceremony that year, though neither she or Eric remember it.) All that - despite a red ribbon microwave cake in her 1st 4-H foods competition.

The old Quonset hut building on the Stafford County Fairgrounds

I started Kim's County Line in 2010. In my July 14 post that year, I said I would be volunteering in the hot old building at the Stafford County Fairgrounds that day. Both my 4-Hers had already aged out. So I wrote about my "why" for still putting "sweat equity" into the county 4-H program. Here's some of what I wrote:

So why do I – or the multitude of other volunteers – continue to show up year after year – some of us after our 4-Hers have left the nest? For me, the answer is easy. And I suspect it’s the same for most people who volunteer at their county fair – whether it’s in Stafford, Cloud, Harper, Rice, Finney, Haskell or any other fair in Kansas. It’s because we believe in the 4-H program.

I have evidence of the 4-H programs’ power. I grew up as a Pratt County 4-Her. My husband continues to volunteer in Stafford County where he was a 4-Her longer ago than he likes to admit. ... I think 4-H helped shape us into the people we are today - people who care about and work for their community.

Both our children benefited from 4-H – with everything from project knowledge, leadership skills, goal setting and completion, record keeping and social networking long before there was anything like Facebook or Twitter. Our daughter’s career choice as a dietitian is directly related to her long-time participation in the 4-H foods and nutrition project. Our son’s choice as a college public relations major came – in part – because of tours he took while a delegate at the 4-H Global Conference in Kansas City.

I witnessed my children's growth from the time they were 7-year-old, first-year 4-Hers to the time they were confident, committed 4-H veterans.

Equal time: Brent was a Corn Valley 4-Her, too.

Here we are 30 years later. And I'll be at the Stafford County Fairgrounds today. Though I wasn't the foods superintendent for 4-H foods Jill's first year, it wasn't long after that I became one of the department's superintendents and have been ever since.

I was at the fairgrounds yesterday afternoon, setting up the area for foods judging today. And hallelujah, this year the judging will be in the brand new, air-conditioned building. (In reality, if they hadn't moved judging for several years to the Church of Christ basement and the Stafford Recreation Commission, I'm not sure I would still be doing it. I need air-conditioning in my old age!)

The brand-spanking new facility is a wonderful addition to our county. But the reasons for doing the job are the same as back when we were in that stifling-hot old Quonset hut. It's all about the kids and the 4-H program. 

Ironically, Sunday afternoon I was getting photos via text and offering suggestions for 4-H baking for the Shawnee County Fair. Last evening, I got photos of decorated cookies from Kinley, who's entering that category in her upcoming fair. 

The pony-tailed little girl from 1994 has now taken on the role of 4-H mama. We'll be heading to Topeka for Kinley's and Brooke's 4-H fair next week. We are equal opportunity 4-H supporters. 

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 

 Good luck to Stafford County 4-Hers this week ... and to other 4-Hers across the state who are sharing their hard work with the public this week. Come eat at the concession stand in air-conditioned comfort:

 

Pratt - my home county - also has its fair this week. If you're near a county fair, I encourage you to go and support the kids and your community!

Over the (Crescent) Moon

My bread baking skills were slow to evolve. As a Pratt County 4-Her, I was lucky if my yeast bread entry earned a red ribbon. And, back in my day, 4-H judges didn't mind handing out white ribbons either. I certainly got my share of those in the yeast bread department.

I learned more as the 4-H parent than I did as the 4-Her. When Jill and her friend, Holly, got interested in yeast breads, my personal education began in earnest.

Pretzels provided their first foray into the world of yeast breads. They gave a demonstration called Fit To Be Tied for county 4-H club day and an enterprise was born. Their purple-ribbon talk earned them the right to give the demonstration at regional club days and at the Kansas State Fair. Then they sold pretzels - hundreds of them - at Stafford's Oktoberfest. (Jill's 4-H book says each girl made around 300 giant pretzels.) It was a learning experience for all of us - for Jill and Holly and for me and Tami, Holly's mom. (I recommend pretzel making as a first step for beginning 4-H cooks who want to try yeast breads.)

The year after the pretzel demonstration, they decided to try their hand at shaping yeast dough into rolls and gave another talked called Shape Up! Holly mastered the more complicated rosettes and twisted braids. Jill and I were better at crescent rolls.

From Jill's 4-H Foods and Nutrition story that year:
We showed how to make cloverleaf, crescent, Parkerhouse and rosette rolls. We made somewhere in the neighborhood of 864 homemade dinner rolls while we practiced for county and regional club days, made rolls for our families and prepared entries for the county fair.

That's a lot of rolls. But all of us - the 4-Hers AND the moms - got better at yeast bread baking. What was the secret? Practice. If you only bake yeast bread once a year for the county fair, you're not going to become a master at it.

I'm still not a master at it, but I have become my family's bread baker for the holidays. I still prefer making crescent rolls, and I have some step-by-step photos to help you conquer fear of yeast roll shaping, plus other links for recipes and videos.

Because of preferences for some of the extended family, I make some white rolls (and that's what is pictured in the step-by-step photos). But for better nutrition, use at least half whole wheat flour.  You can use hard red winter wheat flour. Now there is also white winter wheat flour available, which is often more appealing to white bread fans.

A little investment of time and effort will have your holiday guests over the (crescent) moon when you serve them homemade rolls.

Classic Crescent Rolls

2 pkg. dry yeast
2 1/4 cups warm water (105 - 115 degrees)
2/3 cup nonfat dry milk
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup margarine, melted
2 tsp. salt
3 cups whole wheat or white whole wheat flour
3 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add dry milk, honey, margarine and salt. Stir well. Using a heavy-duty stand mixer, beat in whole wheat flour until well blended. Let the batter rest for 5 minutes to allow the whole wheat flour to absorb moisture. (If you do this, you won't have to add as much additional flour and you'll have a lighter dough, so a little patience is warranted here!)

Add 3 cups of all-purpose flour and use a dough hook on the mixer to incorporate the flour. After it has been mixing for awhile, add additional flour, a little at a time, until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl. Using the dough hook, knead the dough mechanically for 4 to 7 minutes.

Turn out onto very lightly floured surface and knead for just a few more minutes until smooth and elastic. Take care to not add more flour than is needed. (If you don't have a heavy-duty stand mixer, you may knead by hand for 8 to 10 minutes.)

Place dough in a lightly-greased bowl, turning it over once to allow the dough to have a little of the oil (or cooking spray) on its surface. (If a skin forms on the dough, it hampers its stretch and it may cause streaks in the finished bread.) Cover the bowl with a lightly dampened tea towel while the dough rises.

Allow to rise in a warm place (80 to 82 degrees) until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. To test dough for doubled bulk, press two fingers lightly and quickly about 1/2 inch into dough. If the dent remains, the dough is doubled.

Punch down and turn onto a board for shaping. Do NOT have additional flour on your board. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes before shaping. For crescent rolls, use a knife to divide the dough into four equal pieces; you want to cut the dough, rather than tearing it. Roll 1/4 of the dough into a 12-inch circle, about 1/4-inch thick. Using a pizza cutter, cut the circle into 8 equal parts. Pick up each triangle at the wide edge and roll up tightly. Pinch the point to prevent unrolling and lay it point side down on a lightly greased baking sheet. Curve ends of each roll on baking sheet to make the crescent shape. Repeat for each of the 4 parts of the dough, making a total of 32 rolls.

Cover the rolls and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 12 minutes or until light, golden brown. Turn out onto cooling rack. Brush hot rolls with butter, if desired. (A note to 4-H bakers: Don't put the butter on your hot rolls for the fair. Just use that for rolls for home use!)

Roll shaping 101 via photos:

This is how the dough looks after it has doubled in bulk after about 1 hour.

Turn the dough out onto a NON-floured board. I never add more flour at this stage as it will cause streaks in the finished dough. If you've incorporated the right amount of flour when you were mixing, you don't need more flour.

Divide the dough into four equal parts, using a knife. Don't tear the dough - cut it.

Roll each 1/4 portion into a 12-inch circle using a rolling pin. It will make it about 1/4-inch thick.

Cut each into 8 equal parts using a pizza cutter or knife. (I like a pizza cutter.)

Starting at the wide end, roll toward the point, keeping the roll as tight as you can. Tuck the point under the roll and squeeze it so that the point won't come undone as it rises. Curve the roll toward the center to form the crescent shape.

After the rolls have risen for another 45 minutes to 1 hour, they'll look puffed and ready to go. If you look at the close up photo above, you can see at the curve how the dough has stretched and risen.

Bake at 400 degrees for 8 to 12 minutes. Keep a close watch. You know your oven. You don't want to go to all this work and then burn them in the end!

For more information about shaping (like shaping into these pan rolls), go to Recipe Tips: Shaping Rolls.

Want other ideas and recipes? Winter is the perfect time of year for experimenting with yeast breads and yeast rolls. You won't mind heating up the house when the winter winds are blowing outside. 

Here are some links for you to explore the world of bread baking:

Kansas Wheat

America's Bread Basket (includes recipes from the National Festival of Breads)

Wheat Foods Council

Homemaking Association and its link to videos that show step-by-step the how-tos of making bread and rolls.