 March 2008Newsletter Editor: Contents:
Coming Events
March is the month for Public Presentations! If you haven't already made arrangements to give your Public Presentation, make sure your leader contacts the appropriate lead listed below:
IMPORTANT! Please make sure you are on time for your presentation. Also, our leads take a lot of time to make sure there are judges in place to evaluate your presentation - so when you reserve a time, recognize that as a commitment.
Committee Reports
Horse Project No report this issue Dog Project No report this issue Livestock Sale The Livestock Sale Committee is currently working hard to promote the livestock auction this year. We are working to approach more of the civic groups as adult leaders along with our 4Hers working on livestock project animals to explain what the livestock auction at the fair really is. Our goal is to explain to the Chambers of Commerce and the Elks, Kiwanis, etc. and other yet to be determined groups what the livestock sale is. The livestock sale is the culmination of a 4-Her's livestock project. The 4-Her's have raised their animals for the sole purpose of selling the animal at auction for meat. They have hand raised these animals from young and have produced high quality animals ready for the custom meat market. The animals are all hormone free and naturally produced. Very few if any of them have been treated with antibiotics. Most are fed a highest of quality feed scientifically mixed for the best results of custom raised livestock breeds. The 4Her has learned to keep cost, and rearing records for each animal because they are required to maintain We have been adding up the anticipated animals that will be at the livestock auction this year and the following list is approximate;
As we have done in the recent past years some of the beef will be sold by quarters on a split side basis and all the animals will be custom cut and wrapped. Looking Back at February
February was a busy month for 4-H! We started by supporting our WSU Extension sibling, the Beach Watchers, at their Sound Waters event. Jackie Vannice, Chrissy O'Keefe, Sandy Hunt, Megan Buckalew, Lisa Harkins, Scot Harkins, Julie Loveng, Laurrin Bates, Zach Boon, Tessa Chiarizio, Melissa Clark, Alissa Coupe, Laura Harkins, Jayme Hunt, Karissa Lawson, Rachel Martinez, Adrianna Royal, Cassie Thomson, and Scott Warwick donated 8 hours of a precious Saturday to introduce speakers and provide classroom support throughout the day. In return for this investment, both the Beach Watcher membership and the general public who attended the event now have a better understanding of what 4-H is all about…leadership, public speaking skills, public engagement, community service, and lifelong learning. Thanks to the wonderful crew of 4-H'ers, leaders, and parents who made this happen. Also in February, under the expert coordination of Vicki Lawson, Jackie Larsen, and Jackie Vannice, we survived the process of filing our IRS 990 form! There is still an on-line piece of this process to complete (as soon as the IRS makes that form available), but after wrestling with the first level of requirements, we're ready for whatever comes next! Thanks to all you club leaders who stepped to the plate to quickly get the information we needed to us. We continued to make progress with our Broadcasting project! Micah Sewell, our Americorps staff person, has been working with Stephen Goodell and Spencer Neumiller on what we hope will be our first webcast posted to our new website (watch for it to appear about mid-March!!!!). This Broadcasting promises to offer Whidbey youth some really exciting opportunities. Activities will include learning the basics of broadcasting, how to design an effective public service announcement, creating radio drama, producing educational programming, the responsibilities and rights of the first amendment, and more! Interested in getting involved? Let us know!!!!!!! Your Leaders' Council president and vice-president represented the 4-H program at the Feb. 7th Council of Councils meeting. This assembly of representatives from each of the WSU Extension programs will meet twice a year to provide opportunities for volunteers to gain a broader understanding of how we all work together in service with our community. One of the things that came out of the February meeting was that there is no one place for volunteers to go to see what other programs are doing. So in response, we are working to include a brief report of such activities in each of our on-line newsletters. Look for it at the end of each issue. Work began with a most wonderful, talented, and generous community volunteer - Robert Elphick! Robert is teaching Judy and Micah how to use HTML coding to renovate our 4-H website. In order to get the site up as quickly as possible (it is WAY overdue!), he is actually doing much of the work himself, but takes time to teach us along the way. He is also interested in working with 2-3 8th-10th graders on this project - teaching them the basics of HTML and supporting them as they design elements for our 4-H site. Specifically, he wants to prepare kids to support not only the general site, but the broadcasting project. So if you want to get involved with this, let Judy know ASAP! It's an incredible opportunity . . . HTML classes for FREE! We had a terrific Super Saturday - thanks to hours of work donated by Vicki Lawson, Jackie Larsen, and Jackie Vannice. The support team expanded on the day of the event, to include Pam Uhlig, George Lawson, Chrissy O'Keefe, Marc Zahrt, and Megan Buckalew. Over 180 kids attended the event. 64 classes were offered in 5 sessions on everything from how to build a bird feeder to the basics of radio broadcasting. Of these 64 classes, 17 were taught by kids! With no disrespect to the wonderful adults who also taught, a special thanks goes out to the following youth for sticking their necks out as instructors: Kelsie Fitzpatrick, Amber Gilkerson, Missy Coble, Shayna Grant, Morgan Tuttle, Chelsea McHugh, Brandon Urtasun, Alissa Coupe, Kendra O'Keefe, Christina Fry, Danica Growney, Karissa Lawson, Maggie Schuster, Maria Kidder, Katie Leese, Arianna Cane, Maria Leese, Elizabeth Vannice-Zahrt, and Brittany Loveng. If you haven't noticed, we have been provided with a regular space in the Marketplace! It's called Judy met with Whitney Webber and Carrie McLachlan of the Island County Health Department about possible ways our programs can work together to provide support to Whidbey families. Specifically, we want to strengthen our healthy eating practices! Whitney will be attending our May Leaders' Council meeting to offer some suggestions on fun ways to make snacks at our 4-H activities healthier. Mark your calendars now! Judy also attended a grant writing workshop in Bellingham. She came back with lots of ideas about how to best position our program for future grant opportunities. She'd love some help from club leaders, and will be talking about the process at the May 3rd 4-H Volunteer Training. Do you want to pitch in? Yes, it was a busy month, but with so many good things resulting from the activities and events, you won't hear us complaining. You might, however, catch a few of us yawning :-) Food For Thought
This program is exciting! Stacey designed this GREAT logo for us, so now we have only to get the program packaged and out in the community. Our first cooking class is set for Sunday, March 30, from 2-5pm at the Coupville Rec Hall. Suggested donation is $3 per person. Lois Fisher will be teaching how to prepare a dish using locally raised, grass fed beef. And we'll share some information on what you can be planting in your containers or gardens now. The overall goal of this program is to challenge all families with kids to grow something they can eat. The purpose is to increase our community awareness of how food gets to our tables, the economic and environmental issues influencing food availability, the need to share what we grow, and our ability to talk to each other about such basic things as food. What do you have growing? (Judy has onions, snow peas, strawberries, spinach, and lettuce in cold frames…so the challenge has been made!) You're On The Air!
Micah is indeed working with Spencer Neumiller and Stephen Goodell on the broadcasting project. We also had some Super Saturday folks do some recording of public service announcements. Soon, these will be available on our NEW website. Stay tuned! WRITE!
4-H'ers, don't forget that you can enter your writing at the Fair in August! What's more, in between now and August, you can practice your skills by writing a short story, a poem, or a non-fiction piece about 4-H. We are looking for examples of 4-H writing that will help us tell the story of our program. If you are interested, submit your work for review. It is probable that someone will offer editing suggestions and return it back to you for revision before it is used on our website and in written promotions. Submissions are due to the 4-H Office by May 16th,. at 4:00pm. Club Notes
Did you know that the Island Coffee House and Books store in Langley is a 4-H partner? Check out this report... Island Coffeehouse and Books in Langley is a coffeeshop, bookstore, wireless hotspot, community engagement center, and a venue for art, poetry and music. Visit in the early morning hours, and you'll see business meetings, writers at work on laptops, and books being shelved. During the lunch hour, construction workers come in for soup and bagels and students from the alternative school come in to sketch each other's faces. When the Island Transit stops at 3rd and Anthes, dozens of South Whidbey High Schoolers swarm the coffeehouse, inside and out, sipping italian sodas and playing Guess Who. ICHB continues its commitment to developing youth leaders through their Youth Advisory Team. The Youth Advisory Team is a group of high school baristas who dedicate their time to thinking of programs and strategies to enhance ICHB. The Team's latest project is Youth in Philanthropy: a program where the baristas allocate coffeehouse funds to benefit local organizations that support Island youth. For Mystery Weekend, the team organized a film noir photo shoot to promote the grant applications for Youth in Philanthropy. ICHB continues to encourage creative growth for area youth. Art from local students adorns the walls, area high school students come to write duing their English independent study periods and afterschool on the lawn guitars play and feet tap in time. Friday Night Live, a free concert series sponsored by the South Whidbey Commons often features high school musicians. In the past few months, Blue Matter (a SWHS jazz ensemble), Erabe (a Bayview Alternative School rock ensemble), and Dylan Morris (a SWHS student, accompanied by his mother and brother) have played. In addition to creating youth leaders and encouraging creativity, ICHB continues to equip its baristas with industry standard technique in quality espresso beverages. Baristas are asked for their imput in improving service at ICHB--currently focus groups of baristas are being asked for their valuable imput. ICHB is a unique program and an innovative way for youth to experience service learning. Fair Report
Stay tuned. What are other WSU Extension programs up to?
Master Gardeners - Plant Sale coming up at Greenbank Farm, May 10th. Livestock Advisors - available to share information with our 4-H clubs…ask Judy Beach Watchers - they have a new class of trainees! Waste Wise Volunteers - also starting a new class…Janet has been key to us our manure composting site at the fairgrounds. Shore Stewards - Scott is working on grant funded projects at Strawberry Point and Holmes Harbor…if you live in those areas and are interested in participating (possible some grant funding available for clubs) let me know! Admiralty Head Lighthouse Docents - Lighthouse License Plates are still for sale! Agriculture Sustainability & Land Stewardship - working on all sorts of exciting ag projects! Olivia is a great resource for us, so be sure to introduce yourself to her at some point. We want all of our 4-H families to be models of good land stewardship. Go to the WSU Extension programs website and 4-H is in the business of growing kids! We do this by working in our community to offer a wide range of opportunities for K-12 youth. Our goal is to support kids as they discover their talents and interests and then provide them with experiences to help them deepen, strengthen, and use those talents and interests! In addition to the club structure that many are familiar with, we also offer activities for families that can be done outside of a commitment to a club, and resources for educators to use in their classrooms. |