Hello everybody! My name is Nichole Murdock and I am stationed here in my home of Breckinridge County. My first two weeks of work have been super busy to say the least, but so much fun. My supervisor is Carol Hinton, the ANR agent; however, I am the 4H intern. But during the time of applying, they were in the process of hiring a new 4H agent. She arrived on Wednesday! It was so nice to meet her and her name is Alex Bryant! I am working closely with bother agents now.
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| Alex Bryant, New 4H Agent |
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| Me |
To start off my week we headed straight to farms to check Tobacco Float Beds. This is a whole new experience for me, because I have never dealt with Tobacco. I have been learning about proper fertilization levels, along with diseases that can occur and what to treat them with. I have also been out to some greenhouses. I am not a steak eater, just because I have never really ever wanted to try it. But our Cattlemen’s Association was having an I Love Beef day, so I went out to their event and they taught me about the different types of cuts and which was the best. I even got to taste test the different kinds of meet. My birthday was also was the second day and the office made me a cake. That was super sweet of them to do. Alex came in on Wednesday, so we travelled out to Irvington Elementary School, to introduce a class of 4th graders to her and discuss camp. I also was in charge of running the Livestock Club and we watched the BQA and PQA videos and took a test at the end to see how the kids did. They did really well! During the entire first week when I wasn’t running with Carol going to Tobacco float beds, I was working on tons of paperwork and health papers for our Tag-In that was on May 18th. We had a good turn out and it ended up being a fabulous day for it. Not too hot and it also didn’t rain. And all of my hard work in organizing everything very specifically worked out well. We put through about 160 animals in 2 hours. Not as many as last year but it made for a very quick day J
My second week has not been as busy as my first week, but still had a lot to do. First thing was a few runs out to Tobacco Float beds, and a meeting with the Scale guy. Then we took Alex, our new 4H agent, out to Rickey’s to check out his business. He grows these huge beautiful peonies. And we learned how he does it. Apparently the secret is to plant the peonies, then for five years, never let them bloom. You should cut them and after them years the roots will be stable and you will get perfect peonies. He also sells them, and cuts them when they get to what is called to marshmallow stage and they will survive in the fridge for 6-8 weeks. And when you’re ready for them all you have to do is place them in a cup of warm water for 24 hours and they will open up perfectly. I never knew how much I like Horticulture. We don’t have a club in our county like that so I am thinking that maybe my project will be a Horticulture Day Camp of some sort, but I haven’t thought through it enough.
Later that week we had a reception to introduce Alex to coaches, and council members, and after that we had a 4H council meeting, mainly discussing the county fair, as it is coming very quickly. On any down time my second week, I made changes and typing up the fair schedule. It is very tedious in some cases. And to finish out my second week I went to the 4H Camp Planning meeting with the new 4H agent, Alex, and made sure our schedules were on track, and received camp shirts. Our theme this year is “Clover Dynasty”. I better start watching Duck Dynasty because I have no idea what it is about J The last thing we done this week was wash Hams. I never dealt with Hams before, so I was learning about the length of time you cure a ham and why you hang them up. I even got to wash a couple Hams. The kids and even the adults were super nice! And they made it easy on me!
Overall, I had a super busy couple weeks. One thing I didn’t mention was all the clubs I visited. I introduced myself and helped out anywhere they needed me. I have been a part of every club except livestock 10 years. So I am excited to learn more! Next week, will be all about making sure we have everything for camp, and I am so ready to go back. Alex, is nervous but I tell her she has a pro here, so she do great J I hope everyone is having as much fun as me and I cannot wait for more!
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