Back from 4-H Camp

             The past 2 weeks have flown by!!! At the beginning of this 2 week period, times were extremely busy here at the Garrard County office. We had just finished our county fair, so we were in the middle of clean-up! I started my week that Sunday down at the fair grounds doing exhibit pick-up. That following morning I was back at the exhibit hall for more pick-ups. Then the remainder of the day we packed up the remainder of the exhibits they were not picked up and brought them back to the extension office so that the kids could stop by and collect their items. On Tuesday I was in full swing working on finalizing camp paperwork. This is what the rest of my week mostly conisisted of. I made additional copies and triple checked everything to make sure we were ready for departure on Monday morning. I did however get to sneak in a few farm visits with my agent Jay Hettmansperger to check in on some gardens, tobacco patches, as well as some corn fields. I also had the opportunity to go with Jay to visit a vet who does exclusively reproduction work. He has cattle brought to him from several different states to breed or do collection services on them.
             Before I knew it, it was Monday morning and the rain had FINALLY went away! I was at the extension office bright and early to get campers checked in and ready to leave for camp. We loaded 51 kids on the buses and left for Carlisle. The kids were so excited to arrive and they could not wait to "Sally down the Ally". My assignment that week at camp was teaching T-shirt art, so I tye-dyed about 150 shirts with the kids. It was neat to see how their skills improved over those 3 short days and to see the difference in how the shirts looked at the end of the week as compared to Tuesday's shirts. I enjoyed meeting other extension agents, especially getting advice from them. We had fun days in the pool, good night time activities and great friendships that the kids will have forever. The week was filled with great memories and the kids had a blast! I think I would be safe in saying that the kids favorite part was Sally Down the Alley! You can see the impact 4-H has on a kid when that child is crying and homesick on Monday night and then on Wednesday they are crying because they do not want to have to go home tomorrow! I had a blast myself at 4-H camp and can not wait to go back!
             The week we were at camp, Jay took many phone calls of concerning farmers in our area who had issues with their tobacco crops due to the amount of rain we had. While no one ever wants to see crops ruined this has been a good learning expierence for me. I had no idea what water and then extreme heat could do to a plant.
             As my time is getting closer to over, I have had a blast and have learned so much from this intership! I can not wait to see what the next few weeks have in store for me!