After a busy holiday we had a lot of things to do my 3rd and 4th week at the office.We started off the week shopping for all of our fair workshops supplies on our end of the year budget. I learned that jewelry making supplies is way to expensive and you can find the same chain for bracelets and necklaces at Lowe's in the chain department. The next day was spent at the distract staff meeting, reuniting with the interns and meeting all of the district agents.
During the week I also made a planed for our County's future rock garden that will be created this fall using donated rocks, to present at the next council meeting. I created an add for our graduation seniors for their high school yearbook. We also had a teen conference planning meeting with Meade County to go over our scheduled for conference next week. And a Ag Expo meeting to discuss our Ag expo we will be hosting in the fall for middle school grade level. This Expo will allow the kids to listen to multiple presenters with in the county that deal with agriculture on a day to day basis.
One of our big projects this week was getting our raised beds together for our Jr. Master Gardener club. With the help of Troy and Alex we were able to cut, assemble and deliver raised beds to our Public Library, Extension Office, and to our Middle School FFA Chapter. Later in the week we filled the raised bed at the Library and the kids were able to start planting at their first club meeting.
I spent Saturday at the Rough River District Swine Show, which was my first swine show. It was very interesting being in the ring, since I have never been around hogs. With the help of Lydia Richardson, the Meade County Intern I caught on pretty quickly. I helped with weigh in, and the younger kids pin their hogs. I really enjoyed watching the different age groups show. We had a great turn out and all the 4-H'ers did very well.
My 4th week at the office we joined Hardin County for our Leaders Camp Orientation. I worked with Loren Gross, the Hardin County Intern on Ice breakers for the beginning of the meeting to get to know one another. After our informative meeting we paired up for our last activity. We were asked to describe what we believe makes a good leader. To the left is two of our teen leaders descriptions of a good leader.
The next day at the office it was time for my first Fair Workshop. We used modge podge to create a piece of art using old news letters, and scrap-booking material. I was very please with our turn out at this workshop. Everyone did an awesome job on their projects.
We had our first Foods SPIN Club with Lynnette and Alex. First we discussed the importance of ingredients and measuring when cooking. Then I lead a hand washing activity using our germ kit to show the kids the "germs" left on their hands if they improperly wash, how easily the germs can spread to our food. Then we made cupcakes and homemade icing either chocolate or vanilla. Our them was independence day, since we wont be meeting until after the 4th of July so we decorated our cup cakes in red white and blue.
Thanks to our Veterinarians at the Hardinsburg Animal Clinic, we were able to borrow their dog Bella for the day. Bella grew up in 4-H Puppy Pals and we enjoyed having her back. I helped create the BARC Program, Be a Reader to a Canine when I was a 4-H'er many years ago, and I am happy that it is still going strong. The kids really enjoyed reading to Bella or showing her the picture books. After story time was over several of the younger kids were able to walk Bella and give her basic commands.
Now, to
the Bugs, Bug, Bugs. Thursday, we drove to Lexington to pick up Bugs from the
University of Kentucky for our project club, though we had no idea what kind of
bugs we were picking up. After an eventful adventure, and being locked out of
you UK’s building we finally got to see what we had; a Black Widow Spider, a
Rose Hair tarantula, Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches, and a Kentucky Scorpion. That’s
right Kentucky Scorpions, who knew? I thought the adventure down was interesting,
now I had to be in a car for three hours with these creatures, and I was just
waiting for one of them to escape. The next morning I was feeling brave and
held the Rose hair tarantula, which was awesome. I guess I should have expected
all of this came with the internship, considering my Agent has her Masters in
Entomology.
We had
a great turn out for our very first Bug Club meeting. All of the kids were able
to hold the tarantula and cock roaches, which they all seemed to enjoy. We held a black
light to the Scorpion to show how its color reacted under the light. After we
learned about each critter, we looked at a pinned bug collection display. Then our
new club leader Crystal showed us how to make paper insect boxes that the kids
will use to pin their bugs in after they start collecting.
The
following Day was Bug Day at the Library Summer Program. We had around 40
preschool age kids and their parents attend. At the program we had a lesson on
bugs around the world, and how some cultures eat Bugs as a good source of
protein. While we were showing them pictures of insect shish kabobs, and other
snacks we passed our cockroaches around for each kid to hold or pet. At the end
of our lesson they ate bugs Crickets,
to be exact. The parents, Liberian and I joined in on the fun as well, and I
can now say I've actually ate a bug on purpose. I thought they were discussing,
but the kids kept coming back for more. We had a variety of flavors sour cream
and onion, salt and vintage, or bacon and cheese. They even had suckers with crickets
inside. I am really excited about all the things I have learned throughout these weeks in Extension and I can't wait to see what I will learn next.
Tammy Curry
Breckinridge County 4-H
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