My Summer Project

For those of you who may take the time to read these, you know that earlier in the summer my project completely failed. I had my heart set on working with our teens because they don't always get a lot of attention, and after all of my hard work and effort, only four kids were interested in doing a summer series of projects. So, I moved on.

The kids I have gotten to work with the most during my time here have been the Poultry Judging & Avian Bowl teams and one of our kids who does Forestry. These kids are probably my favorite group because they have found something that they are so interested in that they take time out of their summer and personal lives to study and learn more about it. So, I started looking for ways to help them.

My summer project was to create sets and sets of online flashcards for these teams. I used a website (www.studyblue.com) as well as the coordinating app to create a class for Carter County 4-H. These kids create a free account on the website/app, enroll in our class (for free), and then have access to any materials I have created. The kids love it! They see it as a game and are a lot more likely to play with flash cards while they are bored on their phone than they are to sit down and read the poultry judging manual.

The app has also been phenomenal because it has a teacher function (my agent serves as the teacher) that allows you to post things and view results. The app tracks which flashcards you get right and which you get wrong, and it allows you to go through all of your flash cards or to study the ones that you miss most frequently. There are also quizzes available to test your knowledge whenever you feel ready to take them. The best thing about the app, though, is that the kids can post things as well, and anyone who ever wants to can join the class. This way even kids in other counties or states can use the materials we post.

Gearing Up For Theatre

Very sorry, this was meant to be posted last week, but somehow, it did not make it up to the blog. 

I am currently in the process of putting the final touches on my special project, a production of the play The 39 Steps in collaboration with the Menifee Community Theatre Group. The play is this weekend, and frankly, I'm stressing out a little bit. At this point in the production process, it becomes evident whether or not you have prepared enough. I'm proud to say that I have advanced my skills in promotion and advertising, though. My posters and fliers are taped up all over Menifee County, and I have been posting on Facebook like a madman.

            I also had the chance to do a radio interview with the local newspaper, which resulted in an article that appeared on the front page of last week's paper, along with the poster design that I created. I'm glad to have Extension's resources on my side while planning this event, since I have had to reach out to a lot of people while promoting this production. I can see that Extension lends a certain air of credibility to any community action project, particularly when 4-H is involved.

            I am glad to have had the chance to put myself out there to meet more members of the community. I like being known as an active member of my community, and being an intern has greatly improved that opinion of me. People see me as a professional now, whereas they did not before. While preparing for my project, I think about all of the people who have assisted me, both as a result of my connection with Extension and not. My hope is that Menifee County Extension will continue to partner with the Menifee Community Theatre Group on similar projects, which will provide more youth the chance to build skills and confidence that will benefit them in the future. I believe that this play will achieve that for those involved, and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Coming to an End

I'm a few days late on this post, only because we have been so busy the last few days. But, I will start with two weeks ago. The beginning of my 9th week as an extension intern was spent getting ready for Fun With Agriculture Day. I was in charge of doing a fruit and vegetable ID lesson. I spent a lot of time trying to find some unique fruits and vegetables that the kids might not recognize.

On Wednesday was the Fun with Agriculture Day Camp. Our ag agent showed them around our garden outside, and some of the raised beds we had. The kids got to plant there own lettuce seed and we talked about how seeds grow.

Next was my section. I had a table with all different vegetables laid out, and we had the kids try to see if they could name them. Things like an eggplant and radish kind of threw them but overall they did good. The next part was tasting. We had the kids blindfolded and try different fruits to see how good they were at ID that way. They all did great except a lot of them couldn't identify a mango!

That afternoon we had a vegetable derby. The kids got to make cars out of all different kinds of vegetables and we raced them town a ramp. They weren't the fastest cars, but the kids got really into it. We also made wind turbines, looked at insects, and had a competition of who could make the best paper boat. Overall the day was a success, and we were all exhausted at the end of it.

The end of that week was mostly spent preparing for the next week. We had a 4H project day that I planned all the food for, a LEAP program I was doing at the library, and our last program at the summer camp me and Devin have done at Farley Elementary.

For the LEAP program I choose Rodeo Ron and the Milkshake Cows. We read the book, made milkshakes, and made colored cows. The kids had a blast, and loved shaking up the milkshakes like the cows in the books.

For project day we made crayon art, leaf paintings, duct tape art, wooden picture frames, and God's eyes. We set up stations and the kids rotated through so they got to make each thing. We had our fair this week, so we gave the kids the option to leave there projects here and we would enter them in the fair. The kids are so creative. And all there exhibits did great in the fair.

On Thursday we had our last meeting with the kids at Farley Elementary. We talked about "slow" "go" and "woah" foods, and let them make brownie sundaes since it was the last day. The brownies we made with a cake mix and greek yogurt, and then we let them put raspberries and whipped cream on top. It was a good wrap up to what we've been doing this summer.

To end the week we all headed to Lexington. It's quite a drive from this side of the state, so I wasn't looking forward to that part, but it ended up being a lot of fun! I loved getting to tour the horse farm, and it was good to hear about everyone else's experiences. 

Now we have started this week with our fair. It has been a busy two days, and I'm sure I'll have lots of stories to go with it.

My First Real Experience with the County Fair

I would be willing to bet that a good majority of 4-H and ANR interns have been to their fair share of county fairs, livestock shows, and auctions. Well, I have been to a few sheep shows, and I have been to the county fair almost every year, but this year was my first time ever witnessing the Carter County Youth Livestock Show and Sale.

I was absolutely amazed at all the people and work that went into making an event like this happen. We started out the week taking exhibits for our exhibit hall on Sunday, then on Monday we took exhibits again, judged all the exhibits by 11 or so, and headed on over to the livestock barn. As we make our way, we run into the fine lady who runs the show and she lets us know we still don't have our showmanship trophies...less than two hours before the show. So instead of staying to help set up, being the intern and about the most inexperienced person at the show, they send me to Ironton, OH to pick up our trophies. A farm supply store called Cooke's Farm Center sponsors our showmanship trophies every year, and the owner always comes out to support our kids at the auction. When I got to the store, I walked in prepared to see trophies sitting there waiting on me. I asked Bob where they were and he told me he didn't have them! Oh, how I panicked. After a few minutes of hyperventilating, he finally told me that he was just kidding and that since he got me so good, he would even help me load them. Thank goodness!

So I finally return to help with the show, and I just couldn't help but beam with pride as I see our 4-H kids, FFA kids, and Cloverbuds as young as five years old out there with their animals. What impressed me more than anything, though, was the sale on Saturday. The amount of support that these kids get from the community is astounding. Sure, a lot of the people have personal good to gain (politicians, local business owners, etc.), but nevertheless, the smile on a 5 year old's face when he hears he got $300 for his chickens is quite priceless.

All in all, I hope I have many more county fairs and livestock shows ahead of me!

What to do When the Agent is Away

Camp! I truly believe that Camp is one of the best weeks of the year! I put it up there with Christmas Morning, and my birthday when it comes to things I look forward to. This year was no exception! The added bonus as an intern is knowing all the behind the scene details of what it takes to make camp so magical. And the magical fairy dust turns out to be a lot of paperwork and organization. The Morning of registration was a completely new experience for me. When I was a camper in Tennessee 4-H, I was the only kid from my county to go to camp, so I rode with my mom to camp and didn't have to worry about registration, and as a teen, I always drove separately from my county and met them at camp. No big deal, we had weeks of preparation up our sleeves, so everything went smoothly. Everyone arrived at camp in high spirits, but unfortunately, the weather did not want to cooperate; it rained the entire day. Camp still goes on, just with adjustments.

The last evening of camp, we had out talent show. All the teams performed, then the teens, adults, and finally, the extension agents. Heather (Floyd) and Caryn (Lawrence) had a fantastic medley of songs from bands in the 90's and early 00's. Everyone was laughing and singing along until Caryn hit the ground. I was sitting close to the front, and the first thing I hear from Caryn is "Entertain the kids." Almost instantly some teens and I were up and telling the kids to face the other direction to sing camps songs while other adults rushed to Caryn's side. It was utterly terrifying for most everyone, but again, Camp must go on. Caryn was rushed to the hospital and didn't come back until late that night, where we learned that she had a broken elbow, and torn ligaments in her knee. This was Thursday. In 24 hours, Caryn and I were supposed to go back to Feltner for Cloverbud camp. Obviously, Caryn was out of commission, which left me in charge of two teens, 5 campers, and two adult volunteers.

I'm not going to lie, I was sick to my stomach at the first thought of having to step up like that. I didn't have Caryn right there to look too for advice or to make sure I was making the right call. I calmed down pretty quickly and started to mentally prepare for what Cloverbud Camp would have in store for me. Luckily Cloverbud is a much smaller group of kids (literally) and much more laid back than a regular camp week. The only scary part I had to deal with was when a camper from another county told me about abuse in her household and I had to handle that situation with child protective services and more paperwork.

With Caryn out of commission, I thought I would panic. However, that has not been the case at all. She has trusted me to lead activities on my own all summer, and now is no different. I am so grateful that she put me in charge of all the day camps in the county, because now I know the kids and have no problem leading poultry and avian trainings for state fair, or helping with ham speeches and cleanings. Obviously I am no where close to being able to fill Caryn's shoes, but I know I don't have to. I have my own shoes and place in this office, and I do what I can.

So you know how the general motif of an intern's life is to expect the unexpected and just be ready to jump into gear when necessary? Well, that is the honest to goodness truth. I mean, you never know when your agent is going to break their arm and tear ligaments in their knee dancing at camp and be out of the office for weeks leading up to the county and state fair. Life happens.

Finishing Strong! by Katie Ullery

The last two weeks were by far my favorite two weeks so far. The week I have been waiting for all year has come and gone and it was all that I hoped it to be. 4-H camp was a blast. During camp I did a variety of activities and classes. On Tuesday our first day of classes I taught our low ropes class and I got to do different challenge course elements with the kids. Out of all the activities at camp the challenge course is one of my favorite places. It is a place that pushes the kids out of their comfort zone while also helping them form bonds with the other kids they are interacting with. At camp I also taught a day of our CIT class. For this class I had a four hour block in which I wanted the Counselors in Training to learn the roles of being a counselor and different qualities they needed to have. We went over different roles that campers, CIT’s and, counselors have and then we played different ice breaker games, and time filler games. The great part about all the games we played is that they all were done without any equipment. This allows them to be able to play games with the kids whenever they need to kill some cabin time or even just help them stay in control in an easier and fun way. At camp I also got to experience the disciplinarian side of the agent, when we had a child that had to be sent home and all the steps that are embedded in the process. During camp I also helped lead an activity during free recreation and our great race.

            After we got back from camp I had to get the ball rolling on the final details of my Farmer’s Market Day Camp. This was my project I did for the summer. For my day camp I was told that it started at 11 and ended at 6 other than that I was given free range to do as I wish with the day camp.  In my day camp I taught the kids three different reasons on why to shop at the farmer’s market.  We talked about sustainability and in the class they all got to plant their own herb into a water bottle and they had stickers from food bought from Kroger and Walmart that showed where all of our food comes from. This was a visual to show kids that the money we spend on food is leaving our area and we could easily keep it here. The second class they did was on freshness; in this class they did taste testing. We had fresh fruits and some vegetables that they tried and then we had a either canned or Walmart bought version of the same item. In this they compared smell, size, texture and flavor of the different foods. They tried corn, apples, peaches, and tomatoes. They also learned knife safety. In the last class they focused on food identification. Knowing what foods are offered at the farmers market is important. So once they were able to identify all the foods they did an activity called food art, in which we had different fruits and veggies cut up in different ways and they made pictures out of their food, we had a clover group, a mermaid, a bicycle and more. This turned out really well. After they were finished with that they got to eat their vegetables.

            Lastly during our day camp the kids got to make their own dinner. There were five groups and each group made a side of the meal. We had zucchini chips, green beans and potatoes, black bean corn salsa, pretzel crusted chicken, peach blueberry cobbler and homemade vanilla ice cream. The meal portion took the most planning because all the fresh food was donated from local farmers. This part was the most exciting for me because I think it is very important for kids to learn that healthy food taste good and that eating local is easier than it looks. 

 I still have have three more weeks but, I am ready to finish strong and continue having a great time in the process.

Just Keep Moving...

Though I have 4 weeks left of my internship, I have already had so many wonderful experiences. I can't even begin to explain how incredible this opportunity has been. Over the last couple of weeks I have had the opportunity to work with our ANR agent in the field.  We visited the local orchards and discussed various disease, pest control, and weather concerns that have hit our local producers this season.  We also took the time to evaluate our field plots in the area.  Here I was able to observe some vast differences in grain farming as a whole but also with the particular species of corn and soybeans used by local producers.  The state corn test plot, being located here in the county, was another stop on our list.  We looked at the varying ways producers choose to germinate and thin out production within fields.  Lastly, as our ANR agent was out attending the state meeting, I stayed back to assist in running the local Goat and Sheep Producers meeting.  We discussed the upcoming Small Ruminant Profit School and its promotion as well as other local events they chose to be a part of including AGstravaganza coming up on August 9^th.

 The rest of the week was devoted to 4-H.  The intern from our local paper came out to interview me to do a write up on the extension internship.  After this I spent the rest of my afternoons collecting and pressing leaves for an example forestry 4-H entry book.  With these leaves I created the leaf print collection as well as the 2^nd year leaf collection in hopes that it may inspi  Saturday consisted of another long day’s work as I made my way to Lexington for the State Communications Day event.  I hosted the Science and Natural Resources, Junior and Senior, room.  From volcanoes and lava lamps, to honey bees and animal trapping, we had a great range of entries.  It was so encouraging to see what unique and creative ideas the members are able to come up with.
re, encourage, or assist future 4-Hers to collect their own as a county fair entry.
The following week Dr. Jacobs made a visit to the office.  Though I have quite some time left in my internship it was nice to talk with her and my supervisor to discuss some of the experiences this opportunity has led to thus far.  I can only hope it continues in the same way.  This was also the week videos were due for the intern video contest.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to produce one at first but once I finished I was happy with its turn out.  Now to wait and see how the contest turns out.