by pmdavis | Sep 14, 2023
First meeting is Sept 26th at 5:30 EST
I am so thrilled to let you know about a new endeavor with Florida 4-H. We are trying a virtual Food Challenge cooking club this year. This is so exciting for me because some of my fondest memories are cooking with my grandmother and Mom. I got to learn how to prepare foods and be creative as I was growing up pulling on their apron strings. I also enjoyed teaching and sharing these skills with my own children. What makes this even better is now I get to share and learn with all of you who join our program.
Paula and Madelyn Cooking together
By joining the new Virtual 4-H Food Challenge Club, you will embark on a fun, yet challenging, food-focused adventure right from the comfort of your kitchen! The club adventure will provide a fun atmosphere for you and your children to have a family time experience building lasting memories together. With the help from Florida 4-H Youth Development Faculty, you will get to unleash your culinary creativity and try delicious recipes while learning kitchen skills from safety, nutrition, and other food related life skills. Families will learn about competitive events related to foods like the Florida Food Challenge Competition. Families will also have the opportunity to make friends with fellow 4-H members across the state.
The virtual club is open to youth members ages 8-18 and will meet once a month starting in September. The club will meet via ZOOM on the following Tuesdays: September 26th, October 24th, November 28th, December 19th, and January 23rd from 5:30 – 6:30 PM ET. We request that adult supervision is present with the youth during the meeting and home practice sessions. The participants will be asked to gather a list of supplies for each monthly meeting as we focus on a new skill for each meeting.
Paula’s family working with herbs to prepare a dish.
During this course we will help families enjoy preparing food, provide you with opportunities to problem solve together and work as a family team as practice preparation for the Florida 4-H Food Challenge! If you join us, your family will learn how to prepare and create yummy dishes with a predetermined set of ingredients. By the end of the program, your family should have some new recipes for your cooking toolbox, learned essential cooking skills and created wonderful memories from your time together. Do not miss this flavorful opportunity – sign up now via Florida 4-H Online and get cooking with 4-H! If you are not a member of a current 4-H Club there is a $20 membership fee associated with this club. If you are unable to join our virtual club, contact your local UF/IFAS Extension office to see if there is an active Food Challenge group that you can join. If not, work with your 4-H or FCS Agent(s) to identify two caring adults who could fill this role.
Enroll, Grab your ingredients, and get ready to join us via Zoom on September 26th@ 5:30 EST
by Heather Kent | Jun 15, 2017
4-H Judging Contests, like horticulture identification, teach essential life skills for work and personal success.
Horticulture is one of our state’s leading industries, and for decades, the 4-H Horticulture ID contest has helped youth learn about this industry and demonstrate mastery of horticultural identification skills. Even if a youth does not pursue a career in the horticultural industry, learning the material for this contest can benefit them in other ways. To learn more about how judging teams teach workforce skills, check out this previous blogpost.
This year, the State 4-H Horticulture Judging Contest received an extreme makeover, to expand the program to even more youth. The state contest was held this past Saturday, June 10th at the Hillsborough County Extension Office in Tampa, FL (previously, the contest was held in Gainesville during 4-H University and was only open to 4-H seniors). For the first time ever, the contest is now open to youth between the ages of 8 and 18 (juniors, intermediates, and seniors). Study materials were adapted and revised to be age appropriate, and a webinar for coaches was offered. The webinar was archived and can still be viewed by anyone interest in coaching a team.
There are five parts to the contest:
- Woody Ornamentals identification
- Flowers and Foliage identification
- Fruits and Nut identification
- Vegetable identification
- Judging classes (youth look at a group of four fruits, plants, vegetables or nuts and rank them from best quality to poorest quality).
The contest is organized by a group of University of Florida Extension Specialists and volunteers. In addition to the resources online, youth can contact their local Master Gardener Program through their local UF IFAS County Extension Office for support. Many master gardener volunteers are willing to help teach plant identification, and may be willing to serve as a coach for your club. In fact, Master Gardeners can earn bonus points towards their state contest for helping 4-H clubs and teams prepare!
If this program interests you, sign up for 4-H! 4-H is open to youth ages 5-18. Adults can join 4-H as volunteers. Florida 4-H offers a variety of volunteer roles to fit your specific interests, skills and schedule. For more info, visit http://florida4h.org or contact your local UF IFAS County Extension Office.
Helpful Links:
by Stefanie Prevatt | May 25, 2017
Alex Davis is a graduating senior from Leon County 4-H
Six years ago, Alex’s grandmother registered her to attend summer camp at Cherry Lake with Leon County 4-H and she hasn’t looked back since!
Alex has become one of the shining stars of the Leon County 4-H program. She has held positions of Parliamentarian, Secretary, and Vice President of the Leon County 4-H Leadership Council. She has served as a member of our Banquet Planning Committee and for the past four summers, Alex has volunteered her time as a counselor at Robotics, Sewing, Cooking, and Gardening camps. She is raised by her grandparents, Suzane Parke and Sidney Jenkins and is the oldest of three siblings.
Alex’s leadership and responsibility truly shine when she is leading and helping youth. One of her favorite 4-H experiences was assisting a group of robotics camp participants complete a challenge: “We were scrambling to finish our car. It was so great to see the look of accomplishment on the kids’ faces.”
Alex has helped teach a variety of 4-H programs during her six-year membership.
Alex is a wonderful representative of 4-H. Perhaps more importantly, she is a stellar student. When Alex first joined 4-H, she talked about her future enrollment in the IB program at Rickards High School. I remember this discussion vividly because I was extremely impressed with the maturity of a then-thirteen year old explaining how she would be reducing her participation in order to focus on school. Four years, hard work, late nights, and hard choices – many times causing her to choose between 4-H and homework – she has accomplished her goal.
Alex was accepted into the University of Florida where she will begin this summer. “I plan to study animal biology. And eventually Veterinary Medicine. Real STEMMY things. And I want to have an impact on people, but not work directly with them. So I figure helping their pets is pretty close.”
One of her favorite experiences has been learning about how food is produced. Alex will extend her learning at the University of Florida’s College of Agriculture this fall.
Curious, we asked Alex why she chose to keep coming back to 4-H. As a driven student, active member of Young Marines and other youth organizations, many things could have pulled her from the program. Alex said: “It was fun. I learned things I never knew…like how to sew a pillow! That will come in handy in college. And the adults…Ms. Stefanie was awesome. Ms. Heidi was great. And the other adults were always so helpful and nice.”
We will definitely miss Alex’s smiling face and bubbling personality around our office this summer, but we are so proud of our 2017 graduate!
by ewestbrook | Oct 6, 2016
Here in North Florida, as the dogwood trees start to turn colors and drop their leaves and I wait for the first cool breezes of a seemingly delayed Autumn I often find my memory is easily awoken by hints of past falls.
As a teen I participated for several years in the Agricultural Judging contest on the Wakulla County 4-H team. I fondly remember sticking my nose into a bail of bahia grass hay to check it for freshness. I can still recall my nerves as I stood silently beside my peers, clipboard in hand, intently looking over hogs and heifers rating them by confirmation and preparing the oral reasons to defend my decisions. The feel of oats in my hand as I compared and contrasted the merits of several samples.
The lessons I learned in Ag Judging stayed with me. It was one of my first introductions to the science of Agriculture. As a 4-H Horse project kid before my participation in the contest I had never stopped to consider many of the other aspects of agriculture that informed and supported my interest in horses and my horses themselves.
Understanding how to recognize and judge the grain and hay I fed my animals daily sparked an even greater understanding and interest in agriculture as a whole. Learning to judge other livestock piqued my interest in equine judging and led me to compete in that event at the state level and even win a state judging division one year. Once I was able to drive, my experience in judging agricultural commodities gave my parents the confidence to send me to buy the large amounts of hay and grain needed to keep the horses at our family’s boarding stables happy and fit. One less chore for them to have to worry about.
In college as an agricultural student I found that the 4-H judging programs I had participated in had prepared me perfectly for the practical lab tests in class. I discovered that they were set up in the same format as the 4-H programs I had been in just a few years before. 4-H helped me prepare for college by giving me practice in the exact kind of tests and exams as I would face in almost every practical agricultural lab I would end up taking.
Reading this some might think that the Agricultural Judging contest sounds great for a farm boy or girl looking to have a career in agriculture but it may not be for me or for my 4-H’er. They may change their minds after considering the life skills learned. The ability to think on your feet and the independence to rely on personal knowledge when making decisions are vital real world examples. These are the exact positive life skills that 4-H judging competitions teach and hone in young people.
Long-time Leon County 4-H Agent Marcus Boston says that he has, “seen the positive difference that 4-H has on young people. Agricultural judging teaches independent thinking. Youth have to make choices based off what they know and can’t ask for someone else to decide for them. That’s what you have to do every day as an adult.” Mr. Boston has been organizing the Ag Judging program at the North Florida fair since I was participating in the early 2000’s. That kind of dedication speaks to a real belief in the benefits and results of a program.
The youth who participate in the program can anticipate judging categories that will be chosen from the following:
- Beef (Steers)
- Poultry
- Corn (shelled)
- Oats
- Heifers (Beef)
- Perennial Peanut Hay
- Soybeans
- Grass Hays (e.g. Bahia, orchard grass)
Since different categories depend on availability and community support participants should be prepared for all of the categories.
If coaching or participating in an ag judging team appeals to you, contact your local UF IFAS County Extension Office or visit http://florida4h.org. You can find out more about ag judging at these links:
by Stefanie Prevatt | Sep 22, 2016
“Experts estimate that 2 to 14 year-olds have sway over $500 billion a year in household purchasing (Calvert 2008).” In other words, adults make decisions each day concerning purchases for their household, but youth have tremendous influence over what parents are buying. The 4-H Consumer Choices judging contest is ideal for helping youth understand the underlying value behind goods and services available for purchase in today’s free market society- a life skill that will serve them well throughout their life!
Judy Corbus teaches financial literacy classes for both youth and adults in Washington and Holmes Counties.
Last week’s post shared some research about how 4-H Judging programs help youth attain workforce skills for the 21st century. The 4-H Consumer Choices program is a judging program that helps youth learn how to study and evaluate the latest consumer products in a friendly, competitive setting. Each year, four topics, or products are selected by subject-matter specialists at UF. They prepare guides for both coaches (volunteers) and youth with background information and sample scenarios to judge.
Judy Corbus is the Family, Youth and Communities Sciences Agent in both Washington and Holmes Counties. She is part of a state-wide team that provides leadership for the Consumer Choices program for Florida 4-H. When asked what inspires her most to work with this program, she shared:
“Teaching 4-H members how to evaluate a product and make an informed decision based on their needs and budget is an essential life skill they will use long after they graduate from 4-H. A 4-H alum, now in his early 30s, who had participated in the Consumer Choices program in my county recently attended my homebuyer education class. He shared that Consumer Choices was the one 4-H program in which he still uses the skills he had learned from it in his daily life as an adult. That testimony really encourages me and validates the role of the program in developing financial literacy skills in young people.”
What products do youth evaluate? Each year, different products are chosen. This year’s products are:
How do youth prepare for the contest? Study guides are provided each year that contain all relevant information about each project. Contact your local 4-H agent to receive a copy of the study guides, or click on the links above to download a guide. Contact your local UF IFAS County Extension Office to inquire about the next scheduled training for youth or coaches.
When is the competition? These events are usually conducted at county and area fairs across the state. Regional competitions are held at the Pensacola Interstate Fair, North Florida Fair, South Florida Fair, and the Florida State Fair. You will need to register through your local UF IFAS County Extension Office.
How do I get involved? Youth may want to explore this topic through a day camp, workshop or as part of an actual team, or even as an individual. Enroll in 4-H online, then Contact your local 4-H agent for the date(s) of the Consumer Choices Contest, workshop or day camp in your area. If you are an adult with a passion for money management, budgeting, or smart shopping, consider serving as a coach for a team or a speaker for a day camp or workshop. To get started, contact your local office or visit http://florida4h.org.
Helpful Links:
