by pmdavis | Apr 16, 2015
Volunteers insure that military youth have a consistent, quality 4-H experience.
April is the Month of the Military Child, and no Volunteer Appreciation Celebration would be complete without acknowledging our 4-H military volunteers. The team of volunteers and staff at the Naval Support Activity Youth Center in Panama City ensure that military youth have an opportunity to participate in a wide variety of 4-H Programs at their youth center. One of the newest programs they offer is the 4-H shooting sports project. The leadership team for this 4-H club include Ms. Alana, Mr. Cole, Ms. Heather, Ms. Jessica, Ms. Shelby and Ms. Tammy. To allow all interested youth to participate, they started multiple archery clubs that meet weekly helping new archers develop strength, accuracy, and discipline. A small competitive traveling team has also been organized to help youth improve their skills and potential of becoming competitive archers through their 4-H learning experiences.
Cole is a five year veteran 4-H volunteer who did not grow up in 4-H, but was drawn into the program by the opportunity to teach youth life and workface related skills through projects like archery, aerospace, film making, photography, outdoor cookery, robotics and rocketry. His favorite 4-H experience so far has been with the rocketry project: “The youth just really got into it! We learned about force, drag and flight. It was a unified project where everyone became involved and the learning just exploded. They were learning physics, science, and communication skills all at once. 4-H can really make a difference and cause youth to consider different careers too. It is really nice when you see a child that may be struggling in a different part of their life find their niche during one of the 4-H projects. You just see their confidence sky rocket and then carry over into their social confidence also.”
When talking with him recently he said that “4-H is conducive to relationship building while learning life skills allowing both youth and myself to grow. It gives us an organized meeting time with specific goals and direction allowing us to maximize our time and growth. It helps make a difference because it is the conduit running in the background to allow everything to happen. 4-H allows the flexibility of being able to try ideas, experience things and make their curricula work for my needs. The best part is that when youth leave here they have something consistent to look forward to at their next duty station. It provides youth with one consistent thing to look forward to. I feel like we are literally planting the seeds to help youth develop their life skills. The program is nationwide and can help with the many changes and challenges our youth face. We are an important cog in the wheel for navy youth.”
Cole offers advice for anyone thinking about working with 4-H and kids. “If you have even an inkling that you would enjoy working with youth, then do so! It can be very valuable to that child, to know someone cares about them. Your follow through with one child can make a great deal of difference in their life and be the encouragement they need to become something great. Quite often there are not enough role models and caring adults for today’s children. Take the 4-H challenge and help a kid today!”
Dr. Paula Davis, the Bay County 4-H Agent says, “I want to recognize that this 4-H club is truly a team effort. With so many youth involved, it definitely can’t be done with one just person. I really appreciate the teams diligence, enthusiasm, and willingness to try new things with 4-H. The quality of a youth’s 4-H experience to a large extent depends on the relationship built between the 4-H members and their volunteer leaders, and these are some of the best!”
Do you have a passion or expertise that you would like to pass on to the next generation? Consider becoming a 4-H volunteer- we offer a wide variety of opportunities to fit your interests and schedule. Contact your local UF IFAS Extension Office or visit http://florida4h.org/volunteers.
by pmdavis | Apr 8, 2015
Most people think of the color green when they think of 4-H, but on April 10th, 4-H youth and volunteers in Florida will be sporting the color purple to show support for our military families. When we think of honoring our military, we often think of Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Did you know there is also a time identified to honor military children? Since 1986, April has been designated Month of the Military Child. This allows us to honor military children for their commitment and sacrifice. Here in the Florida Panhandle we have over 27,800 military youth who deal with situations like having their parents in harm’s way when they deploy.
Imagine if someone close to you were deployed. Would you like to see all the news reports showing bombs exploding and people shooting at each other? How would you feel about having long and repeated separations when your parent misses important events like birthdays, holidays, school and sporting events? Would you like it if your family had frequent relocations/moves? Every time families move, children have to make new friends, get used to new schools, and find new 4-H clubs and teams to join.
A lot of military children take these changes in stride and some even thrive on them, but it is hard also – kids have to rebuild their world every time they move. UF/IFAS Extension and 4-H are proud to be a part of the military family working with youth centers across the nation to have some consistency for youth in these situations and who are making these moves. Here locally we want you to join us in showing your support.
So what can you do to show them that we appreciate their sacrifices?
1. Participate in the 4th annual Purple Up! For Military Kids. Wear purple on Friday, April 10th, as a visible way to show support and thank military children for their strength and sacrifices. Why purple? Purple is the color that symbolizes all branches of the military, as it is the combination of Army green, Coast Guard blue, Air Force blue, Marine red and Navy blue.
2. Ask others to Purple Up! We hope everyone will take this opportunity to appreciate and celebrate these young heroes and to thank military families for their support and the freedoms they provide us by their service and sacrifices. Here are a few ideas:
- Ask your local, regional, state, and federal officials to wear purple on April 10th
- Engage fraternal organizations, social clubs, and Rotary groups
- Request local businesses to post a Purple Up! message on their roadside signs
- Ask stores and restaurants to put a Purple Up! flyer in their business window
- Suggest companies and businesses ask their employees to wear purple
- Invite coworkers, as well as members of your spiritual community, exercise class, or golf league to join you in showing support for the military youth in your town by wearing purple on April 10th.
For more information, contact Paula Davis, Ed.D. at the Bay County Extension Office at 850-784-6105. All programs are open to all persons regardless of race, color, age, sex, handicap or national origin.
by pmdavis | Apr 3, 2015
Dying eggs with natural materials is a fun 4-H club activity that teaches a little science too!
This time of year, many children are egg-cited to dye Easter Eggs! This year, instead of buying a kit to dye eggs, why not use natural materials that you most likely already have in your kitchen or yard? One 4-H Junior Master Gardener Project teaches young gardeners how to make dyes made from plant parts and other natural materials and teach a little science at the same time.
Start by cleaning the eggs by wiping them with vinegar. Why vinegar? Well there is a little science behind that…and a great teachable moment! The shell is protected by a thin layer of protein molecules called the cuticle. This cuticle has a neutral charge so not much is attracted to it. The vinegar contains acetic acid, which reacts to make the cuticle positively charged. The dye typically has a negative charge. So to get the dye to “stick” to the egg, the positive charge on the cuticle attracts the negative charge of the dye. (Use a magnet as a visual example.) Therefore the acid is needed to make the color adhere to the shell. FYI! If the egg is left in the acid it will make the shell disappear. (A great experiment for another day)
Back to dyes…Talk to youth about how early Americans made their own dyes. Look around your house to see what might make a good dye and predict what color it will make setting up your own mini science experiment. To make your dyes mix 1-4 cups of plant material or 2 to 4 tablespoons of ground herbs or spices with 1-2 quarts of water in a pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, turn off and steep until cool. Strain, keep liquid and discard plant materials. Juices can be used as is. Soak eggs in the liquid/juice dyes + 1 teaspoon of vinegar – the longer soaked the brighter. If soaking eggs for extended periods, store eggs with dye in the refrigerator. Easter eggs are safe if handled properly. They must not be out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours.
Ideas for dyes:
- Blue to Purple– grape juice, red grapes, blueberries, red cabbage, blackberries
- Reddish Pink Purple– paprika, red onion skins; beets/beet juice, Cranberries, Hibiscus Flowers, Red teas (Passion, Hibiscus)
- Brown– coffee, black tea
- Golden Orange– yellow onion skins
- Orange– turmeric, ground cumin, yellow onionskins plus beet juice, paprika Green– spinach, kale, parsley, carrot tops.
- Yellow– curry powder, orange and lemon peels, Safflower Petals
For cool effects before cooking/dyeing:
- Draw on your egg with crayons
- Wrap your egg with rubber bands or yarn for a tie-dyed effect
- For a marbled effect, put 1 Tbsp oil in the dye before dropping your egg in
- Stamp your eggs with nature images by placing a leaf or flower on your egg, then wrapping it tightly with a piece of nylon stocking. Dip into dye. When you remove your egg from the dye, carefully remove wrappings.
Use leaves or flowers to make interesting prints on your eggs.
Cool effects after cooking/dyeing:
- Sprinkle with salt while still wet and see what pattern emerges!
- For a mottled egg, rub/pat it with paper towel as soon as you remove it from the dye
- Draw with markers when your egg is dry
- To make your eggs gleam, rub vegetable oil on egg after cooled and dried.
These and other activities are part of 4-H, one of the nation’s most diverse organizations. 4-H includes people from all economic, racial, social, political, and geographic categories. There are no barriers to participation by any young person. Participants are given the opportunity to engage in activities that hold their personal interest, while being guided by caring and trained adult volunteers. For more information about joining 4-H as a youth or volunteer, contact your local UF/IFAS Extension Office or visit http://florida4h.org.
by pmdavis | Mar 27, 2015
It’s almost Easter when lots of people think about those cute little chicks. Before you take on one of those cute little animals– let’s talk about the responsibilities and considerations when raising chickens
Keeping chickens isn’t much different than keeping pets – they need to be fed and watered every day and, yes, you have to deal with poop. However, most local veterinarians won’t check chickens, so you’ll also need to monitor your birds to know if a health intervention is needed. Handling and socializing your chickens from an early age makes it easier to get them to cooperate, but it also makes it more fun for you to enjoy their antics and unique personalities. If you’re thinking about getting chickens, the first thing to ask yourself is “why?” For human food production, self-sufficiency, selling eggs, entertainment, education for kids or simply as pets? Owning chickens can be all of these 
things. Your “why” will help you determine how much you want to invest, as well as guide you to what kind of chickens and coop you will need.
Everything from a few backyard chickens to 4-H projects and farms with several hundred chickens can be considered “small”. Just because a flock is small, does not mean that stewardship, efficient production, safe handling, and other rules can be ignored. Keeping a small flock of chickens for home use, a practice commonplace during our grandparents’ time, is becoming popular again. If you are considering this, you will need to educate yourself about poultry feeding, health and egg production, as well as food safety. There are many University publications on the web.
The University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension has several articles on keeping chickens. UF/IFAS Extension has a section devoted to backyard poultry , Basic Guide for the Backyard Chicken Flock, which includes information about brooding, housing, feeding and nesting needs of birds. Other sites include: Escambia County Backyard Poultry Guide and Urban Farming Chickens 101. Other universities with excellent Extension resources to help with backyard poultry include: Mississippi State; Penn State; Purdue Extension; Colorado State Extension; a University of Minnesota and The University of Illinois Extension lists 33 resources on poultry. Another useful site is Illini PoultryNet.
Taking care of the chicks provides a fun way for kids to develop a sense of responsibility, while teaching them work ethics and healthy eating habits. Other ways your children could participate in 4-H and learn about poultry include: The 4-H & Farm Bureau Ag-in-the Classroom Embryology School Enrichment program offered in many counties. There are other activities that youth can engage in including poultry production, judging of poultry and poultry products, preparing foods using poultry and public presentations to inform others about chickens and poultry. Youth can compete in activities at the county, district, state and national levels. 4-H is one of the nation’s most diverse organizations and includes people from all economic, racial, social, political, and geographic categories. There are no barriers to participation by any young person. Participants are given the opportunity to engage in activities that hold their personal interest, while being guided by adult volunteers. The local 4-H Agent is a youth development professional who provides direction and program leadership as part of the nationwide Cooperative Extension System. For more information, contact your local UF/IFAS Extension Office or check out our web-site.
by pmdavis | Jan 5, 2015
While youth are home over winter break, encourage them to do something fun that will attract wildlife. Nothing is more fun than watching birds or squirrels play in your yard. One way to make this happen is to provide a supplemental food source for them. You can create a special “Tree for Wildlife” in your yard. In fact, a great family activity is making some very inexpensive simple feeders. The most wonderful part is these feeders, they not only look attractive, but help wildlife survive through the winter.
You can create feeders out of bread, bird seed and a binding agent like eggs, lard or peanut butter. Cut stale bread into shapes with cookie cutters. Make a small hole in the top to put twine or string through. If using egg, brush the bread with egg wash and dip in seeds. Then let it dry for a day or so. Attach string and hang in the trees. If using lard or peanut butter, toast the bread to dry it out then spread like you would on a sandwich and roll in bird seed.
Another type of feeder that is popular especially if you have lots of pine trees are pine cone bird feeders. Attach string to a pine cone. Mix peanut butter and oats together then apply to pine cone. After the cone is covered with the mixture roll in bird seed. Lard can be used in place of peanut butter. Hang from tree.
One last type of feeder is using apple and orange slices. Cut thin slices of apples and oranges, attach string and hang each slice separately all around the tree.
Additional feeders could be strings of grapes, raisins, cranberries, raw peanuts, salt free crackers or popcorn. If you are using popcorn be sure it does not have butter and salt. Just use a needle and thread to make the strings. All edible decorations should be hung with biodegradable materials such as cotton string, twine, or thread.
For more information to help you invite wildlife into your yard check out Junior Master Gardener: Wildlife Gardener or Cornell Feeder Watch. Inviting wildlife into your yard provides a fun way for kids to develop a culture to care about nature, while teaching them about their environment. It also makes a great family traditional activity to do not only during the holiday season but throughout the year. 4-H is one of the nation’s most diverse organizations and includes people from all economic, racial, social, political, and geographic categories. There are no barriers to participation by any young person. Participants are given the opportunity to engage in activities that hold their personal interest, while being guided by adult volunteers. The local 4-H Agent is a youth development professional who provides direction and program leadership as part of the nationwide Cooperative Extension System. For more information, contact UF/IFAS Extension at http://florida4h.org/
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