Aroostook County 4H Program

Leader’s Association Meeting

Re-Scheduled

This Thursday December 6

6:30 pm

Presque Isle office

Important Dates Coming Up:

December 31st - Ultimate deadline for Re-enrollments. Be sure and get yours in on time!

January 3, 2008 - Market Beef Intent to Sell for Windsor & Fryeburg Fairs due at County Extension Office. Due at the State Office January 8th!

FINAL REMINDER…

Re-enrollment deadline is

December 31st!

Get those re-enrollments in!!!

CLUB NEWS AROUND THE COUNTY…

The Hip Hoppers took a Fall trip to Baxter State Park. They did some hiking and worked on their photography skills.

The Healing Hearts 4-H Club in Mars Hill has been busy, busy, busy!!! With help from The Northern Lighthouse and the East Ridge Union Church, they packed over 20 shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. Shoe boxes are collected and delivered to needy children all over the world for Christmas. The 4-H children also put in each shoe box at least one personalized letter and a photo. They are in hopes to gain a few pen-pal friends over the course of the winter.

Megan Crouse, a member of the Healing Hearts Club, was inadvertently left off the birthday calendar last month. Her birthday was November 7th! Hope you had a great birthday, Megan!!! The following article was submitted by her mom.

“Megan was very busy this past summer participating in the Aroostook Riding Club horse shows.

In June she took 1st in Lead Line Pattern and 2nd in Lead Line pleasure, 3rd in Lead Line Equitation and 4th in Lead Line pleasure. She also received reserve Champion for the July show. In August she won 2nd in Lead Line pattern, 2nd in Lead Line Equitation, 3rd in Lead Line pleasure and Reserve Champion as well. Megan showed at the Northern Maine Fair and won 1st place in both Lead Line Equitation and Pleasure and she had a lot of FUN! She learned a lot and made many new friends.”

The 4-H Wild Mustangs participated in a community service project on Saturday, November 17th at the home of Sherry and Desiree Foster. The project consisted of designing a drawstring mesh bag, sewing it, and filling the bag with personal items. Thirty-five of these were assembled by Emily Simas, Brianna Hanington, Callie Foster and Desiree Foster. Also assisting with the project were volunteers Carrie Hanington, Rhonda Foster, Sherry Foster and Robin Simas. These are to be delivered soon to the Battered Women’s Project.

The AV Dairy Club is keeping us totally up-to-date on what they are doing. Katie McKenna, club reporter, has been sending us “news articles” to be included in the newsletter! What a great idea!

#1 From Katie: Our first special activity of the year was on October 28, 2007. Our meeting started at 1:00 p.m. at Stewart and Jennifer Smith’s home. We first went over new business, old business and handed out our folders with all our needed information in it. We will be electing new officers at our next meeting on November 16, 2007. There are several new members in our club. In attendance were 12 children and many parents and other helpers. We then went outside, picked a pumpkin, a set of tools and a pattern to carve into our pumpkin. The younger members, who were too young to handle the knives, used colored pegs to stick into their pumpkin in a design. Our meeting was adjourned at 4:00 p.m.

#2 We started the meeting at 6:30 p.m. at Stewart and Jennifer Smith’s house in Mapleton. We elected new officers first. They are as follows: Grace Braley, President; Meagan Smith, Vice President; Stephanie Winslow, Secretary; Katie McKenna, Reporter; Matthew McKenna, Treasurer. We discussed what we would be doing for future meetings such as visiting the Chases’ dairy farm for a field trip and going to the Smith’s for another. We may even be joining the Horse Clubs with one of their fundraisers or other events to learn more about what horses are like. We also discussed what we will be doing for our family for a holiday dinner. We buy them gifts and send them a meal that has non-perishable foods to cook, so they can have a happy holiday. We discussed the possibility of doing gingerbread houses at the next meeting for a holiday craft.

We would like to take this opportunity to welcome all those who have completed the process for becoming an official 4-H volunteer-completing all paperwork and receiving VOLT training.. Receiving certificates for completion in 2007 to date are:

Andrea Bell - March

Jami Cass - March

Lynn Fitzpatrick - March

Billy Fitzpatrick - March

Michele Kearney - March

Ann Keegan - March

Emily Robertson - October

Jennifer Smith - October

Tracy Thibodeau - Sept.

Jennifer Verville - May

Nancy Winslow - Nov.

William Winslow - Nov.

WELCOME AND THANKS!

“4-H Goes Out in the Cold to Keep Others Warm”

SAVE the date—Saturday February 10

A ski and snowshoe –a-thon to raise money

for heating assistance in Aroostook County!

Details and pledge forms coming SOON

Attention all 4-H members!

Help us make our Achievement Celebrations fun for all. Please click on this link into your browser and share your thoughts about future Achievement Celebrations! Didn’t come last year? Never been?? We still want to hear from you – what would make Achievement Celebrations a “Can’t Miss It” event??Come every year? You’ve seen it before – what would make it even better?

Please respond by Dec 21!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=SUYgY6OC27CQnAiTVWjtgQ_3d_3d

OFFICER’S COUNCIL (the OC)

Sunday December 9

2 pm

Houlton Extension Office

Don’t forget that all club officers are invited to participate in OC meetings– we have lots of exciting events coming up and we can use lots of help and ideas!

For those who cannot travel to Houlton, the meeting will be available by teleconference.

Call 1-888-757-2748

Passcode: 968379

If you plan to call in, please send Christy an email so we will know to listen for your call!

ANIMAL SCIENCE NEWS…

4-H Beef Members

Interested in the Eastern States Beef Team or other out of county shows or auctions? READ ON….

4-H Members who wish to try out for the Eastern States Beef team—Intent forms are due by early January. Please let Christy know that you are interested so we can be sure to get your paperwork in on time. You must be re-enrolled before December 31 and you must be in at least your second ear of the beef project.

Market Beef
All 4-Hers in the Market Beef project who plan to raise a steer for the Windsor Fair or Fryeburg Fair, need to send in an “Intent to Sell” form to their County Cooperative Extension office by January 3, 2008. The forms are available at your county office and on-line at http://www.umext.maine.edu/4h/forms/beef/2008beefintent.doc.
In January, you will be contacted about the time and place to tag your steer. The person tagging your steer will have an approval form for you to fill out and will record your tag numbers. Your approval form for your Market Beef project is due in your county Cooperative Extension office on February 15, 2007.

Market Hog Project time is coming!

Remember how much fun the market hog project looked like? Want to get in on the fun? From now until January 25, we will be collecting names for our drawing for market hog participants. During the last week of January, we take all of the names and we will draw out 6 people to participate in the auction. If you name is not drawn for the auction, you can still raise a pig and show it this summer. We will also be needing a couple of people to raise pantry pigs!

Here are the rules for the 2008 market Hog auction:

Auction will be limited to 6 animals

No more than 2 participants per household

Animals must weight at least 150 lbs

Jeff Svoboda will be the Market hog project leaders again this year (THANK YOU, Jeff!)

Call him with questions 496-3199

To put your name into the drawing, call or email Christy no later than January 25th

AND WHAT ABOUT Eastern States or other out-of county events for sheep and other animals?

If you are thinking that you would like to try out for Eastern States, Sheep, Dairy, Goat, or Dog, please let Christy know so we can make sure the right paperwork gets to you on time. You can also go to the Maine 4-H website—the information for the 2008 teams should be posted soon.

Eastern States Horse-keep watching the website for packet information!

If you want to participate in the market lamb auction at Fryeburg or Windsor, there is

paperwork that must be completed before

February. Please call Christy for details.

  Infovets Educational Materials

Give that animal lover something special for the holidays!
Order a CD for your favorite person who wants to learn more about the animals they love. For $27.95 each (includes shipping & handling), you can obtain a CD to gain knowledge about your cat, dog, horse, goat, sheep, beef or dairy. If you prefer the book style, you can purchase the manuals for all the groups mentioned. The manuals cost $80.95 each (includes shipping and handling). Mail your requests along with a check made out to York County Shepherds to:
            UMCE – Donna Flint
            21 Bradeen Street, Suite 302
            Springvale, ME 04083
For more information contact Donna at 1-800-287-1535 or 324-2814.

2008 Brain Power Engineers Week Expo

Saturday, March 1, 2008 - University of Maine Orono

For more information go to www.EngineeringME.com

Cost: $2.00 per person donation suggested

CITIZENSHIP WASHINGTON FOCUS (CWF)

Start making plans now to visit our Nation’s Capitol during the week of July 5 to 12, 2008. Citizenship Washington Focus is a leadership program conducted by the National 4-H Council for high school youth ages 15-19. Delegations of 4-Hers from across the country spend six days touring the city and attending leadership skill-building workshops. This summer, the Maine delegation will leave on July 5 and return on July 12, 2008. You will stay at the National 4-H Conference Center just outside Washington, DC. Visiting the most popular sites in Washington will be a part of the trip.

Contact your county 4-H office to find out how to apply for this trip. Each county will have their own selection process.

532-6548 or 1-800-287-1469

NATIONAL 4-H CONFERENCE

Seven delegates from Maine will attend the National 4-H Conference March 29 to April 3, 2008. They are Kellene O’Hara from Aroostook County, Natalie Marceau from Waldo County, Michaela Davis and Ashley Martin from Cumberland County, Marjory Hardy from Franklin County, and Cassandra Webster and Hattie Gushee-Kimball from Oxford County.

This five day youth conference is held at the National 4-H Conference Center just outside of Washington, DC where 4-H delegations from every state meet to share ideas and form recommendations for the future of 4-H. Delegates participate in activities that emphasize civic engagement, youth-adult partnerships, and professional development.

If you are between the ages of 14 and 19, and would like to attend the National 4-H Conference in 2009, you can apply this spring. More details will be in your county newsletter in the coming months.

4-H Earth Connections Sustainable Living Team

The 4-H leadership structure includes an active team focused on environmental education - the Earth Connections Sustainable Living Team. Our team brings together 4-H members and staff to discuss and make decisions on supporting environmental education in the 4-H program across the state.

4-H Earth Connections began in Maine in the mid-1980’s out of a deep and growing concern among ordinary people about the environment and our ability to adopt sustainable living practices. Rather than using the conventional youth environmental education model of teaching about nature, 4-H Earth Connections teaches that humans are part of nature; part of the interconnected web of all life.

The overarching goal of 4-H Earth Connections is to educate and mobilize youth, adults and families so that they recognize themselves as part of an interconnected world and become committed to sustainable living.

If you’d like to learn more about Earth Connections & Sustainable Living, check out the Maine 4-H Earth Connections website: http://www.umaine.edu/umext/earthconnections/

We are recruiting new members, seeking funding to support teams, creating new resources, preparing marketing materials and curriculum for counties to use, and supporting statewide efforts. In 2008 our Team will be offering the first annual UMaine Extension Earth Connections/Sustainable Living Conference (stay tuned for more information in future newsletters!)

The ECSL Team generally meets at Tanglewood 4-H Camp and Learning Center, in part to avail us of the great staff resources there. The team is open to meeting elsewhere around the state and by phone and video conference if there is interest to do so. We are seeking volunteers to join us in our work, so please help us get the word out.

The Earth Connections Sustainable Living Team welcomes all to join our efforts. To find out more about ECSL Team please contact Jon Prichard at 1-800-287-1535 or 324-2814.

For more information on educational programs in your area, contact your county Extension office.