Is 4H For You?

Are you considering joining a 4H Club? In our experience, it has been an amazing enrichment outlet for our family. One of the funnest things about summer for our family is the McLean County 4H Fair (in IL, which just happens to be the largest county fair in the world!). The projects, the food, the rides, the food, the hot weather… oh wait, this was supposed to be about the kids! Our kids are in 4H to better themselves and work toward a culmination of showcasing their efforts and handiwork at the 4H Fair.

They are supposed to be working on these projects they’ve picked all year long. In reality, (let’s be honest) the kids work feverishly for the 2-3 weeks prior to the fair to get them completed. It’s a whirlwind! They always sign up for way more projects than they can ever really accomplish, even though they fully intend to complete them all.

If your family is in 4H, or you’re considering joining a 4H club, this may not be what your household looks like, but here’s how “fair week” actually goes at our house…

Monday of “fair week”-

This day is dedicated to finishing projects that were actually started before today. Sewing clothing, finishing buttonholes, varnishing woodwork, sketching art, finding picture frames for said art, gluing random things together, and on and on it goes. This day is also dedicated to starting projects that they thought about starting before today, but put off until today. The day is very heated, frantic and loud because of the stress level everyone feels, parents included. As we all know, parents truly are just as involved in helping with projects as the kids are, even if it is just verbal direction!

Tuesday of “fair week”-

is really just an extension of Monday, with a deadline. Tuesday is project turn-in night for all non-perishable entries. There’s a 2-hour window of time for us, and 100’s of other 4H’ers, to haul in all of the projects and livestock. We have to find all the right places at the 4H Fair grounds to check in the projects. Our family typically heads out the door with about 30 minutes of check in time remaining, because we’re still sewing buttons on or finishing project cards. It’s a madhouse and the adrenaline rush is real!

This year was an exception in a lot of ways for the Weber family. It was relaxed! There was no rush, no frantic last minute finishing of projects and scribbling ‘steps of completion’ on notecards. Wait, what? Who are we? Is this a new norm? The kids didn’t take an exuberant amount of projects this year. The last minute, crazy, “Where on earth is my sewing pattern, it was just right here!” rush was missing. Ahhh… this was so nice! It’s never felt this way before. I’m actually not sure how to function without the frenzy!

No cluck…

Why the change? Part of this change was the epiphany that we don’t have to have “super 4H’er kids” that take a gazillion projects just because they signed up to take them. This culling of entries created an overarching calm to life. The second change wasn’t at all by choice. Typically, we take poultry to the fair. Chickens were the biggest missing component this year. Having livestock at the fair means being there pretty much all day, every day. It’s fun, but exhausting.

When we moved to the farm, the first livestock we added (besides the horses we already owned and brought with us) were chickens. It seemed like a no-brainer that the small, insanely portable animals, would be the ones we would drag to the fair. This year would be the exception. Spring this year brought predators to our farm and sadly, we lost a majority of our flock in one week. This kill put a major damper on anything we could have shown at the fair.

Wednesday morning of “fair week”-

This is pretty much a repeat of Tuesday night. Fresh projects are brought in for judging on Wednesday. Entries that are perishable such as foods, cake decorating, flowers and vegetables are checked in on this morning. We have a fairly large garden, so the kids always take vegetables. The kids are each allowed 5 different plates of vegetables… that means a LOT of veggies. For each entry, the regulations call for between 5 and 12 individual vegetables of the same kind per plate. In order to accomplish this, we get up early, head out to the very dewy garden and get completely mud covered in order to see what produce looks the best.

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Our green beans came on early this year, so they were completely done. Any beans left on the plants were oversized or brown. The zucchini and cucumbers were hit by beetles and there weren’t enough on the vine to make up a plate of 5. Topping off the half bushel baskets with other produce than our usual standbys, we take them inside to cull through the large selection of vegetables to choose the best. Then after everything was washed and prepped, we ended up with beets, cherry tomatoes, acorn squash, green peppers and a pumpkin. We separate them into baggies so they are easy to transfer quickly onto the plates at check in. Finally, to get ourselves cleaned up and to the fair grounds so we’re not late!

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Hurry up and wait…

All the judging for the kids’ projects in the main building was on Wednesday as well. It’s seriously an all day thing. Up early, haul in veggies, wait for the judging time slots for each entry, then wait and wait… and wait some more. Typically the kids get to enjoy some carnival rides, sip a lemon shake up and most likely eat some very melting ice cream in between waiting for their judging times. All of the entries have to be judged before the ribbons can start being presented. Then the judges look at all the entries and collaborate to decide which ones in each given area were the best. This results in the 2 tiers of Best of Class and Best of Show.

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When ribbons start being placed on projects, that’s when things get really exciting! Waiting to see how you placed and which color ribbon you receive makes your heart pound. If you end up with a blue ribbon, then it’s waiting to see if you receive a light purple, purple or even green ribbon. The kids both ended up with a very colorful outcome and a great year! Their hard work definitely paid off!

Awards

Michal earned Best of Show for both of her sewing projects (which qualifies her to go to the IL State Fair). She also earned Best of Class for the beets she brought. Andrew earned Reserve Best of Class for his acorn squash. He was a little disappointed because he had received Best of Class for his acorn squash for the past 2 years, but reserve isn’t anything to scoff at. I’m sure he’ll try to reclaim his title again next year. Both kids did a great job and we’re so proud of the time and energy they put in to all their projects. It’s an accomplishment they will be able to look back on and be proud of!

The skills they’ve learned, the work ethic they showed and the hot weather they endured will make them better people, for their club, their community, their country and their world. Which is what 4H is really all about.

Interested?

If you’re interested in 4H and would like to get involved, just shoot me an email and I’ll see what I can do to get you hooked up with a 4H club in your county! 4H activities and the 4H Fair are a great outlet for your kids to grow as individuals, gain leadership opportunities and learn new skills. It can also do wonders for their self-esteem. You should check it out!