Washington County 4-H Newsletter

Welcome to our Family Newsletter! The most up-to-date information about events and activities going on in Washington County 4-H. Please pass along to friends and family that might be interested in attending a 4-H event. You will also receive the monthly Clover Update at the beginning of each month highlighting regional and state events.

Is your newsletter getting cut off? Washington County does have a lengthy newsletter and it often times will be cut off for gmail accounts and perhaps others. Meaning you have to hit a link to get the whole newsletter. The best way to view our newsletter is to open it in a new browser.

Here we are at the end of another 4-H year! The months of August and September provide our 4-H youth an opportunity to showcase their learning at the County Fair, State Fair, State Shoot, State Horse Show, State Dog Show! It is a rewarding and fun experience to watch youth grow and learn in their project areas. Now on to another year!

We would also like to say THANK YOU to our volunteers who help make all these learning opportunities possible! To the Livestock, Horse, Performing Arts and Dog PDC’s (Project Development Committees). To our Club Leader’s, Animal Superintendents, Dan Whittaker (Llama), to our dedicated Shooting Sports and Dog Trainers, the Food Stand Committee, all the volunteers who helped in some capacity during the county fair and state fair! The list could go on! Because of our volunteers, we can offer learning experiences for over 700 4-H members!

We want to say welcome to our new families, we hope that those of you just completing your 1st year were able to navigate through the processes and enjoy the outcome! We can’t wait to venture into the 2024-2025 4-H year! We look forward to working with all of you to continue to grow and improve your 4-H experience.

Ann, Megan, Ashton & Kathy

Good news! County dues will no longer be required for membership in Washington County 4-H! The $25/fee/child helped support some of the 4-H positions. The County Commissioners have agreed to fully fund the 4-H and Master Gardener positions this coming year! This will make re-enrollment a quick process! Please go in and re-enroll your 4-H members and any screened adults from your household beginning September 15th! Do not enroll prior to September 15th! If you see your County Commissioner, please thank them for their support of 4-H!

The September Livestock PDC Meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 18, beginning at 6:00 pm at Hooley Hall. If you are not currently on the Livestock PDC and would like to attend, please let Ann know prior to the meeting on Wednesday at: churc109@umn.edu

Join us for the first Ambassador Meeting of the new 4-H year on Monday, September 23 from 6-7 PM at the Washington County Government Center! Ambassadors are youth in grades 7-13 who are interested in serving in a leadership role on the county level. We will be planning activities for the 4-H Open House and Fall Cloverbud Workshop, as well as begin to brainstorm for our winter social and service project.

Treats will be provided! Contact Megan at slate187@umn.edu if you have any questions.

Register to be an Ambassador here!

We are always looking to add additional Certified Trainers to our Shooting Sports Program! 4-H requires Trainers to be certified through 4-H. Washington County has a large Shooting Sports Program with over 65 kids participating this past year! The training is designed for adults who would like to be certified in one of the following disciplines; archery, rifle/pistol, shotgun, muzzleloading and wildlife.

If becoming a Certified Trainer is something you are interested in, there is a Training coming up in Jordan, Minnesota on October 12th. Washington County 4-H pays the registration fee. Certified Trainers first must be screened 4-H volunteers. There are 3 easy steps to become a screened volunteer: screened 4-H volunteer Trainers need to be certified every 7 years in a particular discipline. If this is something you would be interested in, please contact Ann at; churc109@umn.edu

Learn more about becoming Certified Trainer here; https://extension.umn.edu/4-h-shooting-sports-and-wildlife-program/4-h-shooting-sports-and-wildlife-leader-certification

Our annual 4-H Open House is coming up! Friday, October 11th from 5pm-7pm at the Washington County Fairgrounds. We encourage all of our clubs and project committees to attend the Open House with a display and simple activity so new and interested 4-H members/volunteers can learn all about our great program. Please share this event with your friends and community!

Congratulations Washington County 4-H families on a successful and fun County Fair! We couldn’t control the weather, but we do our best to make sure everyone has a good experience! Many thanks to the volunteers, Superintendents, Food Stand Committee, youth and families who help throughout the county fair! We couldn’t put on a fair without you!

The Minnesota State Fair provided many of your older youth an opportunity to showcase their projects, meet other 4-H’ers from around the state! Our youth did a great job representing our 4-H program. We had many champions both with our general and livestock projects! We had multiple project champions, Interview Finalists, class winners, Showmanship champions, Purple Ribbon Auction participants, and scholarship winners! What a year! Congratulations to all of you on all the achievements! Click here for complete results

In addition, many thanks to our State Fair Chaperones! Livestock chaperones; Tim and Emma Newcomb. Llama Chaperones; Jenny Bye and Laura Schoonover, General Encampment Chaperones; Avis Peters, Tammy McCulloch and Becky Richter! Many thanks to all of you!

The Minnesota State Shoot was held this past weekend in Alexandria, Minnesota. Washington County had 22 youth participate in the State Shoot! Many thanks to the Trainers who prepared these youth for the state competition; Jen and Todd Anderson, Neal Feldhahn, Tim Warmka, Serena Mollenhauer, Dan Fritsche, Greg Eian, Sarah Heuser, and Jack Daniels! Complete results will be in the next newsletter.

The State Horse Show will be held this weekend, September 13- 16 at the state fairgrounds! If you want to cheer our 4-H’ers on at the show, stop by! There is no cost to attend! Washington County has good representation of youth participating not only in Games and Pleasure Classes, but Trail, Training, Hippology, Judging Teams, etc. Come cheer our kids on!

The State Dog Show on September 21 wraps up the state competitions for 2024! The State Dog Show takes place in the 4-H building on the state fairgrounds! No cost to attend! All are welcome to come and learn about the Dog Program!

It’s fall, which means it is time for Chartering! In the next 2 months, club’s will be choosing new club officers, setting budgets and creating their 4-H calendars! Please make sure that ALL volunteers and youth listed on the Charter’s are screened and re-enrolled for the 2024-2025 year!

Plans are being made for Club Officer Training! Training will tentatively be held on Monday, October 28 beginning at 6:30 pm at the Stillwater Gov’t Center. Watch for more information to follow in upcoming newsletters! Club officers need to re-enroll as soon as possible to complete club charters.

The Happy Hornets met for their September business meeting, election of officers, and a presentation from the Metropolitan Mosquito Control District.

The kids learned about the life cycle of a mosquito and that there are 52 species of mosquitos in Minnesota. They learned about the two types of ticks in Minnesota; the deer tick and the wood tick. 30% of deer ticks carry Lyme disease and they are now found in every county in Minnesota. The kids (and adults) had some great questions during the presentation and learned a lot!

Dog Project

• Sept. 21-22 - State Dog Show

Horse

• Sept. 13-16 - State Horse Show

Livestock Reminders

• February 15 - Market Beef/Dairy Steer ID deadline
• May 15 - Animal ID deadline (Dog, Horse, Llama, Rabbit, Dairy, Breeding Beef, Sheep, Swine, Goat (market & dairy) and leased poultry).
• July 1 - County Fair registration due
• LQA Training - Livestock Quality Assurance training needs to be completed BEFORE County Fair to be eligible for a State Fair trip with an animal. In-person training lasts 3 fair seasons versus online training is 1 year and has a fee. In-person usually takes place mid-late June.

Washington County Fair 2025

• July 1 - County fair registration deadline. Final selection of projects and animals need to be entered in FairEntry by this date. Late entries accepted for ribbon only.
• July 26 - 4-H General project judging (Saturday)
• July 30- Aug. 3 - Washington County Fair

Youth enrollment and animal ID deadline

• Oct. 11, 2024 - Open House - learn more about what 4-H can offer.
• May 15, 2025
• Participation is limited after May 15 (Not eligible for champions, auction, state trips) Blue, red and white ribbons only.

Registration is now open for the 2024-2025 cohort and new model! This is a 1-year adventure-based leadership program designed to provide youth in grades 6+ with intensive hands-on exploration in an area of interest associated with the outdoors, a Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) trip, and support to lead a conservation project. The cohort follows the 4-H program year and will run from Oct. 2024 - Sept. 2025. Cost is $400, which includes two retreats and the canoe trip, and can be made in payments. Registration deadline: Oct. 4.

Learn more and register.

Save the date! The 2024 4-H Outdoor Education Summit will be held on Saturday, Nov. 23 at the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve in East Bethel. Come for a fun-filled day of project workshops for Cloverbuds through adult volunteers! Sessions will include Cloverbud outdoor day camp, wilderness survival, skull identification, environmental service leadership, and more! Adult sessions include SS&W certification training, curriculum training, and how to lead a 4-H WHEP team. Registration will go live on Oct. 1 in 4-H Online.

Learn more and register.

**Adult Volunteer Coach Needed for this program in Washington County**

WHEP is a hands-on environmental education program dedicated to teaching wildlife and fisheries habitat management to youth. It provides participants an opportunity to test their wildlife knowledge in a friendly competition in teams of 3-4 similarly aged individuals, led by a local 4-H volunteer coach. The winning senior WHEP team (14-19 years old) will have the opportunity to attend the annual national WHEP contest, typically held the last full week of July. 4-H WHEP will replace Wildlife Project Bowl.

There will be WHEP learning sessions for coaches and youth at the 4-H Outdoor Education Summit on Nov. 23 at the Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve in East Bethel.

Learn more about WHEP.

The new 4-H year will bring many volunteers into a new role as a club leader or assistant leader. We have an upcoming webinar that will provide knowledge and tools to empower them in their role!

The new club leader webinar will be hosted via Zoom by regional volunteer systems educators on Sept. 19 and Nov. 14.

Learn more and register.

As club leaders get ready for the new program year, don’t forget to check out the youth development curriculum library to help find fresh ideas. It’s grown 30% in the past month alone!

• Check out our newest themed 4-H club agendas on origami, popcorn, mushrooms, family, clovers, spices, trades, and landfills! Each includes an arrival and roll call activity, sample meeting agenda, educational lesson, and recreation and refreshment ideas tied to a theme.
• 30-Minute Seasonal Science is a series of nine activities that help youth in grades K-5 explore innovation through scientific experimentation and do-it-yourself crafting categorized by season.
• Birding Adventures is a group of four stand-alone independent learning guides that help youth explore the world of birding, even in the winter!
• Pumpkin Party is a 1.5 to 2 hour experience that teaches youth in grades K-5 about the lifecycle of a pumpkin through storytime, crafts, and a pumpkin growing experiment.

University of Minnesota Extension works across the lifespan. We create and support positive non-formal learning opportunities for youth. We foster resilient, healthy and secure futures for families and seniors. Extension works with Minnesotans to make informed decisions leading to better health and well-being. Learn more at: https://extension.umn.edu/families-and-youth

University of Minnesota Extension improves food literacy, physical activity, food safety and healthy food access for Minnesotans and the food service industry. Learn more at: https://extension.umn.edu/food-health-and-nutrition

The best plants and gardening practices for Minnesota gardeners, homeowners and hobbyists to grow healthy lawns, landscapes and gardens. Learn more at: https://extension.umn.edu/yard-and-garden

Ann Church - Livestock (Beef, Dairy, Llama, Sheep, Swine, Poultry, Rabbit), Horse, Shooting Sports, Federation, Community Clubs, Fair, Charters and Finance, Grant writing, Foods & Creative Arts projects.

Megan Slater - Youth Teaching Youth, Ambassadors, Performing Arts, Resident/Day Camps, Dog, Goat, Cloverbud.

Ashton Kulesa - STEM, Project Workshops, New Families, Promotion, Food Stand, Outreach and Libraries.

Contact information is listed below.