May 2012 - University of Alaska Fairbanks

Kenai Peninsula 4-H Pledger

May 2012 Tuesday, November 02, 2010

December 2010 Dear 4-H Family, Cooperative Extension Service Kenai Peninsula District

43961 -Beach Rd, Suite A Soldotna, AK 99611 Phone: 907-262-5824 Fax: 907-262-3939 www.uaf.edu/ces/4h/kenpen

May 2012 Inside this issue: 4-H Hall of Fame winner: Carrol Martin 2 Club News

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Council Meeting

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Caring for the Kenai

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Horse Bowl News

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Tree Sale

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Partnership Emerging

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Note from Nancy

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In this month’s Pledger it is my pleasure to announce that long-time volunteer Carrol Martin was nominated and selected to be inducted into the National 4-H Hall of Fame. For my Pledger letter this month I have included the nomination narrative that was used to present Carrol for this prestigious honor, which was well earned and not easily attained (see page 2.) Congratulations Carrol! Sincerely, Jason Floyd, 4-H Agent

Mikayla Clark recently wowed us all at the Alaska State Horse Competition. She truly was the "rock" of our team. Mikayla is strong under pressure, is a gifted public speaker and knows how to study for knowledge competitions such as the quiz bowl and hippology. Mikayla also has the time management skills to prepare for a 4-H competition while participating in high school sports, keeping her school grades up and caring for her horse and Junior Market Livestock project animals. She is reliable, easyFuture Events

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going, intelligent and thinks things through to find the best results when she is confronted with a problem, no matter how big or small. The Trail Blazers are proud to have Mikayla as a member and appreciate the example of maturity and good judgment she has set for the younger generation. The district supports and applauds Mikayla’s contributions to our club and community. Congratulations Mikayla!

Published by the University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service in cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture. The University of Alaska Fairbanks is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and educational institution.

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Forms are due back by May 20! Camp this year is going to be the best EVER! Advanced camp is scheduled to begin the afternoon of May 29 and go through the evening of June 1. An all-ages horse show will be June 2. All ages means even your mom or uncle can show! Watch out, you kids might get some friendly competition from your camp counselors! Basic camp will kick off June 3 and go through June 5. If you would like an application, please e-mail [email protected]. SEE YOU ALL AT CAMP!

elements of that first auction remain significant parts of Alaska’s 4-H Junior Market Livestock Program. Carrol has taught just about everything to do with farming and has counseled, planned and taught 4-H camps, conferences and meetings. He has hosted foreign exchange students and 4-H groups and promoted 4-H and Alaskan grown meals internationally. Always the consummate educator, Carrol has continually advocated for creative approaches to youth development and learning. Examples of his innovations in positive youth engagement include: the creation of annual districtwide farm tours; service learning projects such as Clean-up Days, where 4-H’ers assume responsibility for cleaning 25 miles of community roads; and the cultural partnering of 4-H youth with the local Ninilchik Native tribe in the restoration and renovation of one of the tribe’s oldest historical buildings. In 1978, Carrol helped organize the first Western Regional Leaders Forum to be held in Alaska. He also helped plan the 1991 Alaska WRLF and played instrumental roles in the Alaska WRLF delegation in 1989, 1990, 1991 and 2011. His dedication to volunteer and leader recruitment and development is unmatched and continues today. In addition to his 4-H service, Carrol has served many years as a volunteer on the Soil and Water Conservation Board, the Alaska Board of Agriculture and the Kenai Peninsula Fair Board and was responsible for building many of the barns at the fairgrounds. He helped with local organization of the 2006 Arctic Winter Games, an international circumpolar event, and is a perennial volunteer serving hundreds of hours for local organizations and events including the Food Bank, Industry Days, Mothers against Drunk Driving, Caring for the Kenai, the Crisis Pregnancy Center, and Peninsula Winter Games. He was the recipient of the 2008 Don Gilman Community Service Award presented by the Alaska governor, and has also won the State Volunteer of the Year Award given by the State’s first lady. Carrol has lived the philosophy, ideals and values of the 4-H program. As a pioneer he selflessly brought vision and innovation to Alaska, inspired generations of 4-H’ers and community members, and demonstrated unmatched depth of character, and for these reasons he is one of the most worthy people I can think of for National 4-H Hall of Fame induction.

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Fifty-three years ago Alaska, the last frontier, became a state. Today, few people who helped lay the early foundations for Alaska are still around, fewer can recount what it was like to carve civilization from the raw arctic wilderness, and fewer yet can authoritatively speak about 4-H during Alaska’s pre-statehood territorial days. With over 63 years of program involvement, long-time 4-H alumnus and volunteer Carrol Martin is one of those few remaining pioneers with a personal connection to much of Alaska’s related 4-H legacy. Within his local community, 4-H district and state, Carrol continues to be widely recognized and counted among a short list of volunteers whose names are synonymous with citizenship, leadership, career accomplishment and character. The list of Carrol’s contributions to 4-H, his community and state are so numerous it would take several pages to scratch the surface of his qualifications for National 4-H Hall of Fame recognition. The child of displaced Dust Bowl farmers, Carrol started his 4-H life, under his mother’s volunteer leadership at the age of nine in Bayfield, Colorado. His childhood projects included public speaking, square dancing, beef, sheep and dairy. Carrol put himself through school with his 4-H market livestock auction funds. He first volunteered as a Colorado 4-H leader working with children from local potato farms. While volunteering in Bayfield, Carrol met and married the local Extension ag agent and in 1951 drove to Alaska with his new family. For a brief period between 1965 and 1972 Carrol returned to Bayfield to serve as a school principal, but decided to permanently relocate to Alaska in 1972. Long before it was politically vogue to be “green,” Carrol recognized the importance of local agriculture and aquaculture for statewide economic and nutritional health. Always the innovator, Carrol was and continues to be a tireless promoter of 4-H, of positive youth development and of sustainable communities through locally grown and produced food. Among his many achievements, Carrol is recognized for his pioneering work in 1972 with a fishfarming project with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game which years later led to the development of the marine science project. Carrol is also credited with the 1975 creation of the first Alaska 4-H market livestock auction. Today, major

May 2012

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Hey 4-H’ers, here's what the Funky Farmers have been up to! In April we had our general club meeting where we had a fun day looking for Easter eggs at the Heft's house. It was great! We discussed future plans for the club, including a summer camping trip and spring cleanup. In May, we will be meeting at the Heft's house again to paint pots and plant flowers in them. The activity starts at 5:30 and the business meeting will start at 6:30. Please come with a calendar so we can plan our camping trip for late June sometime! Hope to see all our Funky Farmers there! Crystal and Kara

At the guest apartment of the Boatrights on Saturday, March 10, the Fuzzy Wuzzy Fiber Club was busy tye dying club t-shirts and felting wool. Henia and Alie Minium taught everyone how to tie their shirts with rubber bands while Mrs. Boatright readied the bucket of green dye. “Be as crazy as you like,” Alie encouraged. While moms were finishing up the dye, Alie and Matthea Boatright taught us how to felt wool the club had previously dyed with kool aid. “Be careful not to poke yourself with the needle or you will draw blood,” Matthea cautioned. Brianna and Bekah Baeten and Katie Cooper felted hearts; and Alie felted a stocking while Matthea and Caroline Huber made felted girls. Without any needle pokes, we all thoroughly enjoyed the felting and finished up with some homemade 4-H clover cookies. Caroline Huber

Kasilof cooking and sewing class will be on Saturday, May 19, from noon until 3 p.m. We will be sewing this month on fair projects. Please bring your materials and you record books. Thanks, Mickey

Trail Blazers will have a cooking project club meeting and workshop on May 9 at Calvary Baptist Church in Ninilchik (located across the street from the Ninilchik General Store) from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. The workshop will feature cake decorator, Erin Knox, who will be teaching us how to decorate cakes using rolled fondant and how to make fondant flowers and embellishments. Remember, if a Cloverbud wants to attend, they are welcomed to do so, but a parent must be present with their Cloverbud. If you are planning to attend this workshop, please send an e-mail to Vicky Daniels at [email protected] so she can properly plan and make sure there are enough materials available for each participant. A small fee may be charged to help cover costs. See you there! Vicky Daniels, Trail Blazers Foods/Cooking Project leader

The North Road Rangers had their first meeting in April. It was fun. We elected officers and completed two lessons in the Shooting Sports curriculum. We learned about safety, parts of the rifle and how to sight in targets, and we practiced shooting at target backs. We are all eager for our next get-together this month. Henry Heft

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Lets have a BBQ! We know May is always crazy busy, so lets have a BBQ at the Braxling's! The plan is to have a potluck along with the Horse and Livestock Club on Friday, May 25 at 5:30 p.m. It is Memorial Day weekend, so we'll just plan fun and maybe try out the egg slingshot. Bring a potluck dish and something to throw on the grill. Call for directions. Beth and Trace Braxling, 262-1887

May 2012

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May 2012

The 4-H District Advisory Council meeting took place on April 23. 4-H was recently awarded $4,000 to clean up litter on the Kenai Peninsula. A three-day period will be chosen by voting on the 4-H Doodle website. During these three days, any 4-H club may recruit volunteers to pick up trash anywhere. If the club provides their man-hours and a picture with their club and the trash bags they picked up, they will receive a portion of the $4,000 based on man-hours. If this event is successful the $4000 will grow to a larger amount each year. Stay tuned for more information. The 4-H Tree Sale will take place at the Soldotna Creek Park on May 19. Be sure to help with tree tagging on May 18 at Connie’s Flowers on Strawberry Road. Starting this year and continuing in years to come, 4-H clubs will have the opportunity to sell items at the Tree Sale, such as crafting projects or baked goods. The council is also very excited about the potential collaboration with Boys & Girls Club. There may be joint 4-H-Boys & Girls Club events and clubs in the future. Council Information Officer, Trace Braxling

TRAIL BLAZERS Amber Self Melanie Mastolier Melissa Clark Mikayla Clark

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NORTH WIND RIDERS Jenna Hansen Penelope Litzen Chena Litzen Makayla Derkavorkian

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4-H members Jenna Hansen, Courtney Stroh and Kassidy Foust were in the top 12 finalists who participated in the Caring for the Kenai oral presentations. They all did an amazing job and made us proud not only with their presentations, but for all the work they did to get into the top 12. I was glad I wasn't a judge; it would have been really hard to choose the winner! Hara Hansen

This weekend we all proved that hard work and good sportsmanship really pays off. Leaving Palmer with smiles on our faces, pride in our hearts and some prizes to show our families, we headed home. The teams at this year’s horse bowl were all very close friends, and everyone left proud of how well they did. Melanie Mastolier The past weekend will never be forgotten for the Trail Blazers 4-H Club. Each team member presented a speech on subjects they had interests in. Amber presented “The Importance of Wearing Helmets While Riding Horses." Melissa presented “Helmet Safety.” Melanie presented “Horse Lice.” Finally, Mikayla presented “Horse Density.” We all did very well!

Have you ever wondered how judges rank horses in the show ring? This weekend at the horse bowl, my team got the chance to judge several classes. Some of the classes were quarter horse geldings, quarter horse mares, stock horse geldings, Tennessee Walkers, dressage and English equitation. After viewing the horses for two minutes, we had to express our reasons why we placed the classes in the order that we did in front of a judge. Amber Self

For the presentations, presenters have to talk a minimum of seven minutes and a maximum of ten. For each minute over or under, a point is deducted. They also must have a clear, audible voice, with voice fluctuations so that the audience will remain focused on the presentation. Another way to keep the audience focused is to create an introduction that is an “attention grabber.” This will not only keep them focused, it will also give you points! In the end, Melissa’s “Helmet Safety” took third overall. We encourage the younger 4-H members to practice public speaking and never stop believing in yourself, because you can do anything if you do! Melissa Clark

Quiz bowl is one of the harder and more intense of the four sections of the Alaska State Horse Competition. Going into our first round we were all nervous and did not feel prepared. We tried hard but still lost by three points to Kodiak. Our confidence got better as we went into our second round against Thunder Mountain Riders. As we all battled to hit our buzzers first and get the answer right, we managed to pull ahead in the end. With our heads and spirits high, we turned right around going into our third round against Tanana. As the round came to an end we could tell that we would get at least one more round. We were all cheering, as we had not expected to do this well. Our fourth round was against Kodiak. Knowing how close our last round with them was, we knew that we would have to work hard for a win on this one. Kodiak pulled through in the end and beat us by only two points. But we placed third in the quiz bowl tournament! The best that any of us has ever done!

Besides having a wonderful learning experience at the competition, the team had fun too! We hiked on Bodenburg Butte, saw a baby reindeer at Williams Reindeer Farm and took a scenic tour around the Matanuska Valley to see the University of Alaska Experimental Farm and some of the historical colony barns. We also attended an inspirational clinic taught by the official competition judge Amber Moffatt. Amber told us about her life growing up as a 4-H’er, how she persevered even though there were many bumps in the road, and how she is now one of the most respected researchers at the equine nutrition company where she works. She closed with showing and letting us touch a real preserved cecum and stomach of a horse! The clinic was a wonderful closing activity to a great competition and left us all wanting to go home and improve our resumes, work on our college applications and improve our level of commitment to make the best better! Katie Matthews

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This weekend the Trail Blazers' horse bowl team consisting of Melanie Mastolier, Amber Self, Melissa Clark and Mikayla Clark drove to Palmer for the Alaska State Horse Competition. The competition is made up of four parts: hippology, horse judging, quiz bowl and presentations. The competition lasts for two solid days with judging and hippology on the first day and presentations and quiz bowl on the second. Hippology consists of three parts: a written exam, team problem and stations. The Trail Blazers spent Saturday afternoon at Mat-Su College presenting their team problem solutions. We were given five minutes to read over and discuss a solution for a problem, then five minutes to stand in front of a panel of judges and present our solution to the problem. Personally, I like hippology because there are no limitations to the answer; you just have to have the knowledge base to explain yourself. Mikayla Clark

May 2012

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Kenai Peninsula 4-H Pledger The tree sale tagging night will be on Friday, May 18, starting at 4:30 p.m. at Connie's Flowers. To get to Connie's take the Spur Highway to Strawberry Road and turn in on the second or third driveway on the right. The Tree Sale is the district's largest and most important fundraiser of the year and all 4-H families and clubs are encouraged to participate and attend. We need folks to bring as many 5-gallon buckets as you can. Buckets should be marked with your name or the name of your club to ensure you get them back. If we have enough people come to the tagging night it shouldn't take us very long to get all the work done.

May 2012 tree sale that can be waved by 4-H members at the entrance to the Soldotna Creek Park on Saturday, May 19, during the sale. The sale starts at 11 a.m., so folks should arrive at the park no later than 10:15 a.m. Clubs are also allowed to sell baked goods and handmade crafts at the tree sale to raise funds for their own clubs but need to have several people dedicated to helping with the tree sale in order to be eligible to set up a club booth or table. Anyone with questions should call the CES office ASAP. We look forward to seeing everyone there! Thank you Floyd and Connie for your generous offer to host the tree tagging at your place.

We also need people to make signs for the

The Kenai Peninsula District is excited to announce an emerging partnership between 4-H, the Boys & Girls Club of the Kenai Peninsula, and 4-H Senior Division member Courtney Stroh. The partnership aims to match clubhouse staff and 4-H curriculum and programming with an environmental conservation project initially conceived and implemented by Courtney Stroh as a “Caring for the Kenai” project. The partnership is taking steps to charter the first clubhouse-based 4-H club on the Kenai Peninsula and aims to sustain and grow Stroh’s project, “R.O.C. the Kenai,” beyond her remaining time in 4-H. R.O.C. the Kenai stands for, “Respect Our Community.” Initially the club will continue Stroh’s work to address and raise public awareness of dangerously high levels of fecal coliform found at the Kenai River mouth during the busy summer

dip-netting season. The partnership aims to assist club youth with program organization and development needed to mobilize two groups of K-6 and 7-12 grade clubhouse members. These “R.O.C.’ers,” will address important environmental, natural and community resource-related issues through other inquiry-based service-learning projects. This partnership is one great way Kenai Peninsula District 4-H’ers are joining the 4-H “Revolution of Responsibility.” Courtney’s vision for the future, and her request to the district and the Boys & Girls Club, shows yet again how 4-H youth are the leaders of tomorrow with solutions for today. If you are interested in being part of this club or are interested in helping as a volunteer leader, please contact Jason Floyd for more information.

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Also, I keep hearing of continuing successful activities that you wonderful people are involved in. Good work, all of you! Your ideas and caring are making a difference! Nancy

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A huge thank you for the beautiful remembrance album you presented at Public Presentation Day. How I have enjoyed going through it and recounting the fun times we had together and the many successful ventures you accomplished in 4-H. To each of you who worked on this project, "Thank you!"


May 2012

Cooperative Extension Service 43961 K-Beach Rd, Suite A Soldotna, AK 99669-9728

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Editor: [email protected] (Jason) Production, Layout & Design: [email protected] (Vicki)

Remember the monthly photo contest: Winners receive a $15 gift certificate to Fred Meyers for themselves and one for their club!

4-H Tree Sale May 19

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May 1: Goat, lamb, swine, goose possession date May 3: Mandatory JML salesmanship class, 6-7 p.m. May 6: Mandatory JML salesmanship class, 4-5 p.m. May 12: JML Weigh-in day, 10 a.m. May 18: Tree tagging, 4:30 p.m. May 19: Tree sale, 11 a.m. May 21: District council meeting, 6:30 p.m. May 29 – June 1: Advanced Horse Camp June 2: All-Ages Horse Show June 3 – 5: Basic Horse Camp June 6: JML contacts check-in June 15: Duck possession date June 15: 4-H enrollment deadline for fair entries June 15: JML contacts due June 18: District 4-H council meeting July 1: Rabbit and chicken possession date August 16-19: Kenai Peninsula State Fair

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Dates of Future Events:

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JML Salesmanship Class 6-7 p.m. Cook Inlet Aquaculture Building

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Goat, Lamb, Swine, Geese Possession Date

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JML Salesmanship Class 4-5 p.m. CES Office

JML Weigh-In Day at Ninilchik Fairgrounds

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18 Tree Tagging at Connie’s Flowers 4:30 p.m.

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19 Tree Sale Soldotna Creek Park 11 a.m.

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District Council Meeting 6:30 p.m.

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Holiday— CES Office Closed

Horse Camp - May 29 through June 1

Fuzzy Wuzzy Fiber Group Katie, Alie, Matthea, Caroline, Brianna and Bekah