4-H growing stronger in Bradford

Bradford County Telegraph - October 11, 2001

By Marcia Miller
Telegraph Staff Writer

If your children have an interest in computers, sewing, cooking, public speaking, hunting, raising large or small animals, growing plants, taking photographs, doing artwork - or if they just enjoy learning a variety of new things - then Bradford 4-H might be just what they're looking for.


When the 4-H program first began years ago, it was designed for children who were raised on the farm. Today the program is ideal for children everywhere - even those who live in large cities and only see farm animals on special class trips. 4-H is a program for children sponsored by the agriculture extension agents in each county.

Club members or not:

4-H provides learning for school children

The Bradford County 4-H program provides a lot of different types of educational experiences for 4-H members - but it also provides many of the same types of experiences for children who are not members of the nine clubs based in Bradford County.

School enrichment programs involve bringing 4-H activities into the school system to touch the lives of hundreds of children. For example, the special seatbelt safety program 4-H provides for school children all over the county involved 700 students this year. The Tropicana Public Speaking Contest, which is also open to all school children in fourth through sixth grades, had 250 Bradford students participating by writing and delivering a three-minute speech on the topic of their choice.

4-H to participate

in Farm-City Days

One of the premier enrichment activities 4-H participates in each year is coming up next month. It will involve more than 600 Bradford school children and will also be open to the general public. Farm-City Days is sponsored by the Florida Farm Bureau and involves a wide variety of agriculture-related businesses and organizations - including 4-H and Future Farmers of America (FFA).

Planned for Friday and Saturday, Nov. 9-10, at the Bradford fairgrounds on US-301 north, the event will involve a large number of hands-on booths. Children will be able to taste honey produced by bees, make butter, watch corn be ground into flour, see large and small animals, and much, much more.

Farm-City Days is designed to make children and adults aware of where food products originally come from. Many city children grow up thinking their food comes from the grocery store - and don't even wonder how it gets to the grocery store in the first place.

More than 30 booths will be set up at the fairgrounds by various agriculture-related departments of the University of Florida, area agribusinesses, FFA'ers and 4-H'ers. Local school children will tour the booths and participate in hands-on activities on Friday, Nov. 9. The event will be open to the general public with no admission on Saturday, Nov. 10.

4-H will sponsor a fashion show on Saturday that will have young seamstresses modeling clothing they made themselves. A bake-off will have 4-H chefs producing baked goods for competition on Saturday. Slices of their creations will also be sold as a fundraiser for the program. This year, the bake-off will only be open to 4-H'ers, but in future years plans are to open the contest to the public.

Special camps, trips provide activities

Specialty camps, like environmental day camp, provide 4-H'ers with opportunities to learn more about things like raising fish as a business, protecting the habitats of birds and other animals, producing butterflies that help pollinate plants and keep other pests at bay, etc.

Some special trips are open to non-4-H'ers. On Tuesday, Oct. 16, 125 second and third graders from Lawtey Community School will be going to the Suwannee Valley Research Center in Live Oak. They will participate in activities which will acquaint them with growing corn and pumpkins and the various products which come from those two agricultural items.

The outing will include information on vegetables grown hydroponically (without soil).

Recently, 36 students from student clubs and organizations in three different local schools participated in a half-day teamwork training session sponsored by extension at the fairgrounds. The students were posed tasks which required them to work together to solve problems. Teamwork, problem solving and leadership were the orders of the day.

Judy Butterfield, 4-H extension agent for Bradford County, said the program was aimed at teaching young people good citizenship and also at pointing out the importance of giving back to their community.

"The community support for our programs (4-H and extension) has been overwhelming," said Butterfield. "We want the kids who benefit from that support to learn how important it is to give something back."

Camp Cherry Lake, a residential summer 4-H camp, saw a lot of participants from Bradford County this year. A number of day camps - meaning young people go home at night - saw a high Bradford enrollment also.

Butterfield said that the roots of both extension and 4-H are in agriculture, even though the programs encompass so many other things. "The roots still go back to the farm," she said. "But 4-H is so much more than just animals. The program involves the whole family in so many different activities." Parents are encouraged to participate with their children, said Butterfield.

Bradford 4-H'ers learn lifetime skills

She said that in addition to acquiring knowledge through the different programs, 4-H'ers also learn teamwork and how to think on their feet. They learn how to make good decisions, keep good records, communicate well verbally and in written form, speak in front of groups of people, etc.

"Those are skills that stay with you for a lifetime," she said. 4-H'ers also get the opportunity to take educational trips and even to receive college scholarships.

Some of Bradford's older 4-H'ers went to state 4-H Legislature this year for the first time in eight or nine years, said Butterfield. They also earned awards from the state 4-H Congress.

Of course 4-H always has a large number of young people participating in the Bradford Fair with swine, cattle, poultry or rabbit projects. They also participate with various knowledge projects, cooking contests, photography and art work.

4-H growing in Bradford

Bradford 4-H is "bursting at the seams," said Butterfield. If you look at participation in all programs sponsored for children by 4-H and extension, then participation is up 255 percent this year, she said.

Two new clubs were started this year. One is the Bradford Livestock Club, which includes a number of different activities but which keys on raising livestock animals. The other is the Shooting Sports Club.

The Shooting Sports Club is a shooting safety program sponsored by a grant from the National Rifle Association. Three certified air rifle instructors teach strict safety rules, respect for the environment and responsible gun ownership. They also offer target practice.

"This is a rural county and the reality is that a lot of young people in this area handle guns," said Butterfield. "We wanted to make sure they learned gun safety and responsible gun ownership."

Butterfield also said that state and national competitions would be open to young people in this club, if their skills progress to that level.

Butterfield said they also hope to start an archery club if they can find enough skilled volunteers to sponsor the club.

The nine clubs which are currently available are:

* Heilbron Springs Club, meets at 7 p.m. on the first Monday of each month at the Heilbron Springs Volunteer Fire Department. Leaders are Roxanne Rosier and Linda Cruce. Contact them at 782-1592 or 964-8843.

* Lawtey Lucky 4's meets every other Monday at 6:30 p.m. at the Grace Methodist Church in Lawtey. Leaders are John and Chrissy Tatum and they can be reached at Tatum Brothers Lumber at 782-3690.

* New River Club meets on the fourth Sunday afternoon of each month at 1 p.m. at New River Baptist Church. Leader is Angie Nazworth. She can be reached mornings at 352-377-1009.

* Tech Leaf Computer Club meets the second Thursday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at the Bradford County Extension Office near the fairgrounds in Starke. Theresa Patterson is the leader. She can be reached at 782-3433.

* HomeGrown Kids (for home schooled students) meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 1:30 p.m. at the extension office. Nancy Pearson is the leader. She can be reached at 964-7656.

* Shooting Sports Club meets the second Tuesday of each month at 4 p.m. at the extension office. Leader is Nancy Pearson. She can be reached at 964-7656.

* Green Acres Club meets on the first Monday of each month at 7 p.m. at the extension office. Angie Rehberg is the leader. She can be reached at 964-4201.

* Clover Blossoms Club meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 4 p.m. at the extension office. Denise Crawford is the leader. She can be reached at 431-1091.

* Bradford Livestock Club meets on the fourth Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the extension office. Kim Crawford and Lisa Tatum are leaders. They can be reached at 964-9554 or 782-3078.

Additional information about any of these clubs, or about 4-H and extension in general, can be obtained by calling the extension office at 966-6299.

See October 11, 2001 issue of Bradford County Telegraph for original article.