Alexander County 4-H Newsletter

The Alexander 4-H Mini Garden Project provides seeds and instructions to plant different vegetables. 4-H'ers are encouraged to take pictures and keep a journal of the project from planting to harvesting to help complete a 4-H Project Book to submit for competition at a later date. Once the gardens are up in growth Cari Mitchell, Horticulture Agent and DJ Salyer, 4-H Agent, take judges out to the garden locations to judge. Prizes are given to the top three winners.

We had some awesome gardens to judge this year for the 4-H Mini Garden Project. Take a look at all the great youth gardens in Alexander County in the photos below.

Winners were as follows:
1st place Abigail Martin
2nd place Eowyn Berwick
3rd place Arrow Berwick

The 76th Electric 4-H Congress...was held at UNC Wilmington, July 11-13, 2023. The 4-H Electric Program is an informal hands-on youth program conducted by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service and its professional 4-H agents and volunteer adult leaders located in all 100 counties and the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. Youth learn about the fundamentals of electricity and magnetism, renewable energy technologies, and energy conservation. Youth learn many life skills while participating in this program, but also generate more enthusiasm for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

Alexander County 4-H were represented by 4-H'ers, Eowyn Berwick and Finn Berwick, along with 4-H Volunteer, Merylin Davis.

Alexander County 4-H Garden Club met in July to learn about prescribed fire! Club members learned about the fire triangle (how fire occurs) and the fire behavior triangle (how fire behaves in certain conditions). They helped conduct two sets of experiments with fire in a safe environment. The first experiments were based on the fire triangle, where we took different elements of the fire triangle away, meaning the fire went out. The second set of experiments were based on the fire behavior triangle, where we looked at different types of fuels and how fire can be sustained longer with some fuel mixes over others. The kids also learned about the importance of prescribed fire and what it can do for various ecosystems. If you are interested in having your kids join our 4-H Garden Club, please send me an email at cari_mitchell@ncsu.edu and feel free to join us at our next meeting on August 10th at 5:30pm!

July 2023 Summer Program Recap

Alexander 4-H Summer Opportunities continued in July with lots of fun and educational camps.

Kids in the Kitchen-Chopped Challenge was held June 27th-29th with an awesome group of campers. Participants got to put their cooking skills to the test in a head to head competition. Ingredients and cooking utensils were provided, but that is it. They had to come up with their recipes and work as a team to deliver a product to be judged. Kids competed in different categories such as: appetizers, main dish and desserts.
Intro to Sewing Camp was held July 10th-12th. Participants were able to learn the basics of sewing, how to operate a sewing machine and even put together some great sewing projects.

Farm to Fork 4-H Camp was held July 17th-20th. Participants visited local farms each day to get products to bring back to prepare recipes with. These local farms did an outstanding job educating campers about how they produce a product for customers to buy. Special thanks to: FLG Farms, Chapmans Cattle Co., Campbells Berry Farm, Danny Price Bee Farm, The Farmer's Daughter, and Deal Orchards.

Lazy 5 Ranch Excursion was a day for our Cloverbuds (ages 5-8 years old). We made the drive down to Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville, NC to see some really cool exotic animals.
Grilling 101: A Safe Plates BBQ Boot Camp. Campers during this camp learned about the different cuts of meats that can be grilled and where to find those cuts. They also learned the importance of food safety and temperatures meats should be cooked to. Each participant was allowed to cook on the grills and the last day a friendly competition was held. Participants were given some time to come up with their own recipe to be grilled and judged.