- Author: Sammy Belik
On February 23, I went to the State Avian Bowl Qualifier in Fresno with my team to represent Ventura County. Our team name was the “Bird Nerds.” Our team included Scarlet James, our Captain, Olivia Willoughby, and myself, Sammy Belik. Scarlet and Olivia are in Santa Rosa 4-H club, and I am in Conejo Simi 4-H club.
Avian Bowl is an avian knowledge contest. My team studied for two to three months to get ready. We learned about many things including Raising Game Birds, Eggcyclopedia, and Avian Body Systems. In Eggcyclopedia I learned that a scotch egg is a hard boiled egg, covered in sausage, breaded, and deep fried! My favorite subject was Contributions of Poultry to the Development of Science where I learned things like where B-Lymphocytes come from and what an attenuated vaccine is. There are two divisions in the contest, the Juniors and the Seniors. The Seniors that win first place in the Qualifier get to go to Kentucky to represent California at the National Avian Bowl.
The rules are strict, so it was very hard, and it made me very nervous until we started playing. The rounds are twelve questions each with a bonus question if everyone on your team answers a question correctly. We can't talk to our teammates unless it is a bonus question. It was double elimination, but our team was undefeated! We won first place out of all the Juniors and earned belt buckles. At the end, we played Junior Champions vs Senior Champions twice. And still we were undefeated! Our team is going to Orange County fair next to compete in Avian Bowl.
I started doing avian bowl two years ago at Ventura County Fair when I had never studied before, so it's okay to be a beginner and start at Ventura County Fair. This year the Fair won't be able to allow show birds because of the New Castle outbreak, but there will be an avian bowl. It's really fun! Everyone should try it!
- Author: Adeline Vertucci
The 2019 Ventura County 4-H Food Faire was held on Saturday, February 2nd at Will Rogers Elementary School in Ventura. Nineteen members participated from three clubs: Conejo-Simi, Loma Vista, and Somis.
There were three food categories to enter: main dish, appetizer, and dessert. Members also entered decorated cakes and cupcakes. There was also a table setting category. There were 11 food items, 4 decorated items, and 1 table setting entered. Two Oxnard College Culinary Academy teachers were judges.
There were lots of things for members to do during the judging. Adler Striegel of Loma Vista prepared a vegetable judging station with veggies donated from Underwood Family Farms.
Livia Vertucci of Loma Vista 4-H prepared a spice guessing station. Adeline Vertucci from Loma Vista 4-H club created two tasting station: apples and store-bought salsa.
Reyna Lane made a healthy living station where members had to match the amount of sugar contained in different foods and drinks. It was amazing to see how much sugar there is in foods that are considered healthy, like granola and orange juice.
Reyna's mom brought chocolate fondue, a treat popular in the 1970s, for members to dip marshmallows, pretzels, and graham crackers.
The community service activity was to donate money and make thank you cards for José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen, the group that came to feed firefighters and others during the Thomas Fire and during other disasters around the world. We collected $40 to donate to World Central Kitchen along with our cards.
The most exciting part of the day was the ‘Iron Chef' competition where 16 attendees were placed into groups to take random ingredients, such as Spam, sponge cake, and kalamata olives, to create one appetizer and one dessert in 45 minutes. The appetizers and desserts that were made were interesting and creative.
Thanks to Rachel McClanahan (Livia and Adeline's mom) and Julie Salomonson (Adler's mom) for organizing this event. We can't wait until next year!
- Author: Samuel Belik
I went to the 4-H Rock Paper Scissors Event at Hansen Agricultural Center. More than twenty
kids attended the event! There were a lot of arts and crafts tables. We made the crafts to give as
gifts to our family and friends.
I made a necklace, bean soup in a jar, lavender bath salts in a bottle, molded soap, and a candle. I painted a snow chicken on a wine bottle that had lights in it. I am going to give the bottle to my dad. It will make a great decoration on dad's desk. At the potpourri table you could put miniature pumpkins that smelled good in your jar. My favorite table was making lavender bath salts in a bottle. It was my favorite because I liked mixing and shaking the ingredients. I think my family will appreciate the handmade gifts I made for them.
Arts and crafts people everywhere, I recommend that you go to the 4-H Rock Paper Scissors Holiday
arts and crafts event!
- Author: Livia Vertucci, Loma Vista 4-H
The California 4-H State Leadership Conference (SLC) is held every year at UC Davis. This conference is a chance for 13 – 18 year old 4-H members from all over California to come together to be trained in leadership skills, meet new friends from different counties, and have a great learning experience.
This year's conference was held July 26th – 29th and Adler Striegel and I were lucky enough to attend. Members also get to stay the weekend in the dorms on campus, which gives the opportunity to feel what it's like to live on a college campus and manage their own schedule.
We arrived on Thursday, July 26th, got settled into our dorm rooms, had dinner together and then broke into our Program Assistant, or “PA"groups. In our groups we got to know each other, went over the schedule for the weekend, and then we were off to see Inside Out. We watched the movie Inside Out because it is all about recognizing feelings and learning that it's okay to feel all of your feelings and that you don't just have to be happy all the time.
On Friday everyone went on their chosen tours around Sacramento. Adler and I got a tour of the capitol building and then we toured the UC Davis campus. Other members went to tours such as the Computer Science (CS) Summit, UC Davis Institute of Food Science, California Raptor Center, Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, and the Underground Tour of Old Sacramento. That night after dinner we went to the great hall to do activities to help us make new friends. To make new friends we had to find another person and give them a high-five and introduce ourselves. Then we had to find another person and give them a fist-bump and introduce ourselves. Then, we had to go back and find our high-five friend. Since there were more than 100 people attending, it was a little hard to find our new friends, but eventually we did. After that activity we had a ‘trinket trade' where we gave out items that represented our club, I painted shells to look like a strawberry and Adler painted beach rocks with a 4-H clover.
The next day after breakfast we had a guest speaker called ‘The Ripples Guy'. He taught us all about what he had learned about building bridges and being able to find areas of connection between people. We may live far apart and have different beliefs, but we can always find something that connects us. Then, we can pass it on, and that is the ripple. The rest of the day on Saturday was spent going to different workshops depending on what we wanted to learn about. Adler and I went to the session called, “Soap for Hope and Emerald Star and Beyond” where we learned that making soap is difficult but that they were making it for a good cause. The project was about making soap to give to victims of domestic abuse. I thought that it was a really great idea that they went to all of the trouble to make soap to give to people who are having a hard time. In the afternoon we got to meet the new State Ambassadors and learn more about the program. On Saturday night we got to dance to DJ Hightop for three hours with new friends. The dance was so much fun!
On our last day we had a self-awareness and stress reliving workshop out on the field. In this workshop we learned to meditate and have a “mind wash” where we stopped thinking about things and made our minds clear. We also got to make stress balls and paint watercolor to relax and be creative. Finally, it was time to go home and so we had to say goodbye to our new friends and PAs and head home to share all that we learned with our clubs. I would recommend SLC to all members who are 13 – 18 years old because it makes you feel connected to 4-H in a bigger way because you get to meet members from all over and hear about all their clubs and activities.
- Author: Ashley & Andrew Pyler, Loma Vista 4-H
4-H'ers from various clubs across Ventura County enjoyed themselves while volunteering at the 2018 Annual Summerfest Dog Show. The show took place at California State University Channel Islands in Camarillo, California on July 6 through July 8, 2018. Although the summer heat temperatures rose to an uncomfortable 105˚, it did not dampen the mood of all of the volunteers.
4-H Members came from different clubs including: Loma Vista 4-H, Conejo-Simi Valley 4-H, and Santa Rosa Valley 4-H. The show's organizers really appreciated the help the 4-H'ers provided while working the obedience show as ring stewards. The tasks they performed involved: resetting jump heights for different jumps, holding leashes for handlers, posting different signs in the rings, keeping scores, assisting with the awards, and helping the judges with whatever was needed at the time.
All the community service effort provided by the 4-H'ers helped the Summerfest Dog Show run smoothly and stay on schedule. In turn, volunteering at the show taught all of the 4-H members there more about dog shows, and obedience shows in particular. The dogs who compete at these shows are truly amazing, as are their handlers, and everyone had a wonderful time.