- Author: Natalie Cunha
It's that time of year again! You may have started your Record books and while it can seem tedious you may find use of it in the future, either during an interview, or just looking back on the past. My grandmother's record book is a bit of a historic document. She began 4-H in 1955, in one of the then numerous 4-H groups in Iowa and things sure were different! She was required to write down all of her purchases from ice cream to the movies in her record book. In an effort to teach kids to be leaders, each child got to take a turn in all the officer positions and the only role of adults was to teach the kids how to lead. Her club had about 12 girls in it. Yes, you read that correct! The girls were traditionally to join only the feminine projects, decorating, sewing, and cooking in 4-H. My grandmother, Gwen grew up on a large corn and cattle ranch. Since she was a girl, she was restricted to helping her mother in the house rather than raising animals for the fair or wrangling cattle on horseback like her big brother. Back then they plowed by walking behind the horses that were attached to the plow! By the time she had joined 4-h her father had bought their first tractor.
I'm not sure what you imagine when you think of a cooking project but back then it was quite an ordeal! Ovens were fueled by, you guessed it, wood! In her club they focused on a different project each year such as canning or pie baking. Imagine cooking before timers, that was a reality when she was in 4-H, one of her chores was to sit in front of the oven watching for when the food was done! The sewing project was also different. By the time she was five she was already sewing doll clothes and learning embroidery. When she joined 4-h in fourth grade, her mother had taught her to use the sewing machine. I'm not sure what you picture as a sewing machine but back then you powered it with your feet, and it was a menace, one fowl move and you lose your finger. Even so, Gwen was sewing all her clothes through 4-H by the time she entered high school. At the fair she would often put sewing projects on hangers to display them as well as different projects that she baked, much like the Placer County Fair. It's crazy how much you can learn about the past just by talking to your grandparents! Who knew that just two generations ago people used horse drawn carriages to get to church? So next time you hear the words, “Back in my day...” listen, you never know what you'll learn along the way!
When I first started 4-H, I wanted to dive into every aspect of it that I could. I joined nearly all of the projects and was very excited about swine. I loved learning about them and how to raise them, but soon realized that I would never be able to house a pig because I lived in a suburbia. So, I pushed my attention towards sewing and baking, finding love for the creative side of 4-H. I sewed a dress and entered the Fashion Revue. I entered my baked goods into the fair, despite my creations not being very good. I pushed forward to strengthen my skills, but my attention started to move onto leadership. Our community club president at the time inspired me to take a leadership role at the club level. At the end of the year, I nominated myself to the Secretary role, and was elected. I enjoyed being the club's Secretary and reading the minutes at every meeting, as well as having a part in planning every meeting and event we held. I soon wanted a larger role, and the following year I nominated myself for Vice President. I was overjoyed at the opportunity in front of me, I was surprised when I was formally elected. I gained tremendous experiences as one of the main leaders of the club, which consisted of greater roles in preparing events within our small community. The next year I became a Jr. All Star, which is now known as the Ambassador program, and enjoyed planning events for the entire county. I decorated the halls for every event we held and loved being in such a large leadership position. I later left almost every project I was a part of and focused solely on leadership. I am now in my second year of the new Ambassador program and I am loving every second of it.
While 4-H has so many opportunities, I fell in love with leadership roles and having a part in planning events for the county. I felt as if I did not fit into 4-H because I was unable to show animals, as I did not have the space to house one. However, over the years I have learned that there is more to 4-H than just fair. While this is a large, and amazing, feature of the program, there are so many other aspects. You can do almost anything in 4-H, and if there is not a project that you enjoy, you can create one! There are so many amazing opportunities given to 4-H members, and I want every single member to know that they can do anything that they put their mind to. 4-H will take you to do amazing things; you can travel to different parts of the country, go to various shows and competitions for many different things, go to an amazing summer camp and meet so many new people, and become acquainted with people from across the state and country. These are a few of the many opportunities that 4-h can provide you with, and the road you take is limitless.
- Author: Natalie Cunha
When you picture an elephant in your mind do you see a cartoon elephant, a real elephant, or do you picture a stuffed animal elephant?
On Saturday November 7th, Placer County and Nevada County 4-H held a virtual Bi-County Club Officer Training. The virtual event was a huge success with just over 50 participants. We were able to come together and discuss what this year will look like at a club level. It is clear things have been changing throughout 2020, so as we continue to turn toward 2021, our 4-H programs are not giving up steam!
The Club Officer Training started off by having all the youth participants draw an elephant... why an elephant you ask? Well, some youth did not end up with an elephant on their page, some ended up with lizards! The purpose of the activity was for youth to understand that all people hear directions differently. All participants were given the same verbal instructions, and all ended up with different drawings on their paper.
We then all reviewed Robert's Rules and were reminded the importance of traditional 4-H procedures. Our training moved on to presentations from our seven Placer County 4-H Ambassadors, accompanied by both County's Community Education Specialists, and a handful of wonderful 4-H adult Volunteers. Thank you ALL for attending! We broke out into three different training presentations, one for Treasurers, one for Secretaries, and then one final zoom room was for Presidents, Vice Presidents, Reporters, Historians, Sergeants at Arms, and more. The ambassadors covered a range of different topics from how to make your own envelopes, to practicing pronunciation with tongue twisters. It may not have been the typical Bi-County Officer Training, but it was great to feel the sense of community and collaboration among the Placer County and Nevada County 4-H youth.
- Author: Dan Macon
This post from our Placer-Nevada County Director and UCCE Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor, Dan Macon, was originally published on August 17, 2020, on his Ranching in the Sierra Foothills blog. As we enter the fall season, his advice and perspective on PSPS events and wildfire preparation are very timely.
Over the last three days, we've had a stark reminder about our vulnerability to wildfire and public safety power shutoffs here in the Sierra foothills. On Saturday morning, as I was getting ready to participate in the California Wool Growers Association virtual convention, I received word that the power was out in the community where our ewes are grazing. This meant we'd likely have to haul water to the sheep (rather than filling troughs from a pump-fed hose bib) - doable, but time consuming. Fortunately, power was restored quickly, and we were able to fill the troughs - a relief since Saturday was one of the hottest days of the summer so far!
Last night, I awoke to the sound of one of our border collies opening the screen door and trotting into the kitchen (where he could hide beneath the desk). Mo hates thunder, and I realized that thunder had chased him inside. I went outside to watch the lightning dance around the hills to our west and north. These storms were dry, and so we awoke this morning to news of a number of small (and at least one not-so-small) fires just to our north in Nevada County. I can smell smoke outside my office as I write this.
These events remind us that we're approaching peak fire season here in the northern foothills. The continuing heat wave (we're supposed to be over 100F for the fourth consecutive day) is drying the fuel to critical levels. As we head towards autumn, we'll likely see stronger and more erratic winds - and, according to the flyer I received from Pacific Gas & Electric last week, more public safety power shutoffs.
Last year's shutoffs were chaotic, to say the least. Here in north Auburn, we lost power three or four times (I think; so much has happened since last fall, my memory is a bit hazy). I do recall that the warning calls and texts from PG&E were frequent and rarely accurate. We had difficulty finding ice for our ice chests, and folks seemed to have forgotten how to go through intersections without working traffic lights. I grew up with lengthy power outages from winter weather, so the loss of electricity was more of an inconvenience for us - thankfully we had a small generator handy, so we could keep the meat in our freezers cold.
Heading into this fall, though, we should all be thinking about how we can manage through these power shutoffs and prepare for wildfire. Here's a start:
Public Safety Power Shutoff Preparation
- Can we get water to our livestock if the power goes off? How much water will our livestock need per day? If I can't pump water to them, do I have enough tank capacity and water access to haul water to them until power is restored?
- Do I have back-up power for our freezers and refrigerators? What is at risk in these appliances? We no longer sell meat at farmers markets; if we did, I'd be sure to have enough backup power generation on hand. What about vaccines and other pharmaceuticals? We keep our animal drugs in a refrigerator in our shop - can we keep them cold if we have no electricity?
- Do we have enough gasoline to run our generator for several days?
- Do we have enough ice for our ice chests to get us through a day or two without power? We've started filling empty milk cartons with water and freezing them for future use.
- Do all of our flashlights and battery-powered lanterns have good batteries?
- Can we charge our phones and computers in our vehicles? My laptop has an adapter, and we all have car chargers for our smart phones.
- Have we signed up for alerts from PG&E and other emergency services? As unorganized as the PG&E alert system was last year, it was helpful to feel connected and to be getting updates. And since these shutoffs coincide with periods of high fire danger, access to our phones is critical.
Wildfire Preparation
Since large-scale fires often coincide with loss of power, most of the preparations listed above apply here, too. But there are additional questions we think about when it comes to fire:
- Can we get to our sheep in the event of fire? Currently we have livestock on two leased properties at some distance from our home. In the event of a fire at these locations, we would contact law enforcement and animal control if we needed to gain access.
- Do we have contact information for landlords and neighboring landowners where our livestock our grazing, just in case we can't get access?
- Who would we call if we needed to haul our livestock out of the path of an oncoming fire? We can't get all of our sheep in one load, so we'd need to call for help.
- Alternatively, are there safe zones where we could place our livestock if we didn't have time to evacuate? Irrigated pastures or dry lots devoid of flammable vegetation may give us some emergency protection in a fast moving fire.
- Do we have a texting tree or a calling tree to check in with other ranchers in our community? I have found that county and CalFire emergency notification services typically don't provide timely information about small, local fires. But my ranching friends are always on top of things - often, the first word I get about a fire in our part of Placer County is a text from a fellow rancher.
- Are our buildings and other infrastructure protected? Since we have livestock in multiple locations, I think about this beyond our home place. Are there fire breaks protecting fences and forage? Have we removed brush around buildings and corrals?
- Do we have fire tools available to us? I keep a fire rake and a 5-gallon backpack pump in my truck during the summer - I've never had to use them, but I feel better having them with me.
You can sign up for PG&E alerts at at https://www.pge.com/mywildfirealerts (if you're a PG&E customer) or https://pge.com/pspszipcodealerts (if you're not a PG&E customer). You can also access PG&E's weather forecasting center at https://pge.com/weather.
Stay safe!- Author: Jill Simmons
Nathan is a 10-year 4-H member who has been involved in many projects including poultry, forestry, dogs, SLO scientists, and engineering. He is a member of the Ophir 4-H Club. Nathan's interest and leadership in 4-H Computer Science has grown through opportunities to serve as a teen leader in a Minecraft map making project, a Unity game development project, and as the teen leader in a Virtual Reality (VR) Game Development Project. In the VR Game Development Project, he taught 4-H members how to design game levels, how to program using the C# programming language, and VR-specific concepts. Nathan is inspired by the opportunity to encourage affinity for the sciences in others.
“4-H has provided the opportunity to enrich my teaching skills, practice interacting with students, and work as a team,” said Nathan. The challenges encountered were securing funding to rent spaces to hold meetings and for purchasing computers. Low project enrollment was also an obstacle. Nathan said, “In order to address enrollment, we posted our flier on various social media outlets, including Facebook and community pages, as well as handing out fliers in person. We opted to reserve meeting space months in advance at a centrally located, convenient public library.”
In 4-H, Nathan has enjoyed teaching computer science competency by fostering conceptual understanding, and by “helping others in providing an affordable opportunity to learn computer science.” Nathan said, “Members of the projects were grateful to learn new skills. Parents have expressed gratitude for their positive experience, as they were able to attend and work along with their children.” He has also found that his 4-H leadership experiences have enhanced his college and career-building opportunities. He plans to establish a VR software studio and pursue a degree in computer science.
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