Serving the Community

We were asked to serve the United Methodist Adult Christmas Party Dinner. The Middle School kids all came and did a great job. A few Mom's came to plate the dinner in the church kitchen. It was a busy busy time - but we were really appreciated by all those that came and enjoyed the dinner. Mrs. Morton made the group matching aprons with our Logo on them. Everyone looked fantastic - a truly OFFICIAL bunch of 4H'ers!
Here Gretchen is working to keep the coffee pot going, Donna is taking a well-deserved beverage break - it was REALLY HOT in that kitchen - 4 ovens had been running all afternoon with seven pork-roasts. Terri is getting ready to serve the dinner.

After dinner we served the final course - PIE! The church has a whole room dedicated to pie - THE PIE ROOM! WOW, what a fun concept! Every home should have one of these.

IN the end there were lots of dishes to be done by hand. Terri said she had NEVER seen so many dishes - and NO dishwasher, just our hands! Cindy, very well versed in Methodist dinner and kitchen work, came in near the end to pitch in a hand and help get this job done. Meanwhile, our great servers finally had the opportunity to enjoy some of the delicious food that they had been serving all night.

A Sleepover of COFFEE!

We collected a total of $40 worth of coffee money. The Center Brunswick UM Church also collected 58 pounds of coffee that needed to be repacked into 1/2 pound bags for the Pittstown Food Pantry... So - we had a total of 70 - yes SEVENTY pounds of coffee to handle at the sleepover~!
So - we jumped right in and got to work - - - labeling bags, filling and sealing them - and, moving coffee from the garage to be packed, and into boxes to be loaded into Mrs. M's car to deliver to the pantry on Saturday morning. What a shuffle it was - done in about an hour. NICE JOB EVERYON!

Here we are having fun and working SORT OF hard!

Then we made REINDEER Christmas Ornaments. If you made one be sure and save it in a safe place to enter in the WINTER FAIR!

We did a lot of HOT GLUE GUNNING! What fun for our 4H Friends to share. A guest came - Miss E - and everyone enjoyed a new face at this evening of fun. Glad you could come, and have a HAPPY BIRTHDAY next week!

Our finished critters! Yup - that looks like it is 80% recycled! Thanks Donna for the kits and organization you provided. Enjoyed by all!

After some more crafts - and a snack or two - 3 kids slept over. After a mere 7 hours of sleep - we went to deliver the coffee to the food pantry. Gosh - it looks like the sun wasn't even up yet!

Here we are - we went right to work filling up boxes for the Pantry Patrons to pick up at 9am. One stuffing, one can of yams, one dessert, 3 cans of veggies, rolls, apples, and more went into each box. The kids helped fill them and then checked the inventory sheets to make sure the box had EVERYTHING needed for a Thanksgiving Dinner. All in all - 60 boxes were prepared. What a great community service the pantry and her volunteers do.

Mrs. G took time out to explain how the Pantry works - and how people qualify to receive food. The pantry serves a lot of people and really helps them in these hard economic times. THANKS MRS. G!

Here is a completed box. All it needs is a turkey. They were outside - frozen in the back of a pick-up. What a nice box of food.

Then the 4H'ers returned 'home' to make breakfast. We had learned all about Baking Powder - acids and bases and CO2 the night before. Does anyone remember what we learned?????

Baking Powder is a LEAVENING AGENT. Having this in your recipe makes bubbles that lighten and soften baked goods – making them nicer to eat. Without the bubbles, cookies would taste like big flat hard crackers.

Dry Leavening Agent = Acid + Base + Inert Starch
BAKING POWDER = Cream of Tartar + Baking Soda + Cornstarch

When you mix this powder with water a chemical reaction happens with the acid and base. This reaction makes CARBON DIOXIDE BUBBLES in your recipe.

NaHCO3 + H+ ===> Na+ + CO2 + H2O is the chemical equation for what happens when you add water to Baking Powder

So we put this chemistry to work to see how good it might taste with a little flour, sugar and CHOCOLATE CHIPS tossed in!

The results looked pretty good, but not 1/2 as good as they tasted.

We also enjoyed some fresh scrambled eggs with our muffins. YUMM-I-E!

Photo Scavenger Hunt on BEAUTIFUL DAY!

OK - so a gorgeous 55F Fall Day. How DID we pick this day back in August. I could not have been mor perfect. So MM set the kids out to find 17 items with a camera. They worked in pairs - Ready - got your lists - GO......
OK- wait - we need a PRE-HUNT group photo-op! Nice smiles EVERYONE!

Then - G, B and N put their heads together to figure this one out. G is the note-taker, N the brains behind this one, and B keeping them all in line! WELL DONE GALS!

MM didn't make it easy. We weren't looking for acorns and grass. This is "find something straight"...

I think this was "find five different leaves"

This was definately "something folded". M related a shocking tale about Grandpa and how this chair ended up in THIS CONDITON - in THIS LOCALE!

and.... 'something with 5 colors'

Afterwards, we took a nice hike thru our host's property. There is a 'TARZAN and JANE' stop along the way with an AWESOME vine for swinging. Tarzan - eat your heart out! Ah-a-hah-a-ah.....

But not before the 'judges' had time to evaulate the Scavengers results. In the foreground Gretchen is trying to decipher tiny tiny pictures - MaryMargaret does the same with a second group - and Barb with the third. The criteria were simple - the evaluations of 'unique' and 'creative' another story! Especially in those TINY view finders - in BRIGHT sunlight! In the end - the point spread was from 193 to 211, a tough challenge - with similar results for a great group of kids. WELL DONE TO ALL!

And - what would a nice fall day be with out hot chocolate and cookies after the judging was complete? Never mind that they are like pigs - in the hog barn! :0) (no worries - the swine aren't expected until 2011!)

More vine swinging....

And a nice group shot in a lovely spring place called "Fairy Land"!

Then a little more hiking to the neighbors field and a visit with Falcon (the paint) and Cody (the dark horse).

A good time was had by all. Our hosts say we can do it again. ..... THANK-YOU from all of us....... We'll have to up the prizes - and make it a tad tougher. This crew of mostly the Elementary Gang - did GREAT!

FALL HARVEST DINNER

So - COOKING is a big theme this year. The leaders have planned 4 Dinner EVENTS throught the year. At each we will have our 16 members in 4 groups. Rotating thru salad, vegetables, main-dish, and dessert. Here we are 2 weeks ago planning the first dinner - a FALL HARVEST. Cindy works thru some tough salad decisions - and helps her small make good suggestions for the club to choose from.
Then Tami and a couple of the kids check out the FACS ROom kitchen to make sure it has the utinsels, serving dishes and supplies we will need to prepare dessert for 20 people next week.

Terri just isn't sure about this list!

Well, the big night arrives. Here S works with Barb on 'onions' for the chicken cacciatore. Later she and G are working to mix together the sauce for our chicken. It doesn't look so good - YET! Donna is only a LITTLE stressed out. 90 minutes to skin the chicken, brown the chicken, make the sauce and get it served for 20 people! YIKES! Barb is madly searching for something. WHatta team!

Meanwhile over in DESSERTS - B and A work on something CHOCOLATE. Yea - B-R-O-W-N-I-E-S. NICE CHOICE!

and... here is our first course team - working up a yummy salad.

and.... lets not forget the veggie crew in Kitchen #4. M is checking out the recipe with the help of "B". It's a good thing "B" is around. She was a big help on the Scavenger Hunt too! Whew - we need all the help we can muster sometimes.

As things wound down in the kitchens, and all the dishes were baking away - all the kids worked to make place cards and get tables set. I for one had NO IDEA this was really happening. What great leader-teamwork we had to get this all done!

At 7:12 - just 12 minutes after our target SIT DOWN time - we did it. Here is one table of middle-schoolers beggining to enjoy their main-course!

And - a table of Elementary kids. Not so sure that one in a gray sweatshirt thinks this is so great a taste!

The amazing t his is that we didn't serve 20 people as planned. Actually -28 people sat down and enjoyed this 3-course meal. All fresh, hot and tasty!

Here is a table full of Mom's and leaders. We even had the pleasure of Janice Fox's company from the Cooperative Extension office. We were so glad to share this with her - - - and WHEW - it came out OK!

Guess this picture should be up higher - we began with the first course - salad!

In the end - there weren't many left overs, most left with satisfied bellies and alas, the clean-up began. Whatta mess of dishes, serving bowls and preparation utinsels, pots and pans. We must heartily THANK the FACS TEACHER for letting us use this wonderful facility. We simply could not do such an event in someone's home - or even a community center.

THE THRILLS & SKILLS FALL HARVEST DINNER - -- in the end - - - -

4 groups - 4 kitchens - 3 courses - and 28 satisfied 4H'ers!

Here is to happy HEADS, HEARTS, busy HANDS and learning about good HEALTH!

Let's Get Down to BUSINESS!

Between the main course and dessert - M ran a great Business Meeting. Just once a month does the trick. Madame President keeps us up to date on upcoming events in our club and in the county 4H. WELL DONE.
Miss B does a great job of writing up minutes for each meeting and sharing with us all that we accomplish each month. THANKS!

And let's not forget our treasurer. She keeps our attendance and makes sure everyone pays their dues at each meeting..... Nicely done. .... Now -what shall we do with our KITTY this year?

Peebles Island - GeoCaching

It was a cold Saturday - but we ventured out anyway. NO MORE RAIN DATES -OK folks? We had enough of those last year. No flu either - OK? Here is Mr. "W" at our first find of the day. Took a bit of digging around - the GPS's were bouncing all over the place because of the cloud cover - but we got the job done!
The kids learned quick - those that were first timers - that many cache's only have a log. Not TERRIBLY exciting. THEN we found the ammo can. Full of good stuff to trade with. Good thing Mrs. M brought along some goodies to leave behind to replace the stash taken by the group!

And - we had a nice turnout didn't we? The weather turned a bit sunnier and was nice. AND - thanks to everyone, we didn't lose anyone over the cliffs. Even Coach "T" from school tagged along to see what this geo-caching is all about? So - will she venture out with Thrills & Skills again? We'll just have to see!

A few of us trekked on to find a 3rd cache of the day. This one was not too hard to find. Getting it out was another chore.............. um, Miss "I" what ARE you doing to that tree?

Miss "T" found out - all ya had to do was dig UNDER the kids thru the BOTTOM of the tree! NICE FIND - her first......