Fair Clean-Up Day

Summer has gone all to fast - and it's already time to clean out the 4H building at the fair. Here we are with some dedicated 4H'ers from Green Earthlings and others weeding out the fair plot. THANKS to all who helped us!
There were a LOT of weeds.

We did a lot of arranging inside too. Here some of our Jr. Thrills & Skills'ers arrange things for the Fashion Display. SO helpful - SO cute.......

Planning for 2011-2012 4H year is underway!

Mrs. Gorbaty, Mrs. Morton and Mrs. Corcoran met last week for 2.5 hours to begin planning for our 2011-2012 4-H year! Thanks to: Mrs. Morton for hashing out a rough outline ahead of time, to Mrs. Gorbaty for printing them out for us, and to Mrs. Corcoran for hosting us. Ingrid, Maeve, Nessa and Beibhinn had to hang out inside since we had quite the afternoon rain shower!

Our planning session was focused on the junior 4H’ers and the activities that they would be involved in and those activities that would involve the juniors and seniors. Some great ideas were tossed around for the coming year. We will be revisiting some old familiar projects/activities like sewing, cooking and geocaching, and we will be adding some new projects/activities like an archery lesson, a bit of weaving and some card making! It is going to be an exciting year with Thrills and Skills and we are all looking forward to it!

In addition to our planning there was some discussion about assisting next year’s the officers to really blossom in their positions and to master the skills those positions require. Stay tuned for details and announcement regarding this!

Emma's Post

Here I am mixing the batter for delicious waffles. These were healthier than normal waffles, they were made with whole wheat flower.

Even though I am smiling for the camera, I really don't like whisking the batter. I'd rather be playing with my friends.

Hannah's Post

Adam and I were grating cheese for Quiche. I think that Quiche tastes more than delicious. Everybody loved it.

Here is a picture of Mr. Johnson being crazy while making Brownies. I like Brownies.

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!