4H: For the learning, and the love
Published 3:00 pm Thursday, September 30, 2004
4H: It isn’t just about rabbits anymore.
Besides projects with guinea pigs, goats, poultry and rabbits, the organization also offers archery, cooking, gardening, photography, knitting, woodworking and theatre improv.
“We’re a youth development organization, the same way as scouting helps kids develop good life skills and leadership skills,” said Krista Seeley, a parent and secretary of the Bainbridge 4H club dubbed “Hare Raisers, Etc.”
The Bainbridge club boasts the highest enrollment in Kitsap County, with 68 kids from kindergarten through 12th grade participating.
4H – the name stands for Head, Heart, Hands and Health – is a serious endeavor begun by the federal government in 1914 to spread knowledge to then-rural America about effective crop-growing and animal-husbandry techniques. The program was administered through such “land grant” universities as Washington State University.
Today’s kids study 4H textbooks to learn how to maintain the health of an animal, about different breeds, and basic care and veterinary skills. The rabbit textbook alone runs 253 pages.
Club president Maria Mason’s daughter Brittain parlayed her 4H study of rabbits into an internship at the Winslow Animal Clinic as a high school student.
“4H kids get called by neighbors with sick animals,” she said.
At last month’s Kitsap County Fair, all 30 Hare Raisers who entered won awards and qualified for the state fair in September. Bainbridge kids took all the top honors in the fitting and showing of poultry, which involves presenting one’s animal and knowing how to assess the breed.
Entrants were also judged on “record books” in which they keep financial records and a journal of what they do each day on their project.
Twenty adults are involved as project leaders or assistants backed up by the older students who mentor younger ones.
“4H is run by volunteers,” Seeley said. “But they also get a chance to work in an area they are passionate about.”
Their passion runs from woodworking to working with animals.
Leah Applewhite’s fifth-grade daughter Emily has been in 4H since kindergarten and participates in the poultry, guinea pig “cavy” and dog projects. At the county fair with her dog Rock-It, she earned first place prizes in agility and showmanship.
It took Emily two years working with the purebred border collie, from when he was a puppy, to be ready to compete at the fair. Her mother recalls Emily being frustrated to tears at times, but Emily said she doesn’t get discouraged.
“I know I can try again… He is going to do it some time, and when he does, it’s really, really cool,” she said.
Unlike the American Kennel Club, 4H dogs don’t have to be purebred.
“It’s about the kids and the good things they learn from training a dog,” Leah said. “One of the reasons I like it is it helps children. (It uses) different types of intelligence than working at school. It’s a good basis for personal relationships because they have to learn patience.”
As a mother, Leah says the family involvement emphasized by 4H makes a difference.
“It’s the kind of thing where you’re with your kids. You don’t just drop them off,” she said. “I’ve realized what a great opportunity it is to interact with Emily and her friends. It’s a different feeling than dropping her off for soccer.”
Said Emily, “It’s fun working with your animal. It’s fun to know you trained your dog, and you didn’t hire someone.”
Poultry
Elizabeth Fisher is all about chickens. She has fed them for her family since she was 5- or 6 -years old; she plays with them by turning the roosting stick they are perched on.
“They’re kind of part of my life,” Fisher said.
While some might dread having to memorize chicken bone structure and muscles, Fisher enjoys it. Fisher says the commitment and studying required by 4H is good practice for studying subjects she doesn’t enjoy as much, like math.
Now a senior at Bainbridge High School, she’s been with 4H for eight years and is president this year, running the monthly Hare Raisers meeting. The group is now planning for the 4H booth at the Harvest Fair on Oct. 10 at the Johnson Farm.
“It’s a commitment and I really enjoy it because it’s something I excel at,” Fisher said. “Having them (chickens), you get to love them. 4H is part of the love for them.”
Haley Scancella, an 11th grader at Eagle Harbor High School, recalls being calm during the difficult and harrowing labor of her goat Melody last year. The kid was coming out head first, but without its front hooves; it was in danger of breaking its neck at birth.
“I knew she would make it, but I was concerned about the others being concerned,” Scancella said. “I was very calm.”
With telephone assistance and the moral support of friends, Melody and the kid, now named Sal, made it through and debuted at the county fair this year.
“An important part of English culture is to be kind to animals,” said Melody’s mother Linda Slater, who boasts a British heritage. “That was taught to me by my mother, (and) that’s been important for me to pass on to my kids.
“4H is an awesome way to keep kids connected in a very earthy sense.”
Tending a goat includes morning feeding, cleaning the bedding, and locking them in at night against predators. Hooves must be clipped once a month.
That responsibility translates to club gatherings; 4H kids run the meetings and make decisions with only guidance from adults.
“In organized sports, those aren’t about the kids like 4H… Organized sports has a different flavor,” Slater said. “Parent involvement is secondary in 4H.”
“I can’t say enough for it,” she said. “It’s educational, fun, hands-on learning that a lot of kids don’t get. You don’t have to have an animal to do 4H, it can be anything somebody in the community can mentor.”
