Items on my Desk

I have way too much junk on my desk.  Mainly books, photos, trinkets, reminders of things from the past.  This evening I looked at these old artifacts.  Were you a member of 4-H when you were growing up?  Do you remember why the club was called 4-H?  In other words, what do the four H's stand for? (Answer Below)

Head, Heart, Hands, Health

We'd meet in the gymnasium and would stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.  Then we would remain standing for the 4-H Pledge.  I still remember it:

I pledge my head to clearer thinking,
My heart to greater loyalty,
My hands to larger service,
And my health to better living,
For my club, my community, my country, and my world.

4-H was just a club, but I still remember my advisors and activities that we did and important life lessons we learned, trips we went on, and friendships we developed.

46 years ago I was awarded that wooden ruler shown above for participating in a Forestry Slogan Contest.  I don't remember what slogan I came up with.  Forestry was a big deal in our area.  There were 'tree farms' where pine trees were grown.  Right down the road from where I grew up there was a nursery where pine trees were grown for the timber business.  When large areas of pine trees were clear cut, the land was replanted with pine trees from the nursery.  

To protect the tree farms from fire, there were fire towers in the area.  People were positioned in the tower to scan the horizon for smoke.  If fire was threatening the trees, trucks with bulldozers were called out to the area and fire lanes would be made to stop the forest fires from damaging and destroying the trees.  There are big facilities in Allen Parish and parishes to the north and west that make plywood.

Back to 4-H.  4-H was a fun club.  We all looked forward to going to Camp Grant Walker in Pollack, Louisiana during the summer.  We'd attend Achievement Day where we'd be tested on Seed Identification, Leaf identification, Livestock Judging and all other sorts of things.  Demonstration Day was a day that made your knees knock.  You had to get up in front of the class and give a demonstration on something.  It was your first real shot at public speaking.  I was terrified!

As I look back on it, I think of how naïve and simple the times were.  One of the more popular demonstrations was, "How to Clean a 12 gauge Shotgun."  Yes, we would bring shotguns to school and break them down and show how to properly clean a gun.  No one thought anything of it.  It was innocent.  It's kind of amazing, if you think about it, how much we've changed since then. 

The Parish Fair was a blast!  I would bring my sheep to show in the fair and would win ribbons like the faded one above.  People throughout the parish would bring all sorts of things that they grew in their gardens, or farms, or pickled or canned.  We'd walk through the barns after judging to see who grew the best looking potatoes, or who had the biggest rabbits.  Of course there were the rides!  We'd ride the Twist-A-World, and The Scrambler, The Ferris Wheel, and the Rock-O-Planes.  I got sick and threw up on the Rock-O-Planes!

It's funny how some old trinkets on your desk can transport you back almost five decades to good memories! 

Bee University

Tricia and I have had a colony of bees that live in a hollow fiberglass column that holds up our side porch.  They have been there for years and years, and we've posted about them many times.  We enjoy their residence there as they pollenate our garden and fruit trees.  There is one major thing we're lacking, though.  Honey.  We would like to be able to keep bees in boxes so that we can access the honey.  We will still allow the honeybees to stay in the column.  They like it there.

In order to learn about the art of beekeeping, we joined the Bayou Beekeepers Club.  The club meets the second Thursday of each month.  We've gone to the last two meetings and have learned a lot.  Since there is a resurgence of interest in beekeeping, the officers of the club have decided to have put on a beekeeping school.

The school is put on in four 2 hour sessions with a visit on the last class to a bee yard in which we'll put on equipment and go into hives to find the queen and observe everything that we'll learn in a hands-on environment.  Last night we went to the first class.  We were issued this book:

There were approximately 30 students in attendance from all over our area.  The teacher went through Power Point slides put together by a local university that began teaching about the different subspecies of bees, the bees' lifecycle, the tasks of the drone, worker bee, and queen, the stages in the life of a bee, etc.  The organizers of the school had fresh coffee and cookies - which is a sure sign of a successful meeting, in my book.

Honeybees are so regimented, so organized.  They work as a community - a whole team with tasks.  Bees live a relatively short time - only a little over 30 days.  They literally work themselves to death.

Here are some wild facts we learned about bees:

A queen bee lays about 3,000 eggs per day.
A bee makes 1/8 teaspoon of honey in its life.

Bees keep the inside of their hive at 95 degrees year-round.

Bee boxes should be placed in direct sunshine.

The main thing bees like in our area is Chinese tallow trees.

The stages of a bee: egg, larvae, pupae, adult

We will be continuing the class over the next month and will gather equipment we need and then get two boxes of bees!  We'll keep you posted with this new addition to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.

Learning By Doing - 4-H

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I pledge my head to clearer thinking,my heart to greater loyalty,my hands to larger service, and my health to better living,for my club, my community, my country and my world.

It has been more than 35 years now since I was a member of 4-H and though I sometimes forget important dates, appointments, and even what I ate the previous day, I can still recite the 4-H Pledge that is posted above.  Odd how that works.  I'm not sure how it works in other places, but around here, 4-H is administered by the LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Cooperative Extension Service and exists to provide youth with "life skills that enable participants to become positive, productive, capable and compassionate members of their communities."

Benjamin is involved with his Homeschool 4-H club in activities.  They attend meetings that an Extension Agent facilitates that helps them work toward those goals.  Just recently he built a working lamp out of a soft drink can.  He also takes part in "Shooting Sports" where they go to a range and practice target shooting with a .22 rifle and a .20 gauge shotgun.  

A recent Agriculture Day was held at the Jeff Davis Fairgrounds in which all elementary school students in the Parish were bused in and had an opportunity to become more familiar with agriculture.  Tricia and Benjamin were in charge of the Dairy Booth and had a milk cow there to demonstrate how to milk a cow and educate the kids on where milk comes from.  Before they gave the presentation, they asked kids what products come from a cow.  Believe it or not, these were some of the answers given:

• Eggs
• Orange Juice
• Moth Balls

I'm not making that up.  One student asked if brown cows give chocolate milk.  I can almost understand that, but moth balls?  I think this experience underscores the 'urbanization' we're seeing where people are distanced from their food.  Our Parish is a rural parish.  The largest 'city' has just south of 12,000 people.  If our 'country kids' don't know where their food comes from, what in the world is going on in the major metropolitan areas?  4-H is attempting to do something about that in educating students.

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Aside from growing up on a farm, 4-H played a role in giving me a love for agriculture.  I remember showing sheep at livestock shows, going door to door selling seeds for a 4-H fundraiser, giving a demonstration on how to clean a shotgun at 4-H Demonstration Day (Yes, we actually brought guns to school), attending 4-H Camp at Camp Grant-Walker in Pollock, Louisiana, taking tests on Weed identification and Seed identification at Achievement Day and being on the Livestock Judging Team.

Benjamin showing his calf

I tip my hat to the extension agents (Mrs. Monceaux & Mr. Martin) that took the time to teach me and those that continue to do so with my son (Mrs. Myers) and the next generation. In a highly industrialized and consumerist-based economy, it is critical that we re-introduce people to the land, the animals, the crops, and the work ethic and values that built our great country.  

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