Upcoming Holiday Workshop

We are planning a 4-H Holiday Workshop on Wednesday, November 25th. The workshop will be held upstairs at the Extension office from 8:30am til 5:00pm. We will be making holiday cookies, arts and crafts and bread which the 4-Hers can share with their families on Thanksgiving. There will be a $20 charge which covers all materials, snacks, and lunch. For more information please call our office at 828-837-2210. Click here to print a registration form.

4-H to celebrate 100 years October 9th!

4-H Homecoming

Save the Date

100 Years! Wow. What an achievement. And, what a birthday!

Few organizations or companies ever reach their centennial year. But, as you know, in 2009 the North Carolina 4-H Program will celebrate 100 years. From humble beginnings in northeastern North Carolina as corn growing clubs, North Carolina 4-H has grown into the largest youth development program in the state. Today's 4-H is a mirror image demographically of the youth living in North Carolina between the ages of 5 and 19. With the support of over 22,980 volunteers we now serve more than 239,000 young people.

To celebrate this momentous milestone in our history, an exciting event has been planned. Please reserve October 9, 2009 for the “NC 4-H Centennial Homecoming.” This event will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to catch up with old friends, make new ones, and celebrate our past as we position 4-H for the future.

Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to come and be a part of history in the making. More details and an official invitation will follow in early October 2009.

4-H Explorers Learn to Preserve

The Home-schooled 4-H Explorers learned to preserve vegetables they have grown in their plot at the community garden. Shannon Coleman, 4-H Agent, instructed the group on making pickles, salsa and preserving green beans. It was a long day of hard work! The rewards will be well worth it when it comes times to enjoy the tasty foods. Club members who canned will chose a sample of their work to enter in the Mountain State Fair this summer.

Register 4-H Day Camps Now!

It is time again to have summer fun with 4-H. Registration for the 2009 4-H summer day camps has begun. This year there will be three different 4-H day camps to choose from or come to all of them.
4-H Summer Fun Day Camps are packed full of fun and learning. We will be working on nutrition, wellness, physical activity, life skills, arts, crafts, sewing, gardening and so much more. Each week we will have an extended lesson for the families on budget friendly meals, healthy bagged lunches, nutrition on a dime, and how can families be fit and well together. Youth attending the day camps do not have to be a 4-H member or become a 4-H member to attend a day camp. All the day camps are open to youth regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, religion, sex, or disability. At 4-H day camps, youth will get to experience just how much fun 4-H really is.
Dates, ages and registration cost are listed below. Pay close attention to times and dates, they are included below and in the registration packets. A registration packet can be picked up at the office of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension, located at 39 Peachtree Street, Murphy, NC. Deadline for registering for all of the local 4-H day camps is June 12, 2009. Register early because space is limited to 10 youth per camp. The age for all camps is 6-15 years excluding Scott Hogsed Day.

4-H Fit for Fun Day Camp!
June 24 – July 2 (We do not meet June 27 or 28)
Hiwassee Valley Pool & Wellness Center
TIME: 8:00AM-5:00PM
TOTAL COST: $50.00 (That is less than $8.00 a day)

4-H Health Rocks & More Day Camp!!
This camp will be similar to the Fit for Fun but will have different activities for youth to do so if they choose to repeat the camp it will not be the same.
JULY 6 – July 17 (We do not meet July 11 or 12)
Hiwassee Valley Pool & Wellness Center
TIME: 8:00AM-5:00PM
TOTAL COST: $70.00 ($7.00 a day)

4-H Fit for Fun Day Camp, Take II!
Even though this is the same type of camp different activities will be plan so that if the same youth choose to participate they will not be bored.
JULY 27—AUGUST 4 (We do not meet August 1 or 2.)
Hiwassee Valley Pool & Wellness Center
TIME: 8:00AM-5:00PM
TOTAL COST: $50.00 (Less than $8.00 a day)

For registration information, come by the office of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension or call Shannon Coleman or Cindy Chastain at (828) 837-2210. Day camps fill up fast so register as soon as possible.

Click here to get a registration form online.

Community Garden Up and Growing!

Participants in the Community Garden have been attending classes about gardening and participated in demonstrations about gardening. For many of the participants this is the first time they have ever gardened. Agricultural Extension Agent Keith Wood, Family and Consumer Science Agent Teresa Wiley, and 4-H Agent Shannon Coleman have been providing instruction on gardening and gardening techniques. Classes are $10.00 for the entire series for the public and are included in the registration fees for garden participants. Several classes are still to come so please call the Extension office for more information.
The Explorer’s 4-H Club is growing one of the rows in the garden. The Explorer’s are a home school 4-H club here in Cherokee County. One of the clubs main objectives is to learning about gardening and they are getting involved and are knee deep in dirt. The leader is Nancy Duggan, of Andrews, and she is an avid gardener herself so she has a lot to teach the youth. Youth in the club have also contributed by making plant identification stakes from recycled blinds. These have been a big help for the garden participants to identify their crops they are growing. Youth have also help with getting the trellis ready for the beans by helping Keith Wood put the string on the trellis. The youth will also be doing some canning projects when their crops come in but the majority of their row of food will go to help needy families here in Cherokee County.
As a rule of the garden all of the participants must give 10% of their products to a local charity. This giving back is part of our commitment to being good stewards and giving back to the county that helped the participants by providing a place to garden.

Embryology Project A Success!

The chicks are here! Mrs. Jessica Mashburn's fourth grade class have been studying animal habitats. One of their main projects during this study was the 4-H embryology project. This 4-H school enrichment program starts with the youth exploring the egg and the process of hatching the chick from the egg. Eggs were furnished by a local farmer and incubators are furnished by Cherokee County 4-H. The youth examined the progress of the development of the embryo at each stage as it became a chick inside an egg. The youth were successful in this project and had twelve baby chicks as a result of their care and hard work. The chicks will remain in the classroom until they are old enough to be sent back to the farmer.