Rabbits & Cavies ... and Chickens! Oh my!

Jake, with Bo, at the Showmanship table

Bella & Tori posing with Nutmeg

Tori: Champion in Cavy Showmanship with Nutmeg: Champion Cavy!

Bella at the Showmanship table with Brianna's Champion Mini Rex:

Ally with her Champion Lionhead

Emily at the Showmanship table with her Champion Pet Rabbit, Sparkle!

Gabby with Mr. BunBun: Champion in Rabbit Showmanship!

Gabriella & Isabella with 2 of their Chickens (from this year's Poultry Challenge)
... and later with just 2 of the many ribbons they ended up winning!

Fair Exhibits

Our Club had lots of winners at the Fair!

Here are a few pictures from the Exhibit Hall:

In the Mr & Mrs. Potato Head Challenge, Tori got 2nd and Bella got 3rd place ... Tori got a blue ribbon for junior's Seashell Craft!
She entered another shell design in the Art dept, in the 'Any Other' category, and got a red ribbon! She also got a red ribbon for her Guinea Pig Garden display:

Just to prove that you can enter pretty much anything at the Fair, Tori also entered a school project: 'Templeton' (the rat from Charlotte's Web) in the 'ingenious use of discards category' and got a 3rd place ribbon, and a clay sculpture she made at home on a rainy day!

Here's Gabriella with some baked goods
(I can't remember exactly who won what in the baking, but I know that Isabella, Gabriella, Emily, Gabby, Brynn H all won something at this table!
Congrats to all!
I do know, however, that Emily baked the Champion Apple Pie!

She also won the Blue Ribbon for Leaf Collection: and for her photography entry: Way to Go, Emma!

Isabella had 2 winning photos, including a First Place for the flower category and 3rd for 'insects in their natural environment'

Awesome job!!


Here's Gabriella's 2nd place painting: and her and Isabella's wildflower arrangements: and vegetables:


Our newest member, Brynn H, won First Place for designing this room, in the color & design class!! This is so cool - the details are incredible!

Fun at the Fair!!!

We had so much fun at the Worcester County 4-H Fair this weekend!

Lots of our Club members attended the Fair, which was so great! 4 members spent the entire weekend, from Friday night to Sunday late afternoon ... many others drove back and forth, delivering exhibits on Friday night, and attending the fair on both Saturday and Sunday. Some just attended on Saturday ... but I think I can say that we ALL had a great time!! Here are some pictures ... and if anyone has any pictures or stories that they'd like to share, please send them along! Thank you to everyone who helped make this such a wonderful experience for us all!

Tori, Gabriella, Isabella and Bella: making s'mores on Friday night, outside our tent. We forgot the graham crackers and had to improvise with TownHouse ... different, but still delicious! (Maybe a new recipe has been invented?!)

Here are just a few of our pictures from the tractor pull, which began very early Saturday morning ....

and was STILL going until about 10:30 that night!!!

Ice Cream Social, Saturday night:

Corn Shucking Contest on Sunday Morning:

Upton 4-H Club meeting: August 15, 2008

Here are some more pictures from Friday ...

... digging the garden ...

...planting the garden ...
Mixing mortar for stepping stones!


Getting ready to Tie-Dye!


Admiring the Garden!

Stepping Stones ...

Here are 11 of the 15 stepping stones we made at our meeting on Friday:

(2 have already been claimed and 2 are in the new Memorial School garden!)

I definitely want to do this project again!

A bit of info about our Club ...

The Upton 4-H Club is part of Worcester County 4-H, located in Central Massachusetts. Although we're based in Upton, we have members from many surrounding towns, including Uxbridge, Northbridge, Douglas, Blackstone, Hopkinton, Millbury, Mendon, Framingham, Medway, Charlton ... pretty much all over!!

Our club began in September 2007, mainly focusing on Rabbits & Cavies. During our first year, our membership reached 26 youth members, ranging in age from 5 to 16, and 5 registered adult volunteers. As we prepare for the upcoming County Fair, a culmination of our first year, we look forward to lots of new and exciting adventures in the year to come, including the addition of 2 new interest groups:
Gardening and Nature & Wildlife (which will include fishing, hiking and archery!)
and LOTS of new members!

Raffle donations for Worcester County 4-H Fair

Here are the items our club will be donating to the 2008 Worcester County 4-H Fair, for the Raffle:

• Baking supplies: includes mixes for cookies, cakes, brownies, lemon bars; pie filling mix, non-stick baking spray, frosting, sprinkles; a 9"square baking pan, spatula, measuring cups & spoons, an apron, oven mitts, pot holders, and more, all in a big canvas totebag ...
  
  
  
  
• A Basket for the Birds: 3 different types of feeders, bag of bird seed and a suet cake:
  
  
  
• Cavy Care:
  carrier, 5lb bag of Oxbow Cavy Cuisine and a new water bottle