Paul Szmal: Good morning 816 it's FLX Morning and we're zooming with Moe Tidball from Ontario County Cooperative Extension. The website is cceontario.org. Good morning and welcome back. Good morning Ted. Well a big part of the conversation during 2025 is going to be the 100th anniversary of Camp 4-H Bristol Hills. I know one of the things on the website cceontario.org there's a camp history and we're not going to go through the whole thing. I urge everybody to read it. Any particular historical nuggets that stood out for you?
Mo Tidball: Well Jim has been working really hard collecting all this history and writing it down. One thing that's quite interesting is that the site of 4-H Camp Bristol Hills was also the site of the Ontario County Fair for a while. Wow. Yeah so that's kind of neat and there was a big racetrack there at one point and a barn so it's a really beautiful property you know if people have not been out there we have open houses for people to check it out. The fall foliage and the fall is beautiful at any time of year it's really a great place but really 4-H Camp Bristol Hills models the the spirit of 4-H and that the mission is really positive outdoor youth experiences where kids learn by doing and they have positive role models and it's a great program. Check out the website cceontario.org and look for the link to the Camp Bristol Hills history. It's broken down decade by decades starting back in the 1920s so let's tell us about camping this year.
Paul Szmal: Yeah so and one other quick thing that I should have mentioned too is that the pool used to be a spot in the creek that they sort of had dammed up which was kind of traditional back back then and so that was kind of neat and there's great pictures on there of the different swimsuits that people used to wear along the way and of course now we have a nice modern pool. So camp runs from July 2nd to the 8th. You don't have to be a 4-H member to attend it's open to all youth. They have day and overnight programs and new this year there's going to be a night camp for youth in sixth grade or higher and that will go from 5 to 9 p.m. so that's a nice opportunity to to come experience a little bit of the fun of camp you know the campfires and things like that for potentially new campers or people maybe that are doing other things during the day. So so there's lots of different opportunities for kids to experience camp whether it's overnight or day or just the evening and there are camperships or scholarships available and they we support over a hundred children every year with funds donated from private donors. So if anybody is interested in that the deadline to apply I believe is March 1st.
Paul Szmal: That's terrific that you have people donating a hundred camperships each year is terrific and also I hadn't really thought about this you're one of the biggest employers of young people in the Finger Lakes you hire as many as 50 people to work camp staff. Exactly and you know that Jess our camp director and everyone there at camp really provides a great experience with positive workforce development really helping the youth it whether it's their first job or a lot of youth do come back year after year they start as campers and and eventually become employed there but it's just a really nice positive opportunity for for youth to work during the summer and also enjoy the camp experience. And we're hiring right now. Oh great yeah. So again check the website and click the application.
Paul Szmal: Now you got a whole series of 100th anniversary events and boy this one sounding really tempting it's at Rebel Sailor I have not yet been there in Shortsville this Thursday from 5 to 8. Well you should come on out it's going to be a great time you know there'll be information there you can learn a little bit more about the history. Jim has some interesting fact sheets printed out and some just fun camaraderie there'll be a lot of alum from you know obviously of age that have gone through camp that will be there and we'll be doing some raffle items as well so it'll be a great opportunity to learn a bit about camp or just meet up with old friends if you had been a camper and again that's this Thursday night from 5 to 8 at Rebel Sailor in Shortsville.
Paul Szmal: Among the events this year there'll be a family camp weekend May 17th and 18th what's on tap for that weekend? So that's a nice opportunity for for families to camp together so you can come out with your with your kids and and stay in a cabin and experience a little bit of taste of different camp activities so a really nice family weekend to start off the summer for families to come on out.
Paul Szmal: And then September 17th we have an ultra race it's like a hundred mile thing or something? It's actually September 13th yeah I'm not quite sure I'm not a big runner but I believe it's it's either laps or minutes but it'll be a fun event we've got a great trail system there so that's that's still being developed but the data set and it will be some sort of fun race.
Paul Szmal: And then the centerpiece of the whole year is a big gala on October 4th. Do you have many of the details set for that yet? We're still working on the details of that as well but we wanted to save the date they they did a gala I believe the year before last and that's going to be a little more of an upscale event with you know white tablecloths and catered and just a it's it's fun to dress up and also be out in the woods so so that'll be a great event to check out. The camp has its own website it's 4-H camp Bristol Hills org you can also look up camp Bristol Hills on Facebook and Instagram something new this year in 4-H you've got a dog club and kids are learning dog obedience training.
Paul Szmal: Yes so this is exciting we have youth signed up it actually filled up for dog obedience training on Saturdays whether they got a new puppy at Christmas time or old dogs can new learn new tricks it's a great chance for kids to bond with their dogs and teach them some some basic manners and obedience tips. And then out of that we also have a dog trainer that's starting off a dog club so youth that really love their dogs and want to focus on that for their 4-H experience can join the dog club.
Paul Szmal: It's five degrees today so let's talk about gardening the master gardeners did a beekeepers garden workshop and we got spring garden symposium coming up. Yes the master gardeners are always quite busy in Ontario County it's a very robust group and so they're doing a series of virtual workshops and this Thursday night there's a beekeepers garden which I would definitely like to check out you know in terms of pollinators but maybe also keeping bees and what will make good honey and what will also help your plants so that'll be really interesting and you can stay right inside for that one and for the other zoom workshops but hopefully it'll be a little bit warmer when we get to our spring symposium which is I believe February 9th again the information is on our website but the master gardeners will also have some guest speakers at that one really digging into no pun intended but it's there into getting ready for your summer gardening.
Paul Szmal: Now you are teaching the next generation of outdoors women through a DEC course I can't think of anybody better suited to do that tell us about this course becoming an outdoors woman. Oh it's a great program it's actually been going on for 30 years in New York State DEC runs it and they have a big fall event they have some other weekend events but they have bow in the snow which was just this past weekend up at Paul Smith and it just gets women outside that maybe haven't had the experience to to learn some outdoor skills people this weekend this past weekend learn how to ice fish they learn survival in the winter building fires snowshoeing cross-country skiing all sorts of fun things like that in the snow and then I was able to teach them about hunting for food so and which is great at Paul Smith because they have a culinary college as well so it was actually a little bit outside but also inside in a beautiful commercial kitchen.
Paul Szmal: And that leads us to the wild harvest table you're doing research on nutritional content of wild game studies have shown that people who are object to hunting are less likely to do so when they know it's for food and so this this is continuing what you've been doing for a long time is is coming up with these facts about the nutrition in wild game. Yes we I mean I really feel it's so important and I you know my collaborators at Cornell and Keith also recognize this because for the species that we have analyzed and collected it has a lot of lean protein it has more minerals such as the goose meat has twice the amount of iron as domesticated geese and so we really want to to expand that research to other species specifically white-tailed deer and just sort of tie in the fact that it's it's good food it's not only you know cultural and a heritage it gets people outside it gets people connected with nature it gets people connected with their food and knowing that it's healthy food is really important piece of that whole puzzle and and I think a lot of people also don't know for sure that there's a Pittman-Robertson Act in the United States where where every time people buy shooting sports equipment or purchase their hunting license all that money goes there's a tax and all that money goes back into wildlife conservation so it's really important to keep that heritage going.
Paul Szmal: I see I knew the license part I did not know the equipment tax was for conservation as well so I learned something new. Oh excellent yeah every time you buy an arrow or you buy a cartridge of bullets and things like that it all goes back to wildlife conservation.
Paul Szmal: So go to wildharvesttable.com check out the latest research and all the great recipes that are always there. Mo thanks as always appreciate the conversation and appreciate all the conversations we've had over the years. Absolutely Ted it's been great talking to you and I wish you the best of luck when you when you retire at the end of the month.
