Paul Szmal: Good morning, it's 8.15, it's FLX Morning Wednesday, and it's our monthly check-in with Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County. The website is ccecayuga.org, and joining us is the 4-H program leader, Sarah Wagner. Good morning.
Sara Wagner: Good morning. We've got some good 4-H stuff to talk about and a few general Cooperative Extension topics as well. Raising animals has always been a big part of 4-H, and coming up on the 18th, that is a week from Friday, it's a rabbit, and I'm never, is it cavy or cavey? Either. That's just our word for guinea pigs.
Paul Szmal: Okay, so tell us about this workshop. We are having Valerie Horning come in, who is an expert in raising and showing rabbits and guinea pigs. She's judged at the national competitions, so if you want to learn to raise these animals and show them, or if you have them and you want to get some feedback on showing them, it's a great event to come to. It's going to be right at the community college.
Sara Wagner: So what's involved in showing? What are judges looking for if you're showing a rabbit? We kind of know, we've talked about things like dairy cattle, but what does rabbit judging look like? They want to see an animal that's well-cared for and healthy. They want to see a 4-Her know about their animal, know how to take care of them, be able to answer some questions, and then be able to handle their animal in a way that shows them off to the best they can look for their breed.
Paul Szmal: This is a free seminar from 530 to 7. It's in the BIC room, Keuka Community College in Auburn. Also, if you go to the CCE Cornell website, you'll see the links to sign up for all these things we're talking about.
4-H'ers all across the country probably are raising big pumpkins, and the weigh-in is October 19th.
Sara Wagner: Yeah, we're really excited. We are partnering with the Ward O'Hara Agricultural Museum to be part of their Old Fashioned Halloween. So at noon, we're going to have all our pumpkins in a row, and you can come see what's the biggest, best pumpkin that can be grown in the county. It's the big moose variety. Those probably aren't much good for anything after you're done, right? You can't really make a pie or anything out of those big, giant ones, can you?
Paul Szmal: The big ones usually aren't so delicious.
Sara Wagner: Yeah, that's what I thought. You've got an in-person sign-up night coming up at Keuka Community College on October 21st, 337. So give us kind of your elevator speech for joining 4-H for kids that maybe thought about it and just never have done it yet.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, so enrollment is open. Any questions about enrollment can always come to our office. But our in-person enrollment, just a chance to work through any snags you might have. 4-H is a great opportunity for kids to do learning by doing. That's our big push. Learning by doing and having positive relationships with caring adults in their community.
Sara Wagner: I've talked over the years. We've had a lot of 4-H people on from the different counties, and I've been so impressed how the curriculum has evolved over the years to include a lot of STEM topics while staying rooted in traditional agriculture. Talk about sort of how 4-H has evolved over the years like that.
Paul Szmal: You know, 4-H follows the youth. If there's an interest, if they have a spark for something, then we're here to support it. And truly, STEM and agriculture go so hand-in-hand. It's like a very easy movement for us to continue not only supporting agriculture, but by increasing the expertise in STEM for agriculture.
Sara Wagner: So this in-person afternoon and evening will be from 3.30 to 7. That is on October 21st. That is on a Monday, and that'll be at Cougar Community College as well. And you can see in person what 4-H is all about. And of course, if you go to ccecougar.org, there's a whole 4-H link that talks about these programs and a whole bunch more.
The annual meeting is coming up at the Senate Fire Hall on October 28th from 6 to 8 p.m. And you do some business, but you also try to make it a fun evening. So what's happening that night?
Paul Szmal: Yeah, so we will be, everybody who works for CCE is going to be presenting a little bit about our field. We're going to have some walking tacos available. We are going to be doing some trivia. We're just going to have some fun and then a quick business meeting, which we are so excited to have community members come and give their input during that meeting.
I know the Master Gardeners are going to be there as well. That's a great program. Remind us what they do and the resource that they can be for all the rest of us when we have garden or plant problems.
Sara Wagner: Master Gardeners are a statewide certification you can get that takes a year and something like 60 or 80 in-classroom hours. So they're wonderfully educated. Our Master Gardener is in three times a week to answer calls, answer emails, any kind of gardening, landscaping questions you've got. They're there to answer.
Coming up on November 9th, there's a wool fiber clinic. A lot of farmers are looking for different ways to diversify and do different things so that if any one crop has an off year, they're covered. So this is on raising fiber sheep or goats. So tell us a little about the clinic and some things people should think about or questions they might want to ask to see if this is for them.
Paul Szmal: Yeah, so the clinic, sort of like our Rabbit and Calfee Clinic, is free. It's open to anyone. So we just encourage anyone to come, even if they're just curious. But we're going to be at Lockmore Farms where they raised a number of heritage breed wool sheep. And we're going to learn about how you prepare sheep wool for use. The implements will be on hand for anyone who wants to give it a try. And also something a little more specific to 4-H, how to evaluate fleece and wool, which is something that you can participate in as a competition for State Fair.
Do most of the people who raise the fleece or wool make finished products out of it or is there a market to just sell it to the other people that make products?
Sara Wagner: There's definitely both. There are people who do the added value work to it. And at Lockmore Farms, they do a lot of spinning, making wool yarn, not just the fleece in a bag.
Paul Szmal: Talking with Sarah Wagner this morning, 4-H program leader with Keuka County Cooperative Extension. November 14th is the Achievement Night and Dinner, a chance to celebrate all the amazing things these kids do all throughout the year. And at the County Fair and at the State Fair, this will be November 14th starting at 6 to 8 p.m., dinner at 6, recognition ceremonies at 7. Locations still being decided on, but tell us a little bit about the dinner and honoring what these kids do.
Sara Wagner: This is such a great chance for our families and community to come together just to really focus on the work and the growth that kids have accomplished in the past year. So we are excited to have any kids who have participated in 4-H register for the day. It's going to be a potluck dinner, so there's no cost, and we'll just really get to celebrate after such a busy year, all of our youth.
Paul Szmal: Is the bottle and can drive still going on?
Sara Wagner: Always. You can always stop by Bag & Nickels, drop off your cans and bottles, just let them know that it's for us, and they will send the proceeds.
Paul Szmal: Fantastic. That's at Bag & Nickels Redemption Center, that's 7215 Onawaska Road in Auburn. And just make sure you let them know that you're doing that for 4-H and the 4-H Youth Fair. And again, all these things we talked about and a whole bunch more are on the website ccekayuga.org. Right at the top, top left, you'll see the 4-H Youth link to learn more about these programs.
Sarah, thanks. Terrific work that you and these young people do, and we're always happy to feature it here on the program.
Sara Wagner: Thank you so much. Have a great day.
