Day 216
For those of you unfamiliar with the aforementioned Indiana Mafia reference, please look up comedian Jim Gaffigan. In one of his family-friendly routines, he compares the mafia, a big city crime syndicate to 4H, a youth development program. I will admit that the 4H organization wasn't something I was too familiar with growing up. Honestly, I never really even heard of it. When I did come to recognize this group, it felt synonymous to rural areas, farmers, farm animals, and county fairs. My better half was actually involved in 4H as a child. She showed dogs and still maintains a ridiculous knowledge about different dog breeds and characteristics to this day.
When we acquired the farm and more specifically started raising chickens, my wife encouraged the family to join 4H. As I said before, I didn't really know what that entailed but I trusted my wife’s experience and before you know it, we were at our first 4H meeting.
Right away, I was impressed that the meeting was pretty much run by young adults and children. As an educator, I see many deficiencies and communication gaps in today’s youth. Seeing kids be leaders and take ownership over this meeting was quite refreshing.
Keeping an open mind, I paid close attention to this initial meeting to see how our family could engage. When I saw that the next group gathering was a mushroom hike at a local park, I was hooked. Right away, I felt that our farm could eventually host a social gathering of our own. I was excited to be a part of this group with other like-minded people who were excited about nature, agriculture, and youth leadership.
Our kids were equally excited about being a part of 4H, though the vast array of available snacks at meetings certainly didn’t hurt.
Our monthly meetings deepened our connection to the group as a whole and our fellow members. Each meeting presented more and more information about different opportunities for the kids and families including a more emphasized focus on the county fair. We decided we would not show any animals this year but instead take this first year as a year of learning and volunteering.
