My 4-H Experience

I was a member of 4-H for ten years, in almost all of the same projects for all ten years. A lot of them are self explanatory like Foods and Photography, but others like Buymanship, where you purchase outfits and model them while knowing how to care for the garment and how much your cost per wear is, need a little explanation. Leadership, Citizenship, and Swine are easy to figure out with common knowledge, but they always stump people. Swine is pretty simple; you get a pig or two at the beginning of the year, raise them and walk them, then show them at the fair auction them off.

I used to show Goats and Sheep back in the day, but they were very high maintenance animals, pigs were easier and more fun to care for because all you did was walk them, feed them, and make sure they are living comfortably; basically like raising a 280 lb. dog.

My favorite project was Buymanship because what little girl doesn't want new clothes and model? Photography and Foods were also at the top of my list, it was easy to go out and take pictures, especially since iPhone cameras have gotten better quality, it is easy to take pictures wherever you go. The Food project was fun because I would practice recipes all year to find the perfect on for to please the judges.

photo by Alyssa Storm 

Doing all of these projects took up basically all of my time for ten years, but the joy I experienced makes up for all the long nights shaving pigs or last minute accessories to complete my outfit.