This is really cool!

This is a great blog. Well, it is only about the 3rd I've ever seen....but a wonderful idea and project. Happy Holidays and New Year to everyone. See you soon, Ms. Lorraine

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Look we are not the only one's looking to GROW!

From Mr. Ernie - Alachua County Group, check out this post below from the National 4-H Blog http://www.4hblogs.org/ccn



Call out for 4-H Teens, Recent 4-H Alumni, Volunteers, and Staff: Creating the Future. Together. Online.
Please share this exciting opportunity with your 4-H teens, college-age 4-H alumni, volunteers, and staff! The ACCESS 4-H Innovation Team will provide key guidance for the creation of a new 4-H online environment.
We are looking for visionaries to help design a celebration of all that 4-H has been, is now and will become. We will explore how to create the ultimate online community for 4-H that tells the world our stories and our impact.
You are the experts. Having been involved day-to-day with 4-H, you have the insight, wisdom and knowledge to design a whole new way of connecting. If you are interested in sharing your creativity, your opinions and your enthusiasm for 4-H, apply now to be a member of the ACCESS 4-H Innovation Team.
We will gather for a short series of telephone and online collaborations (between January 7-18) resulting in a brand new 4-H online community. Be part of the select group to help define and design your community for current and future 4-H members.
Apply to be a member of the exclusive ACCESS 4-H Innovation Team. All we need is 1-2 paragraphs explaining your 4-H background and your interest in bringing 4-H up to speed with what you need online. Creativity counts! If you'd like, feel free to show us how by creating a video, artwork, whatever expresses your thoughts for a new 4-H online, as well! We'll also need your contact information (name, age, home state/county, phone number, email address). College students who are 4-H alumni are welcome as well!
Submit your application to us at access4h@4-h.org by December 30. Please get your applications in soon - we'll be accepting participants on a first-come first-serve basis, with preference given to applications received before December 30.
For more information about the ACCESS 4-H project, please visit 4-h.org/access4-h/.

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Notes from 12/18/07 Council

Thanks everyone for the ideas and feedback at the meeting this evening. Remember this site is just a test for us. Please do not invite any else to participate at this time without asking me first.


Thanks for your help

Ernie Terry

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2007-2008 Alachua County 4-H Calendar Revised 12/18/2007

DATE DESCRIPTION LOCATION TIME
December 2007
18 County Council, Covered Dish Dinner CEO 6:30 PM
24 – 25 Christmas Holiday – office closed
24 – 1/4 ACSB No School
January 2008
1 New Year’s Day – office closed
4th Registration Deadline District V Junior Congress CEO 4:30 PM
10 (Club Org. Leaders) All Reasonable Effort forms CEO
10 Youth Fair Board CEO 7:30 PM
11-12 District V Junior Congress Middle FL Bapt. Assy.
14 4-H Horse App. and Lease Forms Due CEO 4:30 PM
14 Mandatory 4-H Rabbit Project Meeting CEO 7:00PM
Rabbit Entries Due
15 Broiler Orders Due to Cindy Sanders CEO 4:30 PM
15 Youth Fair L/S Entries Deadline: CEO 4:30 PM Breeding Beef, Dairy Heifer, Breeding Goat & Poultry
15 County Council CEO 6:30 PM
18 ACSB No School
21 Martin Luther King Day – office closed
21 Hog & Ham Workshop UF Meats Lab
22 Horse Committee CEO 6:30 PM
23 County Horse Show Pre-entry Deadline CEO noon
24 Tentative Marketing Meeting Mebane Middle 7:00PM
25 – 27 Senior Leadership Adventure Weekend (LAW) Camp Ocala Tentative
26 County Horse Show Canterbury
31 Pick Up Broiler Chicks/Poultry Workshop CEO 6:00 PM

DATE DESCRIPTION LOCATION TIME
February 2008
1st week Mandatory Marketing Meeting (TBA) Mebane 7PM (tent.)
1 No Late Entries for Livestock after this date 4:30 PM
1 - 3 Intermediate Leadership Adventure Weekend (LAW) Camp Cloverleaf
7 – 18 Florida State Fair Tampa
8 Camp Counselor Application Deadline CEO 4:30 PM
9 Florida State Fair Horse & Livestock Tampa
14 Youth Fair Board CEO 7:30 PM
Judging Contest
16 Grape Pruning Grandma’s Vineyard 8 AM til ?
18 ACSB No School
19 County Council CEO 6:30 PM
22-23 Camp Counselor Training Session 1 Hernando County 6PM – 2PM
23 Grape Pruning (Reserve date)
26 Horse Committee CEO 6:30 PM
March 2008
1 County Events TBA 9am – done
3 ACYFair BBQ Contest Food Safety Training CEO 7 – 8:30 PM
13 Youth Fair Board CEO 7:30 PM
14 – 16 Third Executive Board Camp Ocala
15 4-H Exhibit Judging Day CEO 10AM-4PM
15 4-H Record Book Entry (non livestock) CEO by 5:00 PM
19 Horse Show Pre-entry Deadline CEO noon
19 or 26 4-H Record Book Judging CEO 6:30 PM
22 Youth Fair Set Up Fairgrounds 8:00 AM
22 County Horse Show Canterbury
26 Horse Committee CEO 6:30 PM
27 Set Up Exhibit Building Fairgrounds 4:00 PM
28 ACSB No school
28 – 4/1 Alachua County Youth Fair Fairgrounds
29 – 4/3 National 4-H Conference Chevy Chase, MD
?? Family Fun & Talent Night CEO TBA


April 2008
4/1 Alachua County Youth Fair last day Fairgrounds
7 – 11 ACSB Spring Break
10 Youth Fair Board CEO 7:30 PM
12 State 4-H Forest Ecology Judging Contest Austin Carey Forest Gainesville
?? 4-H Newsletter Reports Deadline CEO 4:30 PM
16 County Council (elections) CEO 6:30 PM
23 Horse Committee CEO 6:30 PM
25 – 26 Area B Horse Show Clay County Fairgrounds


DATE DESCRIPTION LOCATION TIME
May 2008
3 District Events TBA 9AM-1PM
3 4-H Awards Program TBA
8 Youth Fair Board CEO 7:30 PM
13 All State Portfolios for scholarships and CEO by 4:30 PM
State trips due to CEO
16-17 Camp Counselor Training Session 2 Citrus County 6PM – 2PM
21 County Council CEO 6:30 PM
4-H Volunteer Dinner CEO 6:30 PM
26 Memorial Day – office closed
28 Horse Committee CEO 6:30 PM
TBA State Congress Registration Deadline
TBA State 4- H Legislature Deadline
29 4-H Photo and Poster State Contest Entries due CEO
29 General Public Speaking Speeches due CEO
29 State 4-H Dairy Poster Contest Entries due CEO
29 Horse Public Speaking Speeches due CEO

LOCATION TIME
June 2008
5 Last day of school
12 Youth Fair Board CEO 7:30 PM
13-14 Camp Counselor Training Session 31 Columbia County 6PM – 2PM

23 – 27 State 4-H Legislature Tallahassee

July 2008
4 Independence Day – office closed
6 Camp Counselors Report for duty Camp Ocala 3 PM
7th -11th Summer 4-H Camp Camp Ocala
10 – 12 State 4-H Horse Show Tampa Fairgrounds
21 – 25 State 4-H Congress UF Campus
29 – 8/3 Southern Regional 4-H Horse Championships Lexington, VA
August 2008
12 – 14 4-H Hog and Ham UF Meats Lab

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Great Thoughts Sue!

This is exactly the kind of feedback I am hoping to get. I have only glanced at the wikipage...Interesesting Utube from your girls ;) I have a big deadline to meet Friday. Please remind me next week to devote some more time to this.

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Why do we want a blog?

Well, before we jump in with both feet: what's the purpose of the blog? Some I can think of are:
- to facilitate conversation between Alachua County 4-H members
- to have a place to desiminate information about upcoming events
- to have a place for County Council committees to record and discuss ideas

Blogs are pretty good for chronological stuff - usually used like a diary. The nice thing about a blog is that, if it's set up that way, anyone can comment on a given blog entry. Blogs are not good ways to keep information, in general; to find specific information you have to search on a keyword or hunt back through the archives. The Stars & Stripes blog seems to be mostly a club scrapbook - the pictures look really neat. Are we just making a spot for a County scrapbook, so to speak, or do we want more?

Another possibility is a wiki. A wiki allows you to create, edit and link to websites easily. Like a blog, you have a group of 'admins' who can actually make changes; unlike a blog, there's no place for comments from people not on the list. Here's a wiki I'm using with a group of homeschool students who are doing Chemistry labs with me: treetown chemistry You can see it'd be easier to find stuff because you can make different pages for different things - we could have a Youth Fair page, a page for County Council meetings/events, a Horse Club page, etc.

No reason we couldn't use both, actually. We could use the blog for discussion and then when details on an event or whatever are decided, someone put's 'em on the County 4-H wiki. It'd take some coordination until we got the hang of it. It's not that I'm anti-blog - it might be just what we want. I just think we need to discuss just how we'll use it before we establish it.

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New Baby

Amalia Elaine was born December 3rd weighing 7 # 6 oz. She is beautiful. I will try to figure out how to post a picture in a day or so.

Ernie

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Emily, Sue and Odette

I just signed up for this yesterday. I know that Emily is already using it for her club. Sue and Odette don't start anything new yet or invite others yet except for maybe your personal children. Go ahead and invite them if you can. I don't know if only I can do that from my end. I would like to use this for several weeks as a test before making any recommendations for control and safety. Feel free to send posts back and forth and learn how to use this and its features.

All Please do not recommend this to other members and clubs until we have a chance to meet and come up with some guidelines and safety precautions.

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Alachua County 4-H Horse Show

Alachua County 4-H Horse Show
Weekend Results for December 1, 2007
Walk Trot Huntseat
Highpoint: Amye Francis & Shamrock
Res. Highpoint: Naomi Castro & Casper
Jr. Huntseat
Highpoint: Haley Jones & Mr. Moonlight Surprise
Res. Highpoint: Megan Whitehurst & Captain Jack
Sr. Huntseat
Highpoint: Emily Staley & UF Jetalong Jack
Res Highpoint: Aileen Dixon & Caught Red Handed
Open Huntseat
Highpoint: Katie Fink & Ripley
Walk Trot Western
Highpoint: Tristan Hyde & Take a Chance on Me
Res. Highpoint: Rebecca Sperling & Ima Foxy Lil Lena
Jr. Western
Highpoint: Hannah Emerson & Zippos Pat Bar
Res. Highpoint: Allison McQuagge & Sabers Easter Lark
Sr. Western
Highpoint: Sierra Cambell & Carosels Kid
Res. Highpoint: Rachel Preston & A Good Selection
Jr. Games
Highpoint: Megan Whitehurst & Bingo
Res. Highpoint: Malerie Whitehurst & Cinder
Versatility Rider for the Day: Hannah Emerson & Zippos Pat Bar

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