Our daughters completed their third year of showing beef heifers this past week at our local county fair. They鈥檝e been bringing static or non-livestock projects to the county fair since age 5 for Elizabeth and younger Anika, who once brought a cat to the open small animal show as a 3-year-old.
A county fair holds deep roots tied to agriculture and rural culture in every county. A county fair represents a connection to local communities, and for 4-H clubs and members, the space and place to exhibit projects they鈥檝e been learning and working on for months.
ADVERTISEMENT
At the core of are leaders and mentors teaching the next generation through local extension offices, and programs.
The calendar looks full for our girls this summer. They continue to choose to make 4-H a priority to be involved in, even if it looks different from their earlier years of involvement.
In between golf, track and field , basketball, lifting weights and their summer jobs of cleaning, our girls fed, washed, dried, brushed, and walked heifers early each morning and evenings after activities. They care about their 4-H animals more than their sleep schedule.
4-H in our family started with my grandparents being longtime club leaders. My mom and her siblings were active 4-H members who showed livestock, specifically like our girls do today.
I wasn鈥檛 interested in 4-H or so I thought. I could have thrived in a 4-H club; my mom knew that about me, but didn't push me to be involved after she tried a few times.
Fast forward decades, we鈥檙e in the county I grew up, just a couple miles from my high school, at the county fair with my kids.
The 4-H gene just skipped a generation my mom says with a smile.
ADVERTISEMENT
Her smile on show day at the county fair without her saying it showed me her pride.
I鈥檓 not a grandparent yet, but I know how rewarding it is to see your children set a goal, the detailed hard work in accomplishing it, and the joy felt when you watch them achieve it.
Grandparents see and feel that joy across multiple generations through their kids鈥� kids. Based on my mom鈥檚 smile, the joy runs even deeper when grandchildren share passions you had as a child, too.
Mentor a child with an interest you have. It doesn鈥檛 have to be your grandchild or child.
My uncles who are my daughter鈥檚 great-uncles mentor them in Hereford cattle. A young rancher from an hour away with zero connection to us other than when we met him at a 4-H beef seminar a few years ago comes each spring to work with our daughters, teaching them to clip and fit their heifers. He mentors and leads with his experience and passes it on to our girls.
This spring, a young boy in our 4-H club leased a bull calf from my uncle and kept it in our yard where our girls kept their heifers. Every day he showed up with his mom to feed and care for the calf and showed him at the fair. Next spring we expect, he鈥檒l also be showing a heifer alongside our girls, and then maybe a steer in the future.
How we grow agriculture and our rural communities starts with our families, in our 4-H clubs, helping our neighbors, and mentoring others, often outside of our own family, by sharing our interests and expertise. It鈥檚 not flashy work and not every project wins a top ribbon.
ADVERTISEMENT
There鈥檚 a 4-H鈥檈r who will thrive from your mentoring. Thank you to the many named and unnamed who modeled mentoring and helped me thrive as a mom and 4-H leader and now positively mentor my kids and many others.
Pinke is the publisher and general manager of Agweek. She can be reached at kpinke@agweek.com, or connect with her on Twitter @katpinke.
