[2022-03-17] 4-H
St. Patrick's Day is a good opportunity to reflect on our heritage and history. Last year, I wrote about St. Patrick's Church and the Ferguson Falls Hall in the rural community where I grew up. This year, I reflect on 4-H.
The 4-H Ontario website states that "4-H was founded upon the concept of teaching youth agricultural skills in a club atmosphere" and is known as "Canada’s longest-standing rural youth organization." For me, 4-H was like home ec for country kids.
The history of 4-H is charming. I wasn't aware of its roots until writing this post. "4-H started in the United States in 1901," according to 4-H Ontario. "President Orwell of the Farmer’s Institute of Macoupin County, Missouri offered local boys a bag of corn seed to grow and show at the St. Louis Fair. His goal was to establish a youth component in agriculture—and when over 500 boys asked for corn seed, it was clear the concept was a huge success." This spark led to the establishment of the first 4-H club in Clark County, Ohio, in 1902.
Roland, Manitoba, was the site of the first club in Canada. In 1913, "The Department of Agriculture donated one dozen purebred poultry eggs, purebred potatoes and seed to Manitoba youth for them to raise and grow over several months," notes 4-H Ontario. It continues: "The first Club in Ontario was created in 1913 with a Potato Growing Contest in Carleton County, however, this knowledge was only brought to light in the mid 1980s. A Club established by Stanley Knapp in Waterloo County in 1915, a District Representative for Waterloo Country, has long been recognized as the first Club in Ontario."
The four Hs in 4-H represent the organization's core values:
- Head: managing, thinking
- Heart: relating, caring
- Hands: giving, working
- Health: being, living
Between 1979 and 1982, I participated in eight homemaking club projects: Essential Edibles, Outdoor Living, Accessories: The Final Touch, Food for Friends, Your Corner of the World, Which Came First, Ready...Get Set...Sew, Bread Winners. I wouldn't have remembered which projects I had taken if it weren't for the fact that I still have my certificates of achievement from the Home Economics Branch of the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. For each completed project, we received a spoon in addition to a certificate. I believe that my spoons are still kicking around my mom's house.
I have snippets of memories from these clubs. The first thing we made in Essential Edibles was granola; I thought it tasted heavenly. In Outdoor Living, we spent time at the beautiful Mill of Kintail outside Almonte, working on a play, as I recall. For Ready...Get Set...Sew, I made a wraparound skirt from gray corduroy; it took me hours to sew about a metre's worth of hem.
4-H Ontario estimates that there are more than 350,000 4-H alumni across Canada. Are you one of them?
