Agricultural Products Identification Contest

Recently, my siblings and I went to the Heart of Texas fair to participate in Ag Id. Ag Id stands for Agricultural Products Identification Contest which is a contest where youth go to different stations and have  to identify a produce item and answer a question about the item. Station 9 had a picture of grapes and asked which of this product is not a variety grown in Texas? The answer was Edelweiss so you would bubble in D. on your scantron. It sounds easy at first, but you have to study a long list of products and facts about each one. Also there is a lot of competition; we were competing against 45 other teams. The team that I led won 1st place senior team, my sister placed third place high point individual, and I placed high point senior individual and a scholership as well.

Rabbits

Ms. Fluffy Bunny is the oldest of the females.

Recently we bought four black Mini Rex rabbits to show in the upcoming HCLS show. We paid more for these rabbits because they came from a well known breeder. The rabbits we got are two males and two females. The male rabbit's pictures should soon be on my little brother's blog here.

My youngest bunny eating feed.

If your wanting raise to rabbits you will need a good cage to keep them in, food, water, feeder, waterer, a platform for them to get off the metal cage, and gloves to handle the rabbits with. If you get black rabbits, you will want to keep them away from the sun. If not, their fur won't stay dark black. Unlike the stereotype, lettuce and large amounts of carrots are not good for rabbits.

Rabbits top front teeth should be hanging over the bottom two teeth. Rabbits teeth are constantly growing so it's good to put a block of untreated wood or a pine cone in their pen for them to chew. Another important thing is to put a small piece of untreated wood or drywall in the rabbit pen so that the rabbits don't have sore feet.

If you have any questions about raising rabbits, please leave a comment on this post and I will try my best to answer it.
  

Rabbit scratches from not wearing gloves.

4-H Round up

Bobwhite quail

Recently, I placed 1st place at Round up. If you are wondering what Round up is, it is a 4-H contest which is a lot like a talent show. You can also talk about a topic which you are passionate about. This year, I talked about how to raise quail. At the end of my speech, I showed some quail taking a dust bath; this helps get rid of bugs. Now I am able to go to district with this competition. I had great help in preparing the speech. Mom and my great uncle proofread my speech and my dad helped me with my props. Without these peoples' help I wouldn't have done as well.

Helpful tidbits about raising quail;

• If they fight put a tomato in their pen to distract them.
• Let them have dirt in pen.
• Give Bobwhites tall long pen so they can fly.
• Keep Coturnix quail males away from each other 

Agriculture Identification Contest

Yesterday, I participated in a Texas Agriculture Identification Contest at the Academic Rodeo in the East Texas State Fairgrounds. The  Academic Rodeo is where people from public, private, and homeschools all over East Texas come and participate in one or more of 14 different contests which includes the agriculture  identification contest, fashion show, writing and art contests, one act play, Lego mindset etc. At the AG ID contest you basically have to identify the product, answer if the product grows above or below ground. and what it classifies as. Today I found out how I placed. I placed 1st place over all the other middle school kids.


*picture taken from http://www.etstatefair.com

Food Show

My dish

Yesterday, I participated in the 4-H Food Show, Food Challenge, and the Food Quiz Bowl. First, I did the Food Show and won first place. The Food Show is where you make a food and tell how you made it, how it is healthy for you, and tell how many calories your dish has. After the Food Show, my team won first place in the Food Quiz Bowl. The Quiz Bowl is where you and a team of other kids have buzzers and buzz in answers about food nutrition and safety. Lastly, my team won first place in the Food Challenge. The Food Challenge is kind of like the Iron Chef but you have to tell how the food is healthy  how much it cost to make, and safety precautions you used. Since I won in all of the contests I will get to go to district with the 4-H Food Show, Food Challenge, and the Food Quiz Bowl.


If you would like to make the dish that I made, below is the recipe.


Chinese New Year Noodles with Shrimp
6 ounces thin spaghetti noodles
7 ounces shrimp, deveined
1 ½ teaspoon kosher or sea salt, divided
½ teaspoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1/4 cup snow peas, sliced thin on diagonal
1/4 cup matchstick cut carrots
1 1/2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine can substitute for apple juice.
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
Bring a stockpot of water to boil. Add 1 tsp of salt to water and cook thin spaghetti, according to package directions. Drain. While pasta is cooking, place shrimp in a small bowl and add the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of salt and the cornstarch. Mix well and let sit for 8 minutes. Rinse the shrimp well, washing off the salt and cornstarch. Pat very dry with paper towels.
In a wok or large skillet, heat cooking oil on high until a bead of water sizzles and evaporates upon contact. Add the shrimp and fry until halfway cooked through, about 1 minute each side. Dish out the shrimp to a plate, keeping as much oil in wok as possible (you should have about 1 teaspoon of oil left and you may add a just a bit of oil into the pan if needed.)
Turn heat down to medium and add garlic. Fry until fragrant, about 15 seconds then add the snow peas and carrots. Fry for 1 minute, until the carrots and snow peas are cooked but still retain a nice crunch. Add the soy sauce and rice wine. Turn heat to high and add the drained spaghetti noodles and shrimp. Toss well to combine. Let cook for 2 minutes, until shrimp is cooked through. Toss with sesame oil and sesame seeds.

Henderson County Livestock Show

    April ninth to the fourteenth has been the Henderson County Livestock show. Here at the Livestock show I showed several of my animals and projects which I've been working most of the year on. April tenth we brought all of the animals we were showing (we didn't bring the broilers as they came another day). After we got all of the animals in their pens with food, water, and bedding we went to look at the other chickens, goats, and lambs. 

The next day when we were done with taking care of the animals my sister and I along with our friends showed goats. I got DEAD last with Houdini (because he didn't weigh enough). But I got fourth place in my class with Rusty. My sister did pretty good with her goat Hearts also. Then we went to look at the rabbits we ended up taking two of the Grand champion wining rabbit’s babies’ home. That night we got to see the results of how our projects did. I got two red ribbons, nine blue ribbons, four best of selection ribbons, and two best of show ribbons.

The next day after taking care of our animals, we showed our broilers. I made the second cut but then I lost. There were tons of broilers this year. Soon as the broilers judging was over, the poultry judge started his judging. Then, we looked at the rabbits again and bought two more rabbits. After that we ran and brought all of the projects home that we weren't selling. Next, we went back and saw how I did with my chickens. I got Reserve Grand Champion for my breeding poultry, Reserve Grand Champion for my quail, first place with my bantam rooster, and third & fifth with my bantam hens. Lastly, I got second place with my large hen. 

Then, after everything we went to help get the projects that people were selling ready for the auction. After hours of waiting, (we were on one of the last pages) my sister and I auctioned of our items. I ended up selling my cactus planter to a man who owns one of the feed stores that we use for three hundred and  seventy-five dollars. I sold my cross mosaic picture for thirty-five dollars. Then after feeding the animals we went home.

The following day, after feeding the animals their breakfast we had to sadly take Houdini and Hearts to the floor which means I had to sell him to a meat processor it was extremely sad. Then I sold my quail to a man who said he was going to release them. After that, we met some of Andrews’s friends that we haven't seen in a long time. Next, we showed them around and when the tour was over we ate lunch. To end the day I sold my goat rusty for six hundred dollars plus add-ons. Lastly, we took our animals that we have left home. 

                                         

4-H Project show

A buff laying hen,

My siblings an I have been working on our Project show entries. The 4-H Project show is where you can show animals and you can enter something you made like a food, model, collections,and other cool items. This year I'm showing goats , broilers , Quail Bantams, buff laying hen, and 13 projects. Rabbits you show in 4-H fall into two categories, market and breeder. Last year my sister and I showed Castor Mini Rex breeder rabbits. This year I had to get rid of our rabbits. So I was hoping to get some market rabbits because if you win you can sell. them. The rabbits sell pretty high so I could cover all my cost with all the animals I'm showing.  Sadly, I wasn't able to get any to show.  But there is always next year.  My 4-H chicks have been growing a lot. These are some pictures of how they've grown. We got some more chicks that we will raise for eggs. They are Buff Orpingtons too.   

My black bantam hen.

Buff chicks.

4-H broiler chicks

On leap day my sister and I got 26, one day old broiler chicks.  We had to dip their beaks in water and chick starter feed because they were so young they had not eaten or drank before. Broilers are meat chickens that grow much faster than regular chickens, because they are raised for meat. One of our chicks (band number 32778 ) had a had a problem with it's leg. We could tell it had a problem because the other chicks were picking on it. When we checked on it we found out it had part of the egg sac twisted around its leg. My dad was able to cut off the sac. When the operation was over we put in a separate pen so we could watch it heal and to make sure the other chicks wouldn't pick on it. It has been a few days now and the chick is doing well. He is learning how to walk again and acting like the other chicks.
  
   When raising chicks, you need to put them in a large box or a container lined with shavings. We are keeping our chicks in a small plastic kiddie pool. Over the container that their staying in, you need to keep a heat lamp on them at 90 degrees and lower the temputre by 5 degrees each week. You should always give them cotstant feed and clean water. Every chick has a silver band on their wing so they can be indentified properly. I hope you learned how to raise broilers.

 My brother Andrew with his favorite chick.

District Food Show

When I went to district with my Applesauce Oat muffins , I won 1st place. There were 10 to 15 people that had won at their county  and moved on to District I competed against them and won First place with a perfect score. Also, I entered Ag  Id which is a new 4H contest where you have to identify agricultural

products from Texas and know information about them I won 1st place in that too. To find out more about the food show click here .

4-H Photography

Each year 4-H has a Photography Contest and my sister and I both entered it this year. After looking through hundreds of pictures that I took I found these. The hard part about the photo contest is you can only enter one picture per category so I wasn't able to enter all of mine. These are the pictures I entered. Which one is your favorite? 

4-H Food Show

On January 20 my brother, sister and I went to the county 4-H Food Show. The 4-H Food Show is where you prepare a healthy dish. Which would fall unto one of these groups, Main Dish, Breads and Cereals, Nutritional Snacks, and Fruits and Vegetables? The dish I made was Applesauce Oat muffins so it would be in the Breads and Cereals class. Each person enters one dish in a category and gets 2,5or 7 minutes to tell the judge how your dish is nutritional for you. Then the judge will ask you some questions such as how many calories are in your food, your 4-H leadership that you have done; and if you could substitute any ingredient in your recipe. After everyone was done getting judged, we received our ribbons. My sister and I both received first place so we will go on to District.