Agriculture

The skills taught throughout 4-H prepare youth for community involvement, with the idea that good leaders give back to their community in a variety ways.

Community service, through 4-H involves service learning in which youth learn a skill or skills and apply it to a service project. This traditional approach to service applies to clubs at the county level, and for some youth, can lead to the national conference and/or the 4-H Congress.

The big news out of the Kentucky Farm Bureau meeting last week is that farm cash receipts are likely to exceed $5 billion for the first time, up from $4.4 billion in 2010.  With improvement in returns in corn, soybeans, wheat, cattle, horses, hogs and dairy, net farm income is expected to rebound back above $1 billion in 2011, compared to $780 million in 2010.

The topic for the 2012 beekeeping essay, sponsored by the Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees, Inc., is “The results of honey bee pollination in my community.” Active 4-H youth can compete to win three awards, at amounts of $750, $500 or $250. 4-H’ers are encouraged to consider the scope of plants, food crops, trees, habitats and animals that are positively affected by honeybee pollination.

The weather is cooler, the holiday lights are beginning to twinkle at area stores, and it is time to think about those dreaded words: holiday shopping. No longer do those have to be words that put fear into the hearts of men (and women). The 19th Annual Extension Holiday Bazaar, sponsored by the Henry County Homemakers Organization, will help you fill up those stockings with no problem at all.