I grew up in the 4-H program.
I started when I was 8 years old, and stayed in until I was 18.
It’s an amazing youth program. For those of you that aren’t familiar, you start the year with a project, for me it was a horse or a steer, and you track all of your personal expenses and income throughout the year in a record book
It’s just like having your own business.
As a 4-H club you hold monthly meetings learning parliamentary procedure, fundraise, do community service, public speaking, and at the end you have a show and some types of projects are sold for a profit. The kids are in charge and make all decisions.
My son asked to join sheep 4-H last year with his friends.
4-H as a kid was pretty awesome… 4-H as a parent is incredible. It’s amazing to watch your kids learning skills they don’t get elsewhere and be given responsibility to take care of their animals, and essentially a life, is incredible.
At the end of the year, we kept 4 ewes and decided to breed them.
Yesterday morning we had our first baby lamb.
It was a miracle.
We went to bed with 4 ewes and woke up to 5.
It was a big day for us yesterday… one that won’t easily be forgotten.