The Blanchard Pleasant Buckeyes 4-H club met on May 4th in the Hardin Northern Ag building. The meeting was presided by Holly Wilson and roll call was favorite movie. Thirty-eight members, seven advisors, and thirteen guests were present. The meeting started with recreation at seven, where the members exercised on the school playground. The 4-H pledge and Pledge of Allegiance were led by Paytin Dye and Bo Bame.
Alex James and Blake Willeke, Ada High School Future Farmers of America (FFA) members, received State Degrees at the Ohio FFA convention May 1 in Columbus.
Willeke and James, juniors, are involved in crop production as well as animal science projects. The degree also requires hours of community service, leadership activities and other school activities.
Photo: Blake Willeke and Alex James received the State Degree at the recent Ohio FFA Convention. With them is FFA advisor, Tony Dyer.
Mark Bays cares for the Survivor Tree, an 80-year-old American elm that survived the Oklahoma City bombing which occurred 20 years ago in April.
Bays spoke at Tree City USA awards ceremony held at the Toledo Zoo on April 29. At the occasion, the Village of Ada and ONU were both honored for the planning, growth, and care of trees.
During lunch, Bays met with Monty Siekerman who is familiar with memorials built in memory of those lost in disasters. Siekerman's daughter, Amy, and her husband Kyle Miller perished aboard TWA Flight 800 the next year. The memorial for the plane crash is located on Long Island.
In late April, five students represented Ada High School in the Area 1 Envirothon, according to Tony Dyer, Ada Agricultural Education Instructor. This year's theme was Urban and Rural Forestry.
The event was held at 4-H Camp Palmer near Fayette, Ohio. A total of 58 teams competed in the areas of aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife, and current environmental issues. The Ada team placed 32nd in the annual competition.
Competing in the Envirothon were, from left, Quinn High, Alex James, Ashley Sumner, Jackson Secor and Blake Willeke.
Members of the tree commission prepare red maples seedlings to hand out on two occasions. They scoop "elephant snot" into a plastic bag, drop in the tree, then tie up the bag.
"Elephant snot" (that"s what it looks like) is actually a compound that retains a large amount of water, thus if the tree is left in the bag for several days, the plant continues to live.
Twenty seedlings were given out at the Chamber Spring Fair in War Memorial Park on in mid-April, and 60 of the small trees were distributed to third graders on Arbor Day, April 24.
The Alger Jr. Farmers 4-H Club held their 1st meeting on April 12th at 1:00 pm at the 235 Grill in Alger. The meeting was called to order by Cecily Preston and the pledge of Allegiance was led by Trevor Dotson followed by the 4-H Pledge led by Cecily Preston. Trevor Dotson gave the treasurers report from last years balance. The election of 2015 officers was held with the following elected:
