4-H vegetable growing teaches kids
where food comes from

By Chris Rogers

Gilchrist County 4-H Agent Chris DeCubellis explained on Saturday that 48 4-H members were provided seeds to use for a garden earlier in the spring.
Thirty-five of those children completed the project by planting their own gardens, and each child would have his or her garden judged at some point during the growing season.
Twelve children were present on Saturday, June 13, for the judging of his or her vegetables. DeCubellis said two more children would’ve been present but one, Chandler Ash, was sick and couldn’t make it, and Brittany Akin, who actually took the first place overall trophy, had ACT testing that morning.
Each participant in the display part of the project was given the opportunity to choose four of their vegetables to place on the table for the judges to view. After the judges, Tom and Ellen Hogan, were finished scoring the vegetables, it was time for Chris to tally the scores. The Hogans entertained everyone while they waited for the results with some songs played and sung Bluegrass-style, or Bluegrass songs played and sung children-style. “The Crawdad Song” and “I Had A Little Chicken” seemed to be the favorites.
Every 4-H’er present was given a pin for his or her participation and for following through until the end. Various colored ribbons were also awarded for the actual garden judging; the children were recognized for completing their record books for the project; and Dakota Harding was recognized for having the first place scarecrow in his garden.
The top six overall winners were awarded trophies. The judging must have been tough because Brittany McDaniel and Shiloh Ripley were tied for the 5th place trophy. The top 11 overall winners were recognized, and DeCubellis explained to each of them how proud they should be for doing such a good job. He also took the time to explain to the children the importance of being able to grow their own food and raise their own crops, and not just think it miraculously appears in the produce department at the local supermarket. DeCubellis did an excellent job explaining that the things they learned during this project would be able to help them in the future and quite possibly they’ll be able to teach these same skills to their own children one day.
Everyone enjoyed the competition, the entertainment, and the occasional breeze that blew through the train depot.

Brittany Akin was the overall winner of the 4-H vegetable growing contest.

Overall winners were: second place-Joshua Akin (also holding his sister’s first place trophy), Dakota Harding-third place, Savannah Harding-fourth place, and fifth place winners-Shiloh Ripley and Brittany McDaniel.

Emily Horlocker shows off her vegetables on Saturday.