Welcome, everyone, to Midday Magazine for this December 21st, 2023.
Have your host, James J. Mailoff, behind the mic.
We are joined right now by our great friend, Jasmine Carbohol,
associate for each educator with Wood and Marathon Counties.
Jasmine, good to see you.
Good to see you too.
Thanks a lot for being here.
We appreciate the time.
And right away, want to tell you happy holidays to you and yours.
Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you.
Feliz Navidad.
Feliz Navidad, yeah.
It's been crazy that we're already at the holidays,
end of the year.
Like, it went by real quick.
It's really wild.
It kind of catches up on people, but we didn't want to take a moment to remind everybody
in 2024.
There's some really wonderful things going on with our 4-H.
You guys, you and Lauren, the team and the kids are planning out a bunch of wonderful
things and stuff that we don't even know yet because the ideas are still being formed
and all that.
Believe it or not, we've started planning for our summer camp already.
Really?
It is crazy.
I mean, it does look a little summerish still out there.
That's true.
It's not a bad time to do that.
It speaks also to how much this stuff means to you guys and how the planning and time
and thought and care that goes into all of these events.
As we're getting closer to 2024, we encourage you, families out there, kids out there, reach
out to our 4-H.
Find out how it can benefit you and your family and your community.
Absolutely.
Yeah, because we have a lot of our staple programs coming in 2024, Winter Camp, in February.
We have our foodies that will continue throughout 2024 that we like to promote.
Like I said, summer camp will be coming up and then lots of new projects as well that
we're focusing on.
So if, you know, families out there looking to get involved, if your youth is looking
for something maybe different to do or come check out a program, 2024 can be your year.
And that includes our whole range of listenership.
Let's take place sometimes in rapids, sometimes in other counties or other cities and everything.
So wherever you're listening to us, reach out to your 4-H and find events that are close
to you.
Yeah, but events that we have clubs all over the county as well.
So even, you know, check out maybe a local club.
We also always are looking for volunteers.
So if you're looking for maybe a new way to volunteer, come check us out as well.
We do a volunteer retreat to really like empower volunteers and thank them, right?
Like, just like we thank you for having us on air all the time.
We also want to thank and appreciate the volunteers that make our program happen.
Again, I mean, that's just cool to do in general.
But I really think that that shows how much, not only the 4-H staff appreciates these volunteers
and these people, but how much you appreciate having members of 4-H and being able to,
okay, we want to have this get together, but we also want our volunteers to have some
certain understanding and some certain heart with this and everything.
It shows the importance and the meaning to everybody about 4-H.
And I think it speaks to the overall importance of 4-H in this state.
Really in Midwest states in general, but just talking about Wisconsin here, we understand
how big our ag industry is and how important it is.
We also understand in the ag industry, it knows us better than I do, of how the worlds
have merged between modern and tech and so much of the ag world.
We find out more about this all the time, and I think it's fascinating and really interesting.
And really good idea, kids on the ground level of this stuff, you know, it doesn't hurt,
can't help.
It doesn't, it can only help, and we have so many resources, we, you know, in extension
that like, if we really like 4-H, maybe you're in, but then you also have all these other
resources you can access.
Yeah, it's a really good idea.
We'll give you more information as we wrap up after we wrap up of how to get a hold of
Jasmine and find out more.
And you can find out more about the 4-H foodies as you were touching on such a fun program.
You guys have been having a lot of fun with this.
It's just, you know, who doesn't have fun when you're cooking and eating?
Yes.
I always have fun.
So yeah, we're going to kick off our 2024 year with our first 4-H foodie, January 6th,
and it's the theme is eggs, so it's like 4-H foodie, egg, delicious, anything from like
deviled eggs all the way through frittatas, we're going to be kind of talking, you know,
there's one project, the Laura, I'm sure we'll talk more about that we want to bring
to our schools related to racing chicks and like old poultry projects and we're going
to do a big focus on that.
So this is a good way to kind of get started, dip our, you know, toes in the topic.
And so this, so this is going to be Saturday, January 6th is going to be at the first Presbyterian
Church in Marshfield.
So we'll be offering this down in up in Marshfield for youth and third grade and older, because
we'll be doing some fun recipes.
So we do need a little bit of older kiddos there, and yeah, it'll be $5 per participant.
We always offer scholarships, so we never want that to be a barrier, as you know, and
that's going to continue on through 2024.
So it's going to be a lot of fun.
I genuinely, and I'm going to bring it up every single time.
I think it's one of the coolest things you guys do about the scholarship idea, the idea
that you don't want any kid not to be able to take this class for those kind of reasons.
And it's close to home, and I think it's beautiful.
And it's fun.
This is so much fun.
Eggs are one of the more versatile foods we have.
I don't think we think about that very often, but it really is.
It really is.
It's also one of the ones that, and we talk about this all the time, Jasmine, of how there
is very few things that bring people together like food.
And eggs is one of the more universal ones, it almost every, whether every culture has
their own kind of dish with eggs involved in it, or even local family has their favorite
kind of way of having eggs, or using eggs.
It's one of the most, if not the most universal thing, and that bread, I mean, there's a couple
of things like this.
Eggs are a good one with that.
Yeah.
And you know, you can, there's so many, like getting a lot of people, sometimes we talk about
food, foodies, foody programs, like we think we're just cooking, we're just thinking,
but we're actually learning a lot of like, you know, the safety around things, right?
Where food comes from.
So those are all other aspects that we touch on, games, right, that we always play a game
or two, because I like our youth that come to connect with each other and meet new people,
because this is open to all youth.
You don't have to be on 4-H to come check out this program.
So yeah, it's going to be a good one.
When I was young, I always like this, and I even like it more as an adult when you kind
of like learn something, but you didn't plan to, you're like, oh, they tricked me.
It's a good thing.
It's a positive thing.
And most kids, if at all kids really respond well to that kind of stuff.
So when you say that this isn't just about learning maybe some fun recipes or sharing
some and everything, it really does go deeper than that.
We have so many people, so many adults nowadays, worrying about kids having more empathy or
having some empathy or some understanding of the world that they're in.
When they find out that the eggs just don't magically appear, where they come from.
They learn that they see the, if paper trail, if you will, of where these come from, it
only creates more empathy for them to understand this stuff.
They take these stories with them the rest of their lives.
And it's funny when you say, you know, like you learn, and sometimes you don't realize
that you're learning it.
And one of my foodies actually had a youth, all of a sudden, you know, after we've gone
through the lesson, we're trying the stuff that we made, he's like, oh, you're tricking
us into eating healthy.
And it's like, no, you just happen to be part of the cooking process and you want to eat
it, right?
Like, yeah, and it's so good, but I didn't think about it.
I'm like, I'm not tricking you.
I'm just, you know, we're all working together here.
You just happen to want to eat it and you happen to like it.
And that's how you eat meat dip, you know, like, yeah, it was a good, it was funny.
It is a really neat note, though, because it makes me think of something about that, too.
You and I have touched on this before.
We'd never know what this could spark in a young mind and create a passion and maybe
a forever passion or a career in, which it is well documented and known.
Our ag industry could always use more good people in it.
So there's that part of it, too.
But the idea that they could share this knowledge with parents and everything and thought
of that part of this and, you know, even adults learning from this and adults are always
welcome.
I always say, you know, parents are family members that drop them off.
Like, you can stay.
And it was interesting because, you know, after, after I had tricked the, you did to eat
it.
And eating healthy.
Yeah.
I know.
It helped me.
He was the first one signed up for my next foodie.
Like, he was top of the list.
It was like, I was in the parent's state and the parent had so much fun on the first
one, too, that they're like learning along with their kiddo that it was just so great.
Well, we've seen a rise in this, even when we were young, of more and more people don't
really pick up items anymore.
They pick them up and look at the back.
They want to know the ingredients.
They want to know what they're eating.
We become more conscious of what we're ingesting than ever.
You know, classes like this, not just this one, but all the 4-H foodie classes really
give you an in-depth look into this.
And kind of giving kids a bit of a heads up, not a heads up so much as a head start on
this kind of subject.
Right.
They're practicing those skills that they're learning.
Right?
Like you said, they're going to take just forever with them.
I don't want to give anything away necessarily, but this seems like a program you're going
to keep doing is you even touched on a little bit in 2024.
Yes.
Foodie has been, you know, it's always hard sometimes because like, our county is kind
of big.
Like, sometimes, but I do try to offer them in a variety of places, right?
We'll offer them in Marshall, we'll offer them in Rapids.
Sometimes I'll offer them in Nakuza.
So really, like, you know, and if you feel that you have, you know, like a place where
you're thinking, well, we really want to see more here.
Let me know and I can try to make it happen because, yeah, it's been just such a great
program that I think we'll keep it going.
And you know, in the summer, we do it weekly.
So, yeah, yeah.
So yeah, it's definitely a strong program.
If there are people out there, whether they're for each members or not, that have ideas,
as far as, you know, something that the foodies class can focus on, should they reach out
to you about this?
Absolutely.
A lot of the things that we do are things that, you know, come from, this was inspired by
one of the, this egg one coming up by one of our youth that, like, loves to race chickens
and like, it's in a poultry project and it's like, let's do something around this, you
know, we did in one of the other counties that I cover, we did Christmas treats and one
of the things that, that the youth was like, let's do eggnog next time, right?
So like, they give me all these ideas and it's like, let's do it there, you know, it's
so it comes from them too and I think because they're part of that process of that sort
of like planning, right?
You're giving me those ideas and they're more invested in it.
I think it's one of the things that I am so thankful for with you and Laura with this
is that you guys don't run like a dictatorship.
This is a community thing.
This is something that you guys are, you happen to be, you know, help running it and everything,
that you're a part of this, everybody works together and it's such evidence of that
with a program like this, this one in particular with Egalicious.
I love hearing that story.
That's fantastic where this came from.
That's really cool.
Yeah, yeah.
So anyway, yeah.
So join us.
Join us.
Join us.
One to two at First Presbyterian in Marshfield.
And again, we encourage people to register for the event.
Yes.
If you need to register, you can go ahead.
I would throw it into your search bar or go to UW Extension's website.
You should be able to find it from there.
Yes, absolutely.
And we'll touch on those details before we wrap up.
Jasmine, I wanted to take some time also to focus on a great project that you guys have
coming up.
Yes.
So we have a great event on January 20th.
It's going to be an all day nine to three, also in Marshfield at Second Street Community
Center.
That's called Project Discovery Day.
So this is a good one if you're thinking about what kind of projects can I do on 4H?
Because we have that day filled with lots of different things that youth and third grade
and up can do.
And it's very interesting because, you know, Lorde, Lorde's the main organizer for this,
but she really chose lots of different tracks and lots, so that way you can, you know,
if you're youth that maybe doesn't know, we have one session that day on Sparks where
you could find things that maybe you like.
So yeah, it's going to be really interesting.
So basically, if you can think about it, kind of like a conference style for adults,
like where you go, you pick your sessions, and then you're kind of there the whole day,
you know, it's kind of the same style.
Youth will, you know, register sign up for different session times and what they want
to see in that session.
So here are we ready for like the variety of things that we'll have that day.
So some of the things we'll have is leather, crafting, we'll have cookies with royal icing,
have you ever had that at bus?
Oh, yes.
A long time ago.
A long time ago.
I will be leading that one.
So if you want to come see me while we're making some at the bus, we have a Venezuelan
4-H educator down in Madison, the Tadas, some of the other educators have to do at the bus.
So we're excited to bring that.
We also have an engineering challenge session.
We have an electrician coming to talk about electricity, dog projects.
So we have, you know, our Clark County educators that's coming over to teach about dogs.
And if you want to take on, so, and that's just a feel, we have lots more to pick from.
So that's project discovery day.
So I don't know which one sounds more interesting to you.
Oh, God.
That's a, that's a, that literally is one of the tougher questions I'm going to get today.
Because I'm a big dog guy.
And the dog thing definitely stood out to me about that.
But I would like to be able to do something like this and just try all of this out.
I don't know if I could just, I really, I'm being very genuine right now.
I don't know if I could pick one.
You gave me, you just threw at me a bunch of great stuff.
It feels a little like an open house in some ways, like a full,
H open house sort of a combination of that and what you were touching on there.
It's a great opportunity for kids.
I also just mean something else pops my head with this.
Job fairs are becoming more and more popular and bigger and bigger.
And while when we were kids, you know, maybe once in a while this kind of thing would show
up maybe in high school, kids younger and younger are attending these and being a part of
these.
It's a very similar job fair feel to it and that kind of getting in that room, understanding
how those events kind of go.
It couldn't be a, there's no downside to something like that either.
No, I love that you bring that because actually even one of our sessions is applications
and interview skills.
Nice.
Right.
So one of you, that's one of the sessions you can pick from because it is that style.
And then you also have to start learning those skills young because as you enter, you
know, as you become an adult, you have to have those skills and that's saying you don't
get them from other spaces.
That 4-H is one space that you also get to kind of get those skills and practice those
skills.
So yeah, absolutely.
And so that's another session.
You know, that's just one of the very best.
One of the other ones that I'm really excited about, you know, because one of the things
that we always talk about is just kind of partnerships and in collaborations.
And so one of the sessions for youth, they really have that passion for service.
We will be doing lasagna for the movement lasagna love.
And so we're going to be putting in so that Laura is going to lead that session and
it's going to, it's one of the first times that we're going to collaborate and kind of
do this type of service project where we're going to bring youth that are interested in
making lots of nutritious lots of lasagna and then that's going to go back to the community
for people that need just a meal and we're trying to really bring that stigma down
of like people that need help should be able to ask for help without shame.
And so this is, that's going to be one of the options for you to do that day at Project
Discovery Day.
It's this lasagna love session where you can just, you know, and then that service project
component is going to be really powerful.
Lasagna is powerful.
Lasagna is awesome.
Lasagna is great.
I say that as a proud Italian, but also it's really powerful.
The work that you guys are doing over there.
There are so many layers to what you guys do and different things that we talk about
with this.
And one of the things that is a theme, I would think, in a lot of the stuff that you do
is not only showing but giving dignity, you know, in these situations.
Thanks to our United Way and our ALS report, I think most people have seen by now that
most households, the average household in this area or in this country right now is just
one step away or one disaster away or one medical emergency or something like that from
being in a situation where you might need help and you're in yours.
Going up as one of those families, I can tell you that one of the few things that we
ever asked for was dignity.
I don't remember my mom and dad complaining or barking about this or that or anything,
but one thing that they could use would have been nice to see a little bit more of
is some dignity.
They're human beings doing everything that they can.
You ain't going to meet many people that have a better work ethic than my mom and dad
and I think that's the case for most families in these situations.
You're creating more empathy in this.
You're giving dignity with things like this.
Just as important as all of that, little brains, little sponges are taking that in and
seeing how adults treat other adults and give that dignity.
Correct.
And this actually was, when we talk about the ideas and where they come from when we
do programming, this specific project came from one of our parents and one of our leaders,
one of that they really have worked with this movement before and they have such a passion
for it.
They're like, can we spread this with our youth and it's like, yes, this is the perfect
space for it.
You're right.
The things that the youth are learning go beyond things that are tangible, which is so
important nowadays.
Yeah.
Any opportunity to create more of that, to give opportunities for kids to learn more in
that and see more of the examples of that.
There is no downside to something like that.
Oh man, that is cool.
I know.
I'm realizing, when you asked me the question of which one of these I would like to attend
is I keep changing my answers in my head.
It speaks to not only how great this event is, but the many layers that go up to 4-H.
When we touch on this, you, Laura and I all the time, but 4-H is growing all the time
and growing almost every month, every year and finding new ways to reach the youth, to
help the youth and to help our, certainly the ag industry as 4-H traditionally is not.
But we also know that ag falls into and bleeds into so many other fields and categories.
And you know, thinking about also just the projects that, you know, we need, because
like I think ag, yes, and then I also think, as individuals, right, one of the project
areas that we kind of embed and a lot of the things that we do is mental health, right?
Because we need to be able to mentally go into those spaces.
So yes, you know, we think about end products sometimes are big, just different to project
areas, but really like some of the new projects that have changed over time, some of the new
topics that we're dealing with and things like that are things that we're keeping up with
in the world, right? Like that's, that's part of it too. So it's a good change.
Right. And it's a necessary one.
Yes.
Evolution is a part of life, whether it's in any, in all forms of it and everything.
You start touching on this and it's something that Laura and I have talked about a long time ago,
but bullying I think is a very different thing. For our generation, it was one thing.
For this generation, it's a very different thing. For me as a kid, I get bullied. It's,
it's rough. It sucks and all that, but I go home and I have a break from it and everything.
It's just my dad teasing me. It's not like that. These kids nowadays don't really have a break
from that. It follows them on social media and this, this is a world that as adults,
we have to understand that we can't understand. It's important for us to get that and to start
right there. The more we understand, we listen to kids and we hear from them and we give them
opportunities to learn from them and then to learn the better we can attack these kind of
situations. This is one example of something that has changed from when we were kids to now.
Yeah. There's a lot of that kind of stuff. It's true, right? And it's, like you said, listening
is so important and it's, it's scary because we tend as adults to think we're experts and
things. And we are in some areas where we're experts in our own stories and our own lives,
but you're right. It has changed so much. Our world is just so different that like there are times
that we as adults, you know, and that's something the Lord and I are both very conscious with
as in our roles as 4H educators is like we have to listen and we have to involve our youth,
our families, our volunteers in that process because we know that we're not experts in everything.
It goes back into this lesson or that we're not necessarily trying to teach but is being learned.
If you will, I think one of the more important things you can do as a human being and going forward
in society, we want to create empathy, we want people to understand these things and also to
understand that, you know, like I was raised by a strong hippie feminist and I understand women's
rights very deeply but I also understand that I don't get it, that I understand but I can't
completely understand, you know, that having that understanding there goes a long way with not only
creating bonds and friendships and all this but creating a better society, more open and empathetic
because you're still able to support, right? Like even if you, even if you're conscious that you
can't get it 100%, I'm still able to support you, you're right and so yes. So anyway,
Project Discover Day is going to be a great one. One thing I didn't mention earlier is just that
the prize really just depends on the classes that you pick. There are some of the sessions that,
you know, are $2, $3 just because of the materials that go into the class and then there are
some sessions that are free because like applications and interviews, skills, you know, we don't,
there's really not a lot of, that's you, you bring yourself, we're going to make it happen. So,
yes, join us on January 20th, it's an old day, nine to three at Second Street Community Center.
This is for youth in grades third grade and up and then they do have to register, I'm sorry,
and so the participant here is, I'm sorry, $10 and then, you know, if there's any added cost.
But we do want kind of registrations that will open on December 20th. So we are there, the
registrations open, if you have questions, give us a call. But yeah, that's going to be an exciting day.
Oh man, it's going to be a fun day. That is going to be, and I'm not going to bother you on
the 21st because you're going to be tired. You're going to be busy. Yeah, yeah, it's going to take
all of us. And you're going to enjoy every second of it too though, because as Jasmine told you,
we didn't even get to really dive into everything that is going on with the event.
You talk about something for everything and as tough as it can be sometimes, even your kid that
you can't figure out what they like is going to find something at this time. They're going to find
something. Jasmine is wrapping up. I did want to always like to touch on volunteers and encouraging
people to reach out. You guys can always use an extra set of hands. Always, you know, one of the
programs that we've been talking about is Hunto's, for example, that's our program that's also
going to continue into 2024 for Latinx youth. And we had a volunteer that just heard about it.
And it's like, I want to help. And so they were able to join us on just those specific nights,
just hands on an extra pair of hands for the little siblings that they could help with activities
or, you know, with meals or prizes or things like that. So really like, we are always looking for
volunteers at the capacity that they can. You know, we always have something that will work.
So whether it's something that you want to commit, you know, one day a month, yes, one day a week,
sure, or want to be, you know, something else, sure, just come talk to us. Yeah. And Jasmine,
do people want to find out more about the 4-H Foodie Egalicious event coming up on January 6th,
or the project discovery day in January 23rd of volunteer? How can they get in touch with you?
Well, they can always follow us on social media. We have our Instagram and Facebook pages,
and then we have our, if you just Google, woodconey extension, we'll find us there in the Wisconsin
site. And, or you could always just call our office as well, email us directly. But yeah,
everything's online. We appreciate you, Laura, your whole staff over there. Say hi to them. Happy
holidays to you, yours. We'll talk next year. Yes, next year. We'll have more midday magazine for
you coming up tomorrow right here on WFHR. We are locally grown radio.
