Once again Sibley County 4-H will be selling fruit! Every 4-H Family is to sell $150.00 worth of fruit. A better goal would be to have EVERY 4-H’er sell $150.00 worth of fruit. The money is used to pay the program fee for State Fair, State Dog Show, State Shoot, State Horse Show, afterschool programs, reduce the programming costs of 4-H, and provide scholarships for youth who attend county, regional, and state events. ALL club members are required to sell fruit because EVERY 4-H member in Sibley County is a recipient of the money raised. If a family chooses to not sell $150.00 worth of fruit, the Federation will not pay for their Program Fee for the above-listed activities.

You should have received your club fruit sales information packet in the mail. Forms and information were mailed on Friday, January 13 to Sibley County 4-H Families. If you have not received it, please contact our office at 507-237-4100 or email Connie at rettm001@umn.edu or email Joleen at jdose@umn.edu. Once again this year fruit sales are offered online. All orders will need to be entered online. Look for more information in your fruit sales packet.

ALL paper fruit sales will need to be entered ONLINE into your family’s account. Orders must be entered into myfruitsale.com by 11:59 p.m. on Friday, February 24. Then you must get a printed copy of your family’s order and any money you collected into your Fruit Sales Coordinator. The Fruit Sales Coordinator must turn everything into our office by MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27. If you are not sure who your Fruit Sales Coordinator is, please check with your Key Leader. The fruit will be delivered on Monday, March 20 starting approximately at 8:30 a.m. We will be looking for volunteers to help unload the fruit (three to four from each club). Please let your Key Leader know if you can help out that day. Fruit will be delivered to the Sibley County Highway Department/Sheriff's Shed on Highway 19 in Gaylord.

Please make sure you get out there and SELL, SELL, SELL! This is our only fundraiser for the year and we need it to be successful! Selling fruit is one of the easiest things to sell. Just get out there and ask people to support 4-H! Good luck!

Beef Identification materials were emailed out to “ENROLLED” beef members a couple of weeks ago. If you did not receive the information in your email, please contact our office.

Once again Minnesota 4-H will be using its online enrollment system, 4HOnline, to record all animal identifications in 2021. Online animal identification reduces inaccuracies and inefficiencies. More information and a 4HOnline user guide can be found at www.4-H.umn.edu/animal-ID.

Central identification for market beef and dairy steers will take place on SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2023 from 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. at the Joy Cohrs Farm, 17138 State Hwy. 22, Glencoe. The snow date is February 12, 2023! This Central ID Weigh In day is optional. If you choose to participate in the weigh in, please bring your completed Market Beef or Dairy Steer ID worksheet with you. Ear tags will be available at weigh in. If you choose not to participate in Central Weigh-In, you will need to self ID. You will need to pick up ear tags at the Extension Office. ALL Market Beef ID’s are due Wednesday, February 15! There will be a charge for ear tags ($2.00 a piece).

Twenty-two 4-H’ers were interviewing for jobs this past week when they went through a mock job interview. On Monday, January 23 at the Sibley County Service Center job applicants filled out an application or resume and were interviewed by age category for a job they were interested in. Jobs they could pick were from the 4-H Fair Valley Employment Opportunities.

Jobs included Admissions, Food Services, Landscaper, Mechanic/Carpenter, Performing Artists, Petting Zoo and Public Relations. Judges for the evening were Alison Eibs, Klea Rettmann and John Glisczinski.

All contestants did a great job. Results are as follows: Senior Division 1st place went to Rachael Dose, AC; 2nd – Taylor Schafer, BWS and 3rd – Abby Willegal, BWS. Also participating were Nicole Anderson, WW and Mitchell Olson, BWS.

Intermediate participants were: 1st – Kelly Willegal, BWS; 2nd – Nora Doehling, AC; and 3rd – Aiden Kerber, WW. Also participating were Grant Dose, AC; Alexander Kerber, WW; Russel Kerber, WW; Lydia Prahl, RRR; and Lauren Schafer, BWS.

Beginner participants were: 1st – Ashley Schafer, BWS; 2nd – Josie Wibstad, AC and 3rd – Mason Olson, BWS. Also participating were Eli Doehling, AC; Genevieve Kerber, WW; Benton Prahl, RRR; and Gavin St. John, AC.

Cloverbuds participating were Lillian Prahl, RRR and Lucas St. John, AC.

Congratulations to all participants!

Share the Fun and Performing Arts is scheduled for Monday, July 17, 2023 – location to be determined. Now is the time to start discussing, planning and working on club skits.

Divisions: Share the Fun Club Acts or Individual Performing Arts Performances (judged by age level: Beginner, Intermediate or Senior).

Share the Fun Rules: Only one club act per club is allowed. Club acts should set a goal of being 6 minutes long, which is a State Rule. At the county level, any club that goes over 7 minutes will not be allowed to receive 1st or 2nd place or advance to the MN State Fair. Club acts over 7 minutes will be allowed to place 3rd and will still be eligible for Best Costume/Most Creative Set, Most Humorous Skit or Talent Award and Club with Largest Percentage of Participants.

Performing Arts Information: If you are performing an individual act and would like to use it as a 4-H project, sign up for the Performing Arts Project in Fairy Entry when you enter all your other fair projects.

Exhibit Requirements: Exhibit can be either a performance or an exhibit that shows a member’s involvement or interest in the performing arts. To be eligible for State Fair, the member must be able to discuss the process of selecting, planning, performing and reflection on their project work. If the exhibit is an actual performance, the performance cannot last longer than 10 minutes.

Exhibit Suggestions: Poster or display about your involvement or interest in the performing arts. A puppet and script made and created by member. Create and perform a short story, show, music selection, etc., and include a write-up about it. A journal or scrapbook (with written statements) of current performing arts experiences. An educational display of some aspect of music, drama, or performing.

Please call the Extension Office if you need further information.