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committee comments

he theme of the 2015 National Agriculture in the Classroom Conference in Louisville, Ky. in June was “Unbridled Possibilities.” Six women from our state committee, two former AITC Outstanding Teachers who presented workshops, and our 2015 Outstanding Teacher Julie Hathcote, attended three days of classes that had agriculture embedded in the curriculum. We brought ideas and activities back home to share with our members. The theme of this year’s Officers and Leaders Conference was “#BeVocal.” Farm Bureau encourages all members to be vocal about issues and agricultural programs in your communities. Please call your county office or ask Janice Marsh a board member if you chairwoman need help with an issue or need someone to assist you. Your state Women’s Committee was excited to celebrate the groundbreaking for the new Ronald McDonald House. I was fortunate to attend this event July 21 at the corner of 10th Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive. This new, larger “home-away-from-home” will make the lives of seriously ill children and their families much easier while the children are receiving treatment at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. We are so thankful to be able to partner with this important organization. Don’t forget about our Ag in the Classroom Coloring Book, Poster and Essay contest, Oct. 1 – Nov. 15. I also hope your county is participating in the backpack program at your local schools. It provides food for children on weekends who may go hungry otherwise. It’s a joint project of the county Women’s and Young Farmers & Ranchers committees. Contact your county office for more details. I’m praying for a safe and bountiful harvest for all.

GARLAND CO. FB photo

Garland Co. FB Women’s Committee members and student advisors raised more than $500 Aug. 29 in Hot Springs for the Loca Bonita Horse Ranch. Loca Bonita’s mission is “to facilitate an opportunity for children, families and horses to come together, free of charge, for the help, healing and restoration of each other through the love of Christ.” John and Sonja McCaleb own the ranch, which serves 500 visitors a year.

county activities The following activity summaries were Carroll: The committee promoted beef,

submitted by the county Farm Bureau Women’s Committees:

Benton: Committee members attended

county Quorum Court and Rotary Club meetings to promote the local dairy industry and hand out recipe books. The committee also participated in Dairy Days and provided Skill-A-Thon awards. At the Farm Family Media Day members provided refreshments. Committee members participated in the Farm Expo “Farm 2 You” activity and the Children’s Shelter Ag Camp in July. They handed out soybean, rice and cotton Ag Readers to students who participated.

Boone: The committee hosted a Dairy

Recipe Contest and worked with the Family and Consumer Science teacher at Harrison High School in conducting the event. Committee members also read to kindergarten and first-grade students at Lead Hill Elementary and presented a book to the school library. A date was set to have a program for all area fourth-graders on machine, animal and farm safety.

Third Quarter 2015 ®

dairy, rice, soybeans, cotton, corn and poultry during the Wagonmasters presentation to fifth-grade students at Berryville and Green Forest Elementary. Committee members taught an economics and history lesson using wagon building as a business from the early settlers to the present day. The committee also participated in the Million Hearts Initiative by having a blood pressure monitor at Agri Days in June and placing a monitor in the Berryville library. The committee helped with the “Farm 2 You” program for Berryville kindergarten students by reading the book “A Cow in Patrick O’ Shanahan’s Kitchen” and donating it to the school library.

Chicot: The committee crowned Miss Chicot

County Rice and presented her with a check to aid in cooking her recipe and promoting rice. Members of the committee attended the National Ag in the Classroom conference in Louisville, Ky., and returned with a lot of activities to help promote agriculture in local schools. The committee also continued on page 2

county activities

2015 ArFB State Women’s Committee

s your state women’s committee, we are here to be a resource and assist you in your ag promotion activities. Please feel free to contact us at any time. JANICE MARSH chairwoman Woodruff County, District 2 870-731-5660 rmarsh@centurytel.net PEGGY MILLER vice chairwoman Chicot County, District 7 870-265-5151 peggymiller2@gmail.com ANGIE HODGES Craighead County, District 1 870-935-2191 hh88@windstream.net SANDRA KEMMER Monroe County, District 2 870-734-2481 kemmer@att.net ROBERTA GOLMON Baxter County, District 3 870-499-3130 robertafoxtrot@gmail.com LAURIE RICHARDSON Scott County, District 4 479-207-3954 lrichardson555@mail.com

Union County Farm Bureau Women’s Committee donated backpacks and back to school supplies to Strong Elementary. Farm Bureau Committee members Amy Crawford and Cherrie Sweeney presented the backpacks to Shakita Story helped with the “Kids in the Kitchen” program and taught the importance of food safety and demonstrated how food can be artistic and tasty.

Clark: The committee prepared two cookouts for

the District and State Farm Family judging. Committee members also provided healthy treats of grapes, water and cookies for the summer reading program at the local library and read the book, “The Cow in Patrick O’ Shanahan’s Kitchen. ” The committee also purchased and delivered newspapers to local nursing homes.

Clay: Committee member Debbie Pollard was active

in attending the Officers and Leaders Conference and Cotton Conference out of state. The committee arranged for the Farm Bureau milk cow and Ag simulator to visit Piggott, Rector and Corning elementary schools as part of Ag in the Classroom programs there. AITC coloring books were distributed for further learning in the classrooms.

BENITA DREW Pope County, District 5 479-858-9272 benitakay@centurytel.net

Cleburne: The committee presented information

DONNA BEMIS Pulaski County, District 6 501-897-4931 donna@bemistreefarm.com

Cleveland: Committee members met with teachers in our local schools to see which Ag in the Classroom materials they are interested in using during the upcoming school year.

SONYA HARRELL Calhoun County, District 7 870-798-4821

sonya.harrell@ymail.com

UNION CO. FB photo

at the Cloverbud Day Camp on “Where Your Food Comes From” by teaching children in attendance how the items included in a sandwich were grown and came from a farm.

Columbia: Committee members Deborah Reynolds and Deborah Dooly purchased gifts for 4-H Poultry BBQ competition and supplied cookies and potato chips for the 4-H Project Fair. Reynolds provided a meat tray and water for the M*A*S*H program while Dooly sewed with five young people for the county Sew With Cotton

project. Reynolds also presented certificates to students at Columbia Christian School for their safety posters.

Conway: The 4-H youth attended an educational session on the importance of field crops grown in the River Valley and Arkansas. They learned how to properly identify seeds, planting times and harvesting methods. Seeds discussed included: soybeans, cotton, corn and wheat. The 4-Hers also took part in a sewing workshop and learned about cotton and its various uses. Students from Morrilton, Wonderview and Nemo Vista learned about Arkansas fruits and vegetables and listened to committee members read “Seed, Soil, Sun, Earth’s Recipe for Food.” Three hundred and twenty five students took part in the 2015 Farm Safety Day and learned about ATV, tractor and bicycle safety and the safe handling of livestock. Craighead: Committee member, Angie Hodges

and Miss Craighead County Rice Ragen Hodges prepared her recipe, Ragen’s Rice-Wings Salad for employees at a number of local businesses in the county and left her recipe cards for them to take home. Committee members attended the county pre-4th of July celebration where Ragen Hodges presented her salad dish to the 125 people in attendance. The local television station featured the celebration on the 5, 6 & 10 p.m. news segments and photos were posted to the county Farm Bureau’s Facebook, Instagram and Twitter sites.

Cross: The committee participated in the county Farm Family of the Year selection process and arranged for the Farm Bureau milk cow and Ag simulator to be at the annual FarmFest event. Committee members participated in the bake-off competition at Farm Fest and awarded continued on page 4

Clark County, (Rice Expo)

Benton County, (Farm to You)

C O U N T Y C L O S E - U P S

Independence County, (ICU Food Basket) Monroe County, (Planting Seeds)

Scott County, (The Incredible Egg)

Benton County, (Farm to You) 3

county activities scholarships to students at Wynne and Cross County high schools.

Faulkner: The committee participated in the county Pizza Ranch activity which provided commodity and nutrition education for 2,100 students from schools across the county. The committee also conducted taste testing activities featuring produce grown in the Wooster Elementary and Greenbrier Eastside Elementary school gardens. Committee members assisted with the garden at a local assisted living center and manned an informational booth at the local farmers market. Grant: The committee conducted a program on good nutrition for 200 students at Sheridan Intermediate School. The committee also had nutrition exhibits at the county Health Department in February, March and April and provided talks on good nutrition at the senior center. Committee members conducted childcare provider training workshops and participated in a 4-H state capitol activity. Howard: The committee sponsored the annual

county Dairy Foods contest. Participants and winners in each division and category were presented with prizes provided by the committee. The committee also sponsored a state qualifying participant by providing a monetary donation that helped with the expenses associated with the state contest. The committee also sponsored students in the county M*A*S*H program.

Independence: Committee members assisted in the 4-H sewing workshop where 12 students made cotton pillowcases. A fruit and veggie basket was donated to the local ICU waiting room that included healthy snacks. Coloring packets were donated each month to the local emergency room for pre-school students. Committee members assisted with the county extension office’s cooking club that involved 15 young people who made homemade pizza, salsa and guacamole.

Izard: The committee provided cash prizes for the egg photo contest in conjunction with the Arkansas Poultry Promotion Program.

Jackson: The committee donated 50 bags filled

with rice treats, rice recipes and commodity information to the Arkansas Scholars Program and 500 bags to Newport High School for its Ag Day program. Committee members assisted Miss Jackson County Rice in handing out her recipe cards to people attending Portfest. The committee also took animals to a petting zoo at the annual John Deere Day event, assisted with the local fishing derby by providing food for children participating and made a $300 donation to the Character program where they receive books at their local schools.

Johnson: The committee donated Arkansas Ag

Readers on broilers for units on embryology to Clarksville

Primary and Lamar Elementary schools. The committee also conducted a session on embryology during the Clarksville, Westside, and Lamar School District in-service program.

Lee: The committee participated in the summer story time at the local library. Committee member Traci Beene read to children and donated cookies and tee shirts to make superman capes.

Lonoke: The committee conducted the “How did that get in my Lunchbox?” program and an Arkansas Agriculture Review program for 36 students. Committee members also conducted a lesson on soil testing for Carlisle fifth-graders and a Farm Safety Day for 122 Lonoke fifth-grade students. Also during the period the committee conducted an ATV Safety Riders Course, a Shooting Sports Day Camp, and a lesson on Vet Science Animal Nutrition. Miller: Members of the committee attended a

number of meetings during the period. These included the Gateway Farmers Market Overseer’s Committee; the City Beautiful Commission; Miller County Conservation District; helping plan and serve dinner at the UA Extension Service flood meeting; the North American Envirothon at the University of Missouri at Springfield; and the Back-To-Nature and fishing derby planning meeting.

Monroe: The committee assisted the Brinkley

Chamber of Commerce in hosting a luncheon for the annual River to River Cross Country Memorial Bike Ride honoring disabled veterans. County and city dignitaries and community organizations participated. Miss Monroe County Rice prepared her Cheesy Chicken Rice Balls for the riders. Committee members visited with the riders and answered many questions about farming. The local newspaper published photos and an article about the event. The committee also assisted Miss Monroe County Rice in a presentation at the Folsom Memorial Library’s summer reading program. Children were given brochures about rice that Miss Rice had prepared, book marks, Fun on the Farm coloring books and Arkansas Ag readers.

INDEPENDENCE CO. FB photo

Jeanice Hess with the Independence County Women’s Committee delivered Farm Bureau Coloring Packets to White River Medical Center Emergency Waiting Room staff. The committee also conducted a food safety program to ladies at an Extension Homemakers meeting. The program illustrated the dangers of reheating foods in plastic containers in the microwave. This will also be the topic of the fair exhibit booth.

Perry: The committee made information available for county grade school teachers and answered any questions they had about Ag in the Classroom programs. The committee also helped gather applications for Teen Challenge Camp and for the Perry County Farm Bureau scholarship and presented them to the board for approval.

Pope: Two committee members read the book “From Cow to Ice Cream” at a camp that was held at the Potts Inn. The committee sponsored a young person in the Dairy Ambassador contest who won first place at the state competition. The committee also conducted a Farm Safety Poster contest and submitted the winner to the state for judging. Members of the committee also spoke to a community group and local 4-Hers about starting a community garden near the Dover school. Saline: The committee met with teachers at Benton Middle School promoting programs Farm Bureau has to

Newton: The committee conducted a county Dairy Foods contest and assisted the winner at the state contest in Little Rock. Committee members also delivered magazines to a local nursing home, worked on quilts to be donated to a local charity and painted jars and filled them with treats to be auctioned as part of a fundraiser for the Pauline Cooper Scholarship Fund. North Logan: A member of the committee

read the book “The Apple Orchard Riddle” to fourth-grade students at St. Joseph Elementary and donated the book to the school library. She had a discussion with the students about the importance of apples and cut one open so the students could see how the seeds make a star

MONROE CO. FB photo

The Monroe County Women’s Committee made a donation of reading material to the Folsom Memorial Library summer reading program.

county activities offer them and their students. The committee also ordered a blood pressure unit.

Scott: The committee participated in the Forestry Field Day for Waldron Middle School fifth-graders. Information was provided to students about the many products that come from our trees and how important the timber industry is to our County. Students were provided with information on how paper and pencils are made. The committee assisted the county YF&R Committee in conducting a Farm Day for Waldron Elementary third-grade students. The students learned about wool in addition to goat meat and goat milk. They were able to see the goat milked, and they learned that most people in the world drink milk from goats. There was also a poultry station where a Poultry Ag Reader was given to each student and a beef cattle station where students learned how ranchers take care of their cattle. Searcy: The committee provided and served beans

and cornbread at the Leslie homecoming in June. Members of the committee also served food to veterans at the Marshall Veterans Hall on Memorial Day.

Sevier: A committee member read the book “The Bee-

man” to kindergarten classes at DeQueen Primary School. Students were given treats made from honey after the reading and activities provided in the teacher guide were used with students. The committee continues to provide area teachers with ag-related resources. Area products were used in food preparation for county board meetings. A committee member served on the scholarship selection committee. Three scholarships were awarded in Sevier County and one was from the Women’s Committee.

Sharp: The committee manned a beef booth at the county fair. Committee members handed out information on cattle and beef recipes. The committee also handed out book marks during reading month in May at the Cave City school. Sharp County Farm Bureau also had a booth at the fair handing out recipes and information concerning Farm Bureau.

SCOTT CO. FB photo Sue Cox (standing in pen), member of the Scott County Women’s Committee, demonstrated how to milk a dairy goat and in this photo shows the milk to Waldon Elementary third-grade students during the committee’s Farm Day activity. More than 100 students took part in the annual event where they learned about animal agriculture including beef, equine and poultry. about Arkansas commodities and the nutritional value of each. The committee also conducted a coloring contest for students at the elementary school and finished our seed growing experiment in the second-grade classes. The committee arranged a safety program for fifth-grade students on bicycle and ATV safety stressing proper helmet usage.

Stone: A committee served as a judge for the Stone

County Dairy Recipe contest. Other committee members volunteered at the county Food Room by stocking shelves. The committee assisted with the third-grade field day to Fairfield Bay and helped with the Stone County antique tractor show. Committee members attended the Agriculture Pasture and Forest field day in June sponsored by the Soil Conservation office.

duce from raised bed gardens at Booneville and Magazine Elementary schools grown by third-grade students.

Van Buren: The committee conducted a Dairy Foods contest in May and awarded prizes to the winners. Committee members accompanied the county winner to the state competition in Little Rock, where Brooke Bradford won second place in the Party Idea competition. The committee also updates the display on the wall of the foyer at the county Farm Bureau office. This lets members know about activities in the county and how the committee promotes agriculture in various ways.

South Mississippi: The committee donated

Washington: The committee conducted its

South Logan: The committee harvested pro-

$350 to the Northeast Arkansas Food Bank and gave a grant to Armorel school for use with the Garden Project promoting the growth of vegetables there. The committee also sponsored four Mississippi County seniors to the M*A*S*H camp held at UAMS-Northeast in Jonesboro.

St. Francis: The committee assisted Miss St. Francis

County Rice in promoting rice to local schools, passing out coloring pages and reading books about rice to the elementary children. Committee members spoke to elementary students

fourth annual “Girls Nite Out” in July. There were demonstrations on how to cook different foods using small appliances. We invited non-agricultural women as our guests. To prepare for this event committee members researched recipes and test-cooked them, planned the event, shopped for groceries, prepared, demonstrated, cleaned up the Farm Bureau’s kitchen. We also typed the recipe sheets and made copies for everyone in attendance. The committee collected canned pop tabs to be given to the State Women’s Committee at the end

of the year for its project. Several schools were invited to participate in this activity. Committee members picked up pop tabs from the schools and provided treats for the participating classes.

White: The board selected Emma Williams as the

Miss White County Rice Queen. She has spoken with area high schools concerning rice. Emma will also be handing out information concerning rice at this year’s White County Fair with a theme of “Rice Isn’t Just for Ducks.” Committee members judged 4-H Agri Day contests, taught financial management to students at Bald Knob, Rosebud and Riverview high schools, spoke to Harding University students concerning insurance responsibility and met with Congressman French Hill to discuss trade agreements.

Woodruff: The committee conducted a rice recipe contest and crowned Miss Woodruff County Rice. Committee member Leigh Ann Bullington cooked rice dishes on KAIT-TV,. The committee donated Arkansas Ag Readers, “Fun on the Farm” coloring books and soybean crayons to the 4-H camp and donated “The Apple Orchard Riddle” books to all second-grade teachers in the county. Committee members also attended the national Ag in the Classroom Conference in Louisville, Ky.

staff contacts

• Harry Willems, associate director of OMP, 501-228-1247, harry.willems@arfb.com • Autumn Wood, OMP special programs assistant, 501-228-1306, autumn.wood@arfb.com 5

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arfb women’s committee calendar Sun.

Mon.

Tue.

Wed.

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Fri.

Sat.

October 1

Arkansas State Fair in Little Rock

Deadline for Goldstar

National Boss’ Day

Arkansas State Fair Columbus Day

Arkansas State Fair

Deadline for Submitting Resolutions to ArFB

31 State Women’s Committee 4th Quarter Report Due Halloween

2 November 1

State Resolutions Committee Meeting

Excellence in Ag Appications Due

Veteran’s Day

AITC Coloring Contest Due in State Office

Discussion Meeting Appications Due

2 December 1

FB Offices Closed for Thanksgiving Holiday

Farm Family of the Year Luncheon

County Committee List Due

FB Offices Closed for Christmas Holiday Christmas Eve

FB Offices Closed for Christmas Holiday Christmas Day

ArFB 81st Annual Meeting in Little Rock

Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

First Day of Winter

31 New Year’s Eve