Meet Jennifer

Hello World!

Due to the fact that Marsha needed to catch some well-earned zzzz's in the dorms, today's blog will be done by me, Jennifer Nicklay, the person on the right in the picture at the bottom of the blog. Today is the sixth day of the fair, and the seventh day I've been on the fairgrounds.

A little bit about me first would help I suppose. I'm eighteen-years-old and have finally graduated from high school. I will be attending the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities College of Biological Sciences next year as a genetics major... or biochemisty, plant biology, or microbiology. As you can probably tell, I'm still rather undecided. Due to this indecision and the fact that upon graduation I completed most of my goals, I decided I needed a new ULTIMATE LIFE PLAN (dun dun dun). So, I've decided I'm going to be a Rhodes Scholar and do my graduate work in England (!). Hey, everyone has to have a dream.

Beyond school, 4-H is the activity in which I am most involved. I have been a member for eleven or twelve years, we're not entirely sure, and have been extensively involved in youth leadership since sixth grade. I'm still super involved in my county 4-H program. My favorite projects are constructed clothing, photography, and Arts-In (a performing group), and I've acted as a project leader in these areas for several years. State Ambassadors, though, is actually pretty much like heaven to me because I get to talk to all kinds of people all day, play with kids, hang out on the state fairgrounds, and be hyper all the time. Yay! My favorite day so far was the first day, even though it was raining, because I got to help take some young Urban 4-Hers through the 4-H building and to a couple places on the fairgrounds. They were all so sweet! They were great to talk to because they were so excited, and they were obsessed with not letting us get wet as we walked in the rain, so they shared their umbrellas with us even though we are considerably taller than they are.

Switching topics, I have found an amazing coffee shop whose lattes keep me going throughout our extremely long days, and also make me a little weirder than normal for that matter. Today indeed started out with one of the infamous lattes as I actually woke up at six and needed some energy. I also found out it stormed last night, which is rather disconcerting since I never roused during the night, as I walked to the coffee shop. My latte was followed by heading off the the Little Farm Hands area with Marsha, Amy, and Sara to greet the kids and parents as they came in. Little Farm Hands takes kids through some choirs on a farm like picking vegetables, feeding the animals, and riding a tractor (which they told me I'm too big to do, which is a bummer). Some of the kids that came were so very cute! We had aprons the kids could put on, and some of them would stand so still like they were afraid we'd take them away if they moved and some even ran away from us - I didn't think we were that scary...

After our time hanging out on the farm, we stopped at the Loreal tent to get FREEEEE (yes, you heard me right, Free) mini-makeovers. Since I almost never wear make-up because I'm way too lazy/sluggish in the morning to bother with it, this was very exciting. They even suggested a hair color for me since I want to dye my hair red this next year. Definitely a most enjoyable break. Don't we look beautiful in our picture?

All right, it is now lunch time and I am so ready to eat some yummy food in the cafeteria. Have a great day everyone! Ours is just getting started and we are pumped to keep going at the Great Minnesota Get Together!

Bye!

Jennifer

Good Morning...Day 5

This morning Polly Olson and I went for a run around the fairgrounds at 6:30 am. It was quite an enjoyable experience; the perfect way to wake up in the morning. We passed the Star Tribune booth on the fairgrounds and picked up a newspaper for free. We use the newspapers at the outside stage by the 4-H building to make awesome newspaper hats. So be sure to stop by with the kids and make a hat. Also this morning for breakfast we had waffles again. Yay! I love waffles!

Marsha Bartholomay

MN State 4-H Ambassador 07-08

Day 4...August 26

Last night was the Livestock dance, and it was Awesome! It was held in the judging area of the Swine Barn, and it was crowded. It is every year. The music was pumpin' and everyone was packed in like sardines. It makes for an exciting experience. Refreshments including go-gurts, rice krispie bars, chips, and fruit punch were available for the 4-Hers. The Ambies cleeaned u after the dance and we found a pair of shoes. How someone manages to lose their shoes and not notice, I'll never know.

This year the Ambies are in the State Fair Parade. Although we aren't there for 4-H. The Bever Landscaping company has asked us to represent them in the parade. So almost every day there will be an ambie in a Buddy the beaver costume and two holding the Bever Landcaping sign. Be sure to watch the parade and wave to us. Pictured below is Tim Schilling in the costume and Alissa Morson and Rebecca Lee holding the sign.
Today I watched Kristoffer Olson's Magic Show on the outside stage by the 4-H building. The show is very family friendly and is great for a few laughs. Below is a picture of the paper bunny out of a paper hat trick, and the magic tassels trick.

Marsha Bartholomay

MN State 4-H Ambassador 07-08

Sunday August 26, 2007-Arts-In

Hi, I am Justin Ferguson and I am in State Arts In. Together 88 Arts In participants and I came a week before the state fair to learn the songs and the dances. We all learned good leadership skills. I am a performer in the State Arts In show and this is my first year as a preformer. Last year I was in the tecnical section of the show. I enjoy being on the counsel of the cavemen and I enjoy having speaking parts in the show. I expected my time at the fair to be full of fun. I had a great time last year at my first Arts In and I thought that it would be as great as last year.
-Justin Ferguson

Sunday, August 26-Anna W.

I've been at The Great Minnesota Get-Together since 1 pm Tuesday and it's been totally crazy but really amazing. My ride down here was definitely interesting with 5 4-H State Ambassador Girls riding down in one 7-passenger van. It took us an hour to load all of our luggage onto the luggage rack and the very back of the van once we got to Alexandria, then we still had to pick up another girl in Sauk Centre. Once I got here I was able to pick a bottom bed right next to a fan, which feels really nice, especially on the hotter nights. Wednesday my little brothers arrived with our rabbits and the rest of the livestock kids from Douglas county. Unloading the livestock trailer took quite a while, especially since there were 23 swine coming to the state fair just from my county, which took up an entire row in the swine barn.

Thursday I got to correct tests taken by the beef kids which are the deciding factor of who gets called back for interviews that same morning. It was actually quite fun because the people I was working with were really interesting and fun to talk to while we were just sitting there all morning. I had to leave from the beef area early to get over to the rabbit skill-a-thon/quiz in the Coliseum. Later Thursday I checked the call-back list which consists of the top 20% of exhibitors in 3 age groups, and my name was on there along with 3 other rabbit kids from my county. Also that day was my first day working at the front door and informational booth in the 4-H building. That is definitely one of the most interesting state ambassador jobs there is, especially since there's always something to keep you busy. So many people now are interested in urban 4-H programs and/or don't know what 4-H is at all and it's fun to teach them. Last night we said the 4-H pledge to 2 different groups of people while I was working at the info booth and later a guy from one of those groups came up to me and recited what the 4 H's are. There's even a printout we've been handing to interested people with contact info for the extension office of their specific county; that seems to help a lot.

Saturday morning I woke up early for the rabbit show, which started at 8 am. I thought that I'd have time to run over to get a barn breakfast, but the line ended up taking forever to get through. My youngest brother had to come find me and tell me that my class, Jersey Wooly rabbits, would be up on the show table really really soon. I practically ran back to the sheep/poultry barn, which also contains the rabbits during livestock weekend, took my rabbit out of it's cage and lined up behind the barn to get ready for the show. Luckily the judge was taking a while so I wasn't really late or anything. I ended up with a blue on my Jersey Wooly Jr doe rabbit, an Interview Finalist polo, and a call-back for showmanship which resulted in a blue ribbon for that also. All of the rabbit kids in my county did really well, with half of us earning interview call-backs.

Last night was the livestock dance, something I've looked forward to every year since my 2nd year taking livestock down to the state fair. My first year, 2002, I didn't really know anybody so I played spoons with some other kids in the dairy barn. This year though, the dance would be different as I had to dance with nearly everybody there and my job was to make sure everyone else was having fun, it wasn't really about me. I did get a sore throat, really dead and sore feet, and needed lots of water breaks, but it was still really fun. This morning I got up to eat breakfast in the 4-H building and then went down to the barns to take care of my rabbit and sometime today I plan on taking a much needed nap, most likely after dinner. Another performance of State Arts-In is just ending and pretty soon I'll be going up to dinner, where I'll probably mingle with some artsies and livestock encampment kids. *Anna Wagner*

Sunday August 26, 2007-Nick O.

This past weekend has been so much fun. We had the barn dance last night and everyone had fun. And when "Mmm Bop" come on all the ambies just rushed to the center of the dance floor and we rocked out all together for the very first time. It has been really cool to see how everyone is becoming a team and how everyone is maturing. Now all I have to do is pack my stuff so I can leave for Ripon College in Ripon, WI.

Day 3 of the State Fair! Woot Woot!

Today was the third day of the Great Minnesota Get-Together. There were tons of activities going on throughout the fairgrounds. In the 4-H Building, there were State AND County Arts-In performances (which were, as always, outstanding) there was a health and fitness activity in the "Learn by Doing" Center, and of course, there was livestock judging. Ambassadors, 4-Hers, and fairgoers alike had innumerable sights to see. What a day!

The State Arts-In performances and the animal barns were definitely the hotspots of the week. Beef cattle, dairy cattle, goats, swine, sheep, you name it, it was shown and judged. There were hundreds of project entries in those areas, so many of the kids stay in three different sites around the fairgrounds. It is a great experience, where learning is encouraged and positive growth is a given. Sometimes the people walking through the buildings learn more than the 4-Hers themselves, and that's the true beauty of the fair. People can come and enjoy themselves while they learn something new. Kids get the opportunity to show off their talents and hard work, and people from all over can come and admire as the kids beam with pride, showing off their hard-earned ribbons. The animals become like pets, and they form a bond that they will remember and treasure for the rest of their lives. Once a 4-Her, always a 4-Her.`

Saturday August 25 DANCE DAY

Hello all, this is Amy once again. Today was really hectic. I began my morning by getting up at 5:45am. I had breakfast at 7:00 and was to the rabbit/poultry barn by 7:30. Three other ambassadors, Tim, Nick, Jennifer and I, were scheduled to help at the rabbit show and do whatever they needed us to do to help them out. Jennifer and I helped check kids in for the rabbit show. I learned soooo much more about rabbits and the different breeds.
Jennifer and I got done earlyand the staff no longer needed our help so we came back to the 4-H building. I was scheduled as a floater and they needed help at the Fitness Challenge. There were 7 different activities that you could challenge yourself in. Some were; stair stepping, the verticle jump and jump roping.
I watched the Arts In preformance once again and as usual it was amazing and very popular in drawing in the public. The caveman theme is very creative with the choice of songs they use. The songs are phenomanal and they really seem to make everyones day a little brighter. Everyone is welcome to come to the preformances and they are all free.
Dinner was amazing as always. Thanks to our amazing Caf Staff. Every day there is something new or a different twist on something. Everyone enjoys and appreciates what they do for us. They keep us going and going and going.
I've been blogging and enjoying doing it. We have had many other kids blog. Tomorrow I plan to have an Arts In participant come in and blog. I hope everyone has been enjoying the blogs. By the way thanks for reading.
Yesterday I was on duty with Jennifer again greeting people at the front doors and answering questions at the 4-H information booth. You would be amazed with the questions somepeople comeup with. If you have any leave a comment and we will do our best to give an answer. By the way the 4 "H's" stand for; head, heart, hands and health.
At 8:30 we had our first 4-H dance of the state fair 2007. It was sooo packed. You can't imagine how hot and sweaty we get, but either way it is really fun. One of my biggest highlights. We have 4 more dances to go. Tomorrow night there is one and from there it's every other night. Our legs get the biggest work out these 2 weeks. From walking 80 stairs up to the dorms and 80 back down and constant movement at the dances you lose the pounds. Whew. After the dance we cleaned up,went back to the 4-H building, had refelection time and went to bed. It was one of the most packed yet interesting days I have ever encountered. It was an amazing amount of fun...Oh yah, this is 4-H, of course it is fun.
Yours in GREEN,
Amy McConnell

Day 3...August 25, 2007

So last night I was talking to Becca Fenlason, a techie for the State Arts-in Show. This year the show is titled "Let's Work Together" and it's about a tribe of cavemen who need to build a wall the protect themselves, but no one wants to be left to do all the work. But through the magic of song and dance the neanderthals realize that if they work together they can build the wall with minimal individual anxiety. Becca says that the show has been going wonderfully so far. Only one show has has technical difficulties, but the rest have been perfect. In between shows the Artsies amuse themselves by running around the fairgrounds, and "accting like fools," according to Miss Fenlason. She also says that staying in the dorms has been wonderful except for people waking her up at 6:00 a.m.
Today one of the major 4-H activites at the fair is the 4-H Dairy Show. This morning most Dairy exhibitors got up at 4:00 and were down to the barns at 5:05 (not allowed to leave dorms until 5:00). My wonderful sister, Jennifer Bartholomay of Scott County shared with me via cell phones the fantastic experience of washing cattle this morning. I myself show chickens, and she says that cows are much easier to wash than chickens. All she had to do was walk her fall calf to the wash rack, suds him up, spray him down with a hose, and walk her back to the hitch. The Dairy show begins this morning at 9:00.

Marsha Bartholomay

2007-2008 MN State 4-H Ambassador

Good Afternoon! Today I’m taking a break from my blogging and passing the buck to another 4-Her from my county. Please welcome Theresa Bailey to the computer screen. Theresa is thirteen years old and is going into 8th grade. She is a member of Scott County 4-H and is showing a Market Lamb in the Sheep Project. Without further ado here’s Theresa…

Today is the show for Market lambs! I’m really exited. I probably won’t do well, but I’m going to have fun, so who cares? My dad clipped my sheep on Tuesday so I don’t have to do that, but I have to wash Princess Buttercup (my sheep) today before the show. Tomorrow is the showmanship show. I’m really, really exited for that show because showmanship is a strong suit in my family. I’ve won some of my classes at county fair, and my dad won senior showmanship when he was at state fair as a kid. I took the 4-H Sheep skilathon test yesterday. It was a test to see how much we knew about sheep. There were some questions about the anatomy of sheep and the different pieces of equipment farmers use to work with sheep. I’m one of three people showing sheep this year from Scott county. The other two are Krystal Repasky and Michelle Schoenbauer.

Food at the state fair… Well, there are different types of food. There’s 4-H food- good, nutritious food that gets us through the day. All 5 food groups are represented with a 4-H meal. Outside food- food that our mothers make us pack, including several varieties of drinks, chips of a kinda healthy variety, and carrots. Then… Fair food! A parent’s worse nightmare. Cheese curds, root beer floats, proto pups, deep fried pickles, deep fried candy bars (these are extremely evil. You can feel them clogging your arteries.), slushies, and fudge puppies. Marsha had one of these for breakfast! For those of you who aren’t in the know, Fudge Puppies are Belgian waffles on a stick. Covered in chocolate and whipped cream and sprinkles. Yuk. Marsha says that Fudge Puppies are like Ambrosia (food for the gods).

Staying in the dorms… is awesome. There are about 2,000 kids at the livestock encampment this year, so it is kind of crowded. There are about 30 kids here from Scott County. We are in one row of bunks. I swear I get a better night of sleep on the bunks then in my bed at home. All of us girls are crammed in there. The plug-ins on the wall are filled with cell phone chargers, flat irons and blow driers. You have to shower whenever you can, because at night and in the early morning getting into the showers is a slim to none chance. Only two days until I get my first fleet farm shirt of the year!!! I really hope the shirt is some shade of green. Or blue. What the heck, any color works.

I watched the State Arts-In show yesterday, and I’m going to watch it again today. It’s amazing. The premise of the show is that cave-men are building a wall. The lights are great, the sound system is wonderfully maintained, and the costumes are best of the last two years. The music is catchy (one of the songs is “We Will Rock You”), the dancing is complicated yet superbly performed, and the acting is funny and sweet. I really liked it. I can’t wait to see it again.

Right now there’s a demonstration going on about Rabbit agility that sounds cool. I’m going to go watch that. Bye.

And that was a word from Theresa Bailey. Thank you for Reading.

Marsha Bartholomay

Friday Aug. 24

The MN State Fair has been going really well so far. It has been an great experience for me. Yesterday I was in the poultry show, I exibited Buff Brahma bantam chickens. At 9am I took a written interview and placed 4th. I was really happy since I hadn't shown poultry at the state fair since 7th grade. My chickens got a blue ribbon in their class and I got call backs for showmanship. Showmanship is where you are judged on how you present not only your bird, but also you self. A few tips are; always have eye contact with the judge even if he is not looking back at you, he is looking for full attention. Handle your bird calmly if you are asked to take it out for the judge. Last one, stand up straight with yours hands behind your back and a smile on your face. Oh, and also, have your bird bathed.

This morning I got up and went to breakfast at 7am. THANK YOU CAF STAFF. I sat with some of my Arts In friends and another State 4-H Ambassador, Anna Wagner. We chatted about what our plans for the day were and cracked random jokes. We have had alot of fun so far today. Thats all for this morning's report.

-Amy McConnell

It was an awesome first day of the fair. Yeah... I'm tired already. I was up at 5:30 this morning because Johnna would not turn her alarm clock off. I had to yell at her. It was ok because I had to be up. I got up and dressed and went downstairs to meet Tim. He was going to help me wash my dairy steer, but I first had to help him walk his llama. It was pretty cool because it was foggy outside. Then we walked down to my steer, who was at the tie out. Tim and I walked my steer back up to the annex and fed him. After breakfast I got in line to get my steer weighed. He weighed 1350 pounds. I was happy. After weighing in my steer, I went to my beef interview. I tried hard but I didn't get into the top 20%.


Afterward, I hung out with Tim and then some girls from my county. After lunch, Tim and I (finally) got to washing my steer. He was so much help. I would have never gotten it done without him. (Thank you Tim)



Then I went back up to the 4-H building with Tim in the rain. We got wet. I was so happy to take a hot shower and get into clean clothes. I talked with Anna Wagner and the girls going to East Cliff. They looked very good. Anna and I said good-bye to them and then she helped me practice for my livestock demonstration. I was very nervous. It was on how to make a bottle for a dairy calf.



At 4:00, Anna and I went down to the barns to check on our animals. I went to the place where I was supposed to do my demo. Luckily, I found out that it wasn't there anymore. Eventually it all got figured out and I recieved a red on it. I was dissapointed, but I didn't have posters to go with my demo.



We headed up to the 4-H building after my demo. On the way we stopped and checked on the Anna's rabbit.

August 22...The official first day!

Good Morning. Today is the first day of the Minnesota State Fair, and I am extremely excited. Last night was the second night for Ambassadors and Arts-in participants to sleep in the 4-H dorms, but the first night for Livestock exhibitors. So of course those silly 4-Her's called a barnyard roll-call last night. For those of you who don't know, barnyard roll-call is yelled out really loud by one 4-Her and then everyone else crows or moos or oinks or makes the sound of their favorite farm critter. It makes for an interesting night. But it quieted down in time for everyone to get a good nights sleep. This morning was the first official breakfast of the fair. We had delicious scrambled eggs and ham, breakfast rolls, toast, bagels, fruit, cereal, juice, milk and coffee...quite a selection! Meals are taken on the second floor of the 4-H building (throughout the fair) or behind the cattle barn (only during livestock).

Marsha Bartholomay

Day 1...Tuesday August 21

We, the Minnesota State 4-H Ambassadors, arrived here at the great Minnesota State Fair today. The car ride wasn't bad, although it was about 4 hours long. We enjoyed telling stories, playing games and reconnecting. We laughed alot, as usual, and were ecstatic about climing 2 flights of stairs to the 3rd floor of the Minnesota State Fair 4-H building. Whew. It's a huge work out, really who needs a stair stepper???
After getting a little settled in the dorms we began our meetings about what we would be doing. We have alot to do this year. We have duties greeting people as they come in to the 4-H building, being judges assistants, handing out ribbons at livestock shows and anything else they tell us to do. We all are excited for the state fair to start.
I spoke to a special activities director, Sara Budde of Clay County. She made stickers...for...something or other. Helped set up the Mars Rover experience area. I really encourage you all to come and check it out. It's amazing. She looked up things on google earth and did some painting. She is one awesome person.
I also talked to an ARTSIE. (a.k.a. State 4-H Arts In participants.) I believe there are 88 kids ranging from age 15 to age 19 involved in it. This year is called 'Let's Work Together' and has a caveman theme. They use some pretty cool older rock songs. Some of the songs they sing are; 'The Prehistoric Polka', 'I Love Rock And Roll', 'Allstar' and many, many more. They are some of the most talented kids I have ever met. Some of them are stage preformers, techies, costumers and the band. They have a super-duper tuba player. You should really watch their production.
Hope this was interesting and has gotten you interested in coming to the 4-H building at the MN State Fair and excited if you already were planning on it. Can't wait to see you all!

Yous in GREEN,
Amy McConnell, State 4-H Ambassador

Wednesday, August 22...Day 0

Yay! The fair begins tomorrow! Today was the unofficial first day of the fair and it was very busy for me. The General Livestock Judging Contest was this morning along with the Consumer Decisions Contest. I was working at the livestock contest, and we got a little bit lost on the way back from the Northstar Ballroom on the St. Paul U of M campus. Thankfully though we found our way back to the fair and 4-H building and are all safe and sound. Also today, all the livestock participants have showed up. The day was extremely hectic and "overwhelming" according to chaperone, Sandi Schmidt of Scott County. She recalled that trailers and trucks, cows and pigs were everywhere. Although, she conceded that it is a great experience for people from the cities. "Oh my gosh! There's a cow!" is something that Schmidt hears all the time in the barns. Which reminds me...today was the first time ever that one of our own State Ambassadors, Lynn, met a cow. She went down to the barns and helped Emily (a fellow ambie) clean her Dairy Steer. Another chaperone from Scott County, Dennis Schoenbauer said he had a fantastic time just watching the kids. And of course the participants have already begun having fun at the fair. Travis Sweeno of Carlton county, who brought rabbits, said, "The five minutes I've been here have been good." Sweeno is one of the lucky 4-Her's who are staying in a trailer on the fairgrounds. He likes having no wake-up calls. I ran into two 4-Her's from Goodhue county who have returned to the fair for their second year. Joseph Hoffman York, and Quinn Jager really like the DNR fish pond and enjoyed seeing everthing from last year. An anonymous 1st year participant from Scott County (Josh) when asked what he brought to the fair responded with "sleeping bag, pillow, change of clothes, food,candy hidden under my bunk..." and continued on, but Sadie Weintjes answered my question seriously with dairy winter calf. Scott County 4-Her's can be fairly ridiculous. the end!

Marsha Bartholoamay