Wednesday, March 25

Head, Heart, Hand, Health


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Head, Heart, Hand, Health

 
4-H is an organization with many great opportunities for youth between the ages of 9 to 21. In 2013 a new program was started called Cloverbuds for ages 6-8, In Cloverbuds kids get a taste of the topics covered in 4-H projects, while also developing an understanding of 4-H values.
4-H Ontario is divided into local associations. Each association has clubs that you can join,  clubs need  a minimum of six 4-H Members and two trained, screened Volunteers who act as Club Leaders. Members spend 12 hours, normally six, two-hour meetings exploring the topic of that project. Currently 4-H Ontario has over 100 different projects (topics) to chose from.

The 4-H motto of “Learn to do by Doing” is reinforced with members taking the positions of youth leader, president, vice president, secretary, press-reporter and treasurer.  All club meetings are run according to parliamentary procedure and include elements of public speaking, judging, leadership skills and decision making. 4-H is very community minded and many clubs hold their achievement day at a local fair for the public to see what the members have accomplished that year.

Local associations have different events for members during the year such as Judging Night, Rally Night(Sign-up), Go for the Gold Competition and other events. Some associations have competitions between each other through regional animal shows, as well as regional Go for the Gold and judging competitions. 4-H Ontario also plans events, camps and conferences to further develop team building and leadership skills.
Some camps and conferences you can attend are:
  • discovery days for ages 9-12
  • youth adventure camp for ages 12-15
  • Future Leaders In Action for ages 16-21 
For the full list of camps and conferences check out the 4-H website 4-hontario.ca


4-H is involved with building future leaders, is an organization that has been around for over 100 years, can be found in approximately 80 other countries and is almost completely run by volunteers.  4-H allows youth a safe environment to learn and grow.


The 4-H pledge is said at the beginning of every 4-H event and meeting. It is a pledge to use our Head to greater thinking, our Heart to greater loyalty, our Hands to larger service and our Health to better living in our Club, our Community and our Country



4-H covers all areas of our lives with the 4 Hs –Head-Heart-Hands-Health, to give our youth a well balanced lifestyle. 


For more information about 4-H check out the 4-H Ontario website 4-hontario.ca

Friday, March 6

Got Milk? How milk gets from the Cow to cup

Have you ever wondered how the milk you buy at the store got there? 


In order for the milk to get to the store for you to buy it, it most go through many steps.


To start producing milk a dairy cow needs to freshen(A milk cow freshens after she has calved) .

Once a cow starts producing milk, she will get milked 2-3 times a day with a machine called a milker  The milk is then pumped to a big cooler that will keep the milk cool until it is picked up by the milk man.


On most farms the milk gets picked up every other day by an insulated transport tanker that will take the milk to a dairy processing plant. The milk is tested before it is loaded on to the truck and again at the processing plant to make sure it meets strict quality and sanitation regulations. If  the quality of the milk does not meet proper quality standards the farmer will face heavy penalties and/or fines.


Once at the dairy processing plant milk undergoes pasteurization, homogenization, separation and further processing.

Pasteurization machine
Pasteurization: The act or process of heating a food, especially a beverage such as milk or beer, to a specific temperature for a specific period of time in order to kill microorganisms that could cause disease, spoilage, or undesired fermentation. 


Homogenization machine

Homogenization: Involves pushing the raw milk through an atomizer to form tiny particles so that the fat is dispersed evenly throughout the milk, stopping the fat from floating to the top of the container.

Separation: Involves spinning milk through a centrifuge to separate the cream from the milk. After separation, the cream and remaining milk are remixed to provide the desired fat content for the different types of milk being produced. 
For "whole milk," the cream is reintroduced until the fat content reaches 3.25%. For "low fat milk," the fat content is 1%. For "skim milk" (sometimes called nonfat milk) the fat content is .05%. 


Machine for filtering and further processing
 Further processing: Includes micro-filtration, increasing the storage life by ultra high temperature (UHT) treatment, and mixing or culturing milk for flavored and yogurt products.

Once the milk has gone through all its processing it is ready to be packaged and shipped to the store, the milk is kept in a big cooler at the store until you buy it and take it home to enjoy.



(http://milk.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000658)

(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pasteurization)