Raising tomorrow’s leaders
4-H teaches generations responsibility
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ARLEE – Ali North listens as her grandmother Alice helps her piece together her pajama project to sew. Alice instructs her to practice a few times on an extra piece of cloth before she actually uses the sewing machine. They are using an older pattern and material Alice found.
“It is probably from one of my projects,” Ali’s mother Jana jokes from nearby.
The three generations of women are working together to finish Ali’s sewing project in time for the Western Montana Fair and Rodeo in Missoula this week.
The Arlee community straddles both Missoula and Lake Counties but has traditionally participated in the Missoula County Fair.
When Jana was a child she often received guidance from her mother Alice. Tonight Alice guides Ali, Jana’s daughter, with her sewing project.
Jana remembers going to the fair as a member of 4-H. She described herself as a shy kid and credits 4-H for helping her learn responsibility and how to break free from her comfort zone.
“We had to do demonstrations and public speaking. I was really shy and that really helps kids,” she recalled.
Now Jana is the mother of Cody, 17, Amelia, 14 and Ali, 11, all members of the Jocko Ranger 4-H Club in Arlee.
When Jana was a 4-H member she sewed, cooked and raised pigs. Now, with her mother, she teaches her children how to do the same things and in doing so, passes on shared family values. Her children participate in many of the same events she did, like raising pigs.
As Cody walks toward a pen underneath a group of trees he is greeted by a wagging tail, a belly waiting to be scratched and what could be mistaken for a smile underneath a pink snout.
“They are just like dogs,” Jana said of the group of pigs that emerged from beneath the coolness of the evening shade.
Ali and Amelia’s pigs, Bella and Cinnamon, also trot over to say hello to their owners.
This week the North siblings will take their pigs to the Western Montana Fair and Rodeo in Missoula where they hope to win ribbons and sell their animals.
“I always feel really sad,” Cody said of selling his pig because of all the time they (4-H members) spend with them (their animals).
In the past, the siblings have also competed in photography, cowboy poetry and shooting sports.
“You see the rise and fall of prices in agricultural world,” Cody said of his experience raising pigs. “You need to work hard to win,” he added of the ribbons awarded at the fair.
4-H competitors gain much through the hard work of raising and selling their animals.
Cody and Amelia are both saving the money they’ve earned in 4-H for college. Cody is considering majoring in agriculture in college.
After a quick greeting with her pig, Jana tells Ali to go back to her grandmother’s house to finish up her sewing project.
“It’s a family commitment for sure,” Jana said.
