THE ACORNICLE

Editor: Carl Reed - e-mail – _ reedc2004@cox.net
Newsletter articles need to be submitted by the Friday following the Unit Meeting

President – Chelsea Smith	Vice-Pres. - Rachel Bradley
Secretary – Miriam Lopez	Treasurer – Christina Dietzer
Sgt. at Arms - Hope Gilces	Reporter – D.C. Reed
Supply Officer – Sydney Helms	Historian – Ashley Whipple
Recreation – Rebecca Dietzer	Teen Council Rep -
Song Leaders – Katie Raya and Alex Doar
Clover Buds – Tess Porter and Kelsey Gans

Oh my goodness, it’s Thanksgiving morning and the turkey is in the oven. The Acornicle is late this month, and the holiday rush is upon us. Better late than never, it was really nice to see everyone at the November meeting! I hope everyone enjoyed the awards ceremony. Next year, I would love to see more club members getting their membership stripes and stars!

At the State level, 4-H is rolling out a program called, “Thrive”. It is a program that is designed to help our club members become better leaders and to help them to find the projects and interests that really spark their interests! I would like to hold a Thrive project that is in conjunction with a Record Book project. If you are interested in doing this, please let me know! The added bonus for participating in this is that the state will be able to use the results of the Thrive project as a way of showcasing just what 4-H is all about, and how it has a positive effect on our youth. With the anticipated results, they hope to be able to get more grants to make 4-H even better and be able to reach more youth in our state. I hope you’ll join me in this worthwhile project!

Registration is coming to a close. If you wish to participate in the 2012 fairs and other competitive special events you need to be a fully registered member by 12/31/11. I’m sending out emails to those members who still have not completed their registration. If you have any questions regarding this process, please give me a call.

Chelsea is very busy with college classes, so this letter is from your V.P., Rachel Bradley. I just want to congratulate everyone who earned their membership stripes and stars last year. Please be sure to track your hard work on your project reports and on your Clover Points forms. Those of us who did it got some really cool gifts from the 4-H Mall catalog.

Please be sure to keep your eyes on your emails for information on our upcoming holiday party! What we know at this point is that it will be a potluck, there will be a gift exchange and fun games, and it will be held at our Dec. 6^th meeting. Hope to see 100% participation at this meeting!

Also, our first Bake Sale fundraiser of the year is coming up fast! It will be Dec. 2^nd at the Darroch’s Jamul Dance Studio which is located at: 13910 Lyons Valley Road, Jamul. The bake sale starts at 4pm and ends at 8pm. Please bring some yummy baked goodies to sell at it. If you can stay and help run it for a few hours that would be great!!!

Please come to our unit meetings – we love to see your smiling faces! And bring a friend who might be interested in 4-H too!

At the Awards Ceremony, Cindy Hamberg and Britney Grigsby were awarded the Leader of the Year awards for their project leadership efforts. Unfortunately, they were not present at the November Unit meeting to accept their awards, however, they sent thank you’s to the club:

Thank you so much for the honor of being named Leader of the Year with my cohort, Britney Grigsby! Both of us truly enjoyed all of the fun-filled hours working with the horse project!!! The young people who showed up for their Friday lessons were truly involved in all aspects of horsemanship. The shows were a blast as well--portraying awesome sportsmanship and conduct. I truly miss those days since I have gone back to work as a full-time teacher (I am teaching 7th and 8th grade science). I must thank you all, too, for the extremely generous gift card to Applebee's and the beautiful 4H necklace! They will definitely be used and enjoyed.

Thank you so much for voting for me and Cindy to be your leader of the year. I have loved leading and sharing what I have learned from 4h on to you all. I would also like to thank all of the wonderful youth members and volunteers; therefore, without you I would not be able to get this award!!!! I feel greatly appreciated to receive this award!!!

Congratulations to Haley Grigsby and the SD County’s Avian Bowl Team! They placed 6^th out of 14 teams at the National Avian Bowl competition. Way to go! Hopefully Haley will share some of her memories with us at a future unit meeting!

This year the San Diego 4-H County Council is going to be putting together a cookbook. This will the County Council’s big fundraiser and it is taking the place of calendar sales. Proceeds from the cookbook fundraiser help the county council to be able to support various 4-H projects and area events around the county. They also help with scholarships to Jr. Leadership Camp, State Leadership Camp, and the State Leaders Forum.

The county wanted to be able to have the cookbooks published in time to be sold as Christmas presents; however, due to a lack of recipes they won’t be able to do this. They still need recipes for main dishes, side dishes, beverages, and salads. If every 4-H family just sends 1 recipe they would have plenty of recipes for the cookbook. So please send your favorite recipes to Robbie Cranor at: 67FORD@nethere.com, If you picked up an official recipe form at the unit meeting, please fill it out and mail it to: San Diego County 4-H Office, Attn: Carol Hrigora, 9335 Hazard Way, Suite 201, San Diego, Ca 92123. The County Council would really like to get at least 6 recipes per club, so please take the time to submit one of your family favorites to them!

On Friday, Nov. 18^th our club had the opportunity to do a leather crafting project at Tandy Leather in La Mesa, We had 3 members show up and they stamped, dyed, and blinged a leather belt. The belts looked fabulous and the members had a great time!

On Friday, Dec. 2^nd, there will be another opportunity to do a leather crafting project at Tandy’s and this time the project will be a dog collar. This is designed for our younger youth members; however, if you didn’t get a chance to go to the Nov. 18^th lesson, please contact Mary Bradley to see if there is space available for you to attend this meeting. You will need to pay for the cost of the leather and any extra accessories for it. The manager at Tandy’s will lead the craft and you get to use all of their tools and dyes for free!

*** This took the place of our Arts and Crafts meeting that was cancelled due to the rain storm earlier this month. The Leather Crafting Project special event is open to all club members. ***

Friday, Dec. 2^nd, 4pm to 8pm, Bake Sale Fundraiser at the Darroch’s Jamul Dance Studio which is located at: 13910 Lyons Valley Road, Jamul. Bring some baked goodies to sell, and stay to help if you can!

Saturday, Dec. 3^rd, 9am to 1pm, Small Animal Learning Day, SD County 4-H Office, 9335 Hazard Way, Suite 201, San Diego, 92123

Tuesday, Dec. 6^th, 7pm Unit Meeting and Holiday Party!!! Bring a potluck dish to share and gift for the gift exchange ($5 to $10 range)

Friday thru Sunday, Jan. 27-29, 2012, Junior Leadership Camp at Camp Oliver in Descanso, CA. Open to all youth members in 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grade. See Mary Bradley for more info!

On Thursday, Dec. 1st, the Board will meet at the Bradley’s home at 7pm. All board members are encouraged to attend. All members and parents are welcome and encouraged to attend! Please call Mary for information and directions.

Archery - Contact Charla Cranor. This is a crossover project with the Alpine Amigos 4-H Club.

Meets at the Dulzura Community Center, Friday, Dec. 9^th at 6pm – Bring a wire coat hanger with you to this meeting. We will be making cloth wreaths. Contact Mary Bradley for more info.

January 11^th, 6pm at the Bradley’s house, Spring Valley. We will have Baked Potato bar, we will furnish the baked potatoes, please bring your favorite potato topping. Please RSVP to Mary Bradley, by 1/10/12 if you are planning to attend this meeting! Thanks!

Computers - Adam learned how to add some games to his web page. He also helped add comments to the Photos of the Month. He had fun with the computer, playing the games he added to his web page.

The project meetings are held on the Sunday after the Unit Meeting, 5:00 to 7:00 pm. The next meeting will be on December 11, 2011 and held at the Peterson’s house in Deerhorn Valley. If you are interested in learning about designing and maintaining our club’s web site at www.jamul4h.org, please contact Gene Peterson or Kevin Fletcher. Also check the web calendar for any last minute changes at http://jamul4h.org/calendar.

Dog Project- We meets at the Smith’s house, call Karen Smith for more info.

Horse and Pony Project – Meets at the Nunn Family Ranch. Contact Nancy Grigsby for more info.

Sheep – Contact Margaret Drown for more info. This is a crossover project with the Japatul 4-H Club.

Sewing/Fashion Revue – Contact Jaime Dyer to set up an appointment for sewing lessons. This is a crossover project with the Japatul 4-H Club.

Shooting Sports/Air Rifles – Meets at the Vista Antique Tractor Museum in Vista. Please contact Bill Woodall for more info. This is a crossover project with the Buena Vista 4-H Club.

Small Animals (Cavies, Rabbits, and Poultry) – Contact Karen Smith, Britney Grigsby, or Kelli Helms for more info.

Remember, if you have any questions about something you have read here or anything else 4-H related you can call Mary. Also, please be sure to check our club’s website calendar. Dates and times of meetings are subject to change. Your project leader’s will make every attempt to contact you if there is a change, but you will also need to be proactive by checking the calendar and your email account for changes and up-to-date information!