Merlin Field Crop & Garden Club – Meeting #6

Harvest Time

On Saturday, September 12, 2026, the Merlin 4-H Harvesters met at the home of Martha and Gerry Sullivan for their sixth meeting. It was about harvest techniques for preparing a sample for an achievement project and Thomas’s garden display. Thomas received a red ribbon for his garden display.

Gerry showed us how to prepare an ear corn sample which you need 10 to 12 ears of corn with uniformity. Once it is picked, you need to dry the corn and get rid of the red dog and shine them with a wool sock. Gerry also explained how to do shelled corn. He told us to only use the kernels from the middle of the cob for uniformity. Gerry showed us how to prepare a soybean sample. They have to be the same variety of soybeans, and be the same uniformity, size and colour. They must have no cracks or unwanted markings. Lastly, a hay sample was shown to the club. It must be fresh, have a bright green colour and have a good smell.

Afterwards, we talked about our wind break project and Marg answered any questions.

The next meeting will be the achievement program on October 19, 2026, at 4:30 pm at the Sullivan’s. 

Mitchell Nauta
Press Reporter

Canning Club – Meeting #4

We started our meeting by meeting at a farm in Erieau to learn about onion production. We walked around down to field to see where the onions grow. There were 5 different types of onions that they grow. They had been tilled up and were drying in rows. We learned that onions have to dry in the rows for a couple of weeks out in the field before they get harvested. They re-till them a couple times over the weeks to move them around so they can dry better and get all the dirt off. He also showed us the machines they use for harvesting and sorting. One of them sorts the onions into 4 different bins by sizes. We even got to see the machine in action. After we got a chance to ask questions and he even gave each member a bag of onions to take home.

We then all got in our cars and met back at Turin Church to make zucchini relish. This time it was easier because we hand food processors so chopping was much faster. We made 4 batches and roughly around 24 jars. We adjourned the meeting at 10 pm.

Emelia Handy
Press Reporter

Trash to Treasure – Meeting #2

We all met at our leader Jo’s house. For the meeting we only had 3 kids and 3 leaders as some were away. We all got to work on our projects that we started at our first meeting. One person built a skateboard ramp another built a 3 drawer little desk organizer and I built a tick-tac-toe board as well as a square organizer.

As we finished our projects, we started thinking of other ideas of some things to build. There is lots of different types and sizes of wood, and lots of different types of equipment that we get to learn how to use. At the end of the meeting we adjourned the meeting and set the date of our next meeting which is in 2 weeks. 

Emelia Handy
Press Reporter

Merlin Field Crop & Garden – Meeting #5

4-H Judging Night

On Tuesday, July 28, the Merlin 4-H Harvesters met at the Dresden fairgrounds for the annual judging competition. Members judged each class of poultry laying hens, sports equipment, cucumbers, beach toys, tractor tires ready for plowing, hay and the quiz. While judging these classes and giving reasons, members are gaining public speaking skills and self-confidence which will benefit them in the future. Julia Nauta placed third in junior and Colton Konecny placed third in intermediate.

Mitchell Nauta
Press Reporter

Sporting Chance Club – Meeting #5

Our fifth 4-H sporting chance meeting was held on July 18, 2026 at the Dutch Belgian club in Chatham. The club started the meeting with meeting at a table in the lobby to first stand and state the 4-H pledge. After the club did roll call where the question was, what was something that you did active in between the meetings? Some members answered with playing soccer, football and swimming. Next members walked over to a lane to learn feather bowling which is a sport that is played on a con cave lane with curling like rings at both ends. This sport many members did not know about and had never played. After learning a bit about the lane and how you can use the con cave as an advantage. Members got a feel for the wooden wheel that you roll to end up as close to the feather as possible to earn points for your team. Next members got to throw a few wooden wheels and then got put into teams of three to have a little bit of a tournament. The winners were Alicia, Colton and Lucas and in the end earned the most points. Lastly the club ended the meeting with thanking their leaders and talking about the next meeting that will be held in August where the club will be disc golfing and planning for their final project in Chatham. 

Alicia Winter
Press Reporter

Our group photo after playing

Our winning team from the tournament.

Natalie throwing a wheel

Our leader Susan trying out the sport

Nicolas feather bowling

Sporting Chance Club – Meeting #4

Our fourth 4-H sporting chance meeting was held on Thursday July 9th, 2026 in Wallaceburg. The meeting started by everyone meeting up to do the 4-H pledge and roll call. After the club met to learn about the basics of what we would be doing and meet our buddies who would help us to learn. Then members split into 2 groups where one group went with their breast buddies into the boat and the others were on the shore watching. Then the groups switched so everyone had a chance to go into the boat and paddle. After we paddled we joined together with some of the dragon boat members to ask a few questions. Some questions were how far do you race at a time? How long have you been dragon boating? How many members do you have in your group? Lastly the members and families enjoyed some cookies and drinks and then thank the Wallaceburg dragon boat breast buddies and their leaders and talked about the next meeting that will be held on July 18th, 2026 at the Dutch Belgian club in Chatham. The club really enjoyed dragon boating. 

Alicia Winter
Press Reporter

Group photo with our hosts.

Arriving at shore after paddling.

Canning Club – Meeting #2

The second meeting for the Chatham Kent 4-H canning club was held on Monday, July 20th at Turin United Church. The club started by raising their right hand and stating the 4-H pledge. Next members found out what they were making, which was cucumber relish. Then members did roll call which was, one thing that you learned from the last meeting? Some members said that they learned how to make strawberry jam because they had never made it before, and what was in the jam.  Members first started with washing the cucumbers and then having a few members cut them into small chunks. Then while a few members cut cucumbers some members cut the onions that were going into the relish. Afterwards, the members had to measure 32 cups of cucumbers into a pot, and 2 cups of onions,  and a few spices, with a little bit of water. Then let it sit for an hour. After the first batch had sat for an hour the members had to add a few more ingredients into the pot and put it on the stove for it to boil then jar them and finish the batch. The club made 3 batches. Lastly the members washed the dishes and then had a quick snack and thanked their leaders, the next meeting for the Chatham Kent 4-H canning club will be held on Monday, July 27th where members will be making pickled eggs and touring an onion farm. 

Alicia Winter
Press Reporter

Chopping onions.

Chopping cucumbers.

Cooking our relish mixture prior to canning it.

Merlin Field Crop & Garden Club – Meeting #4

ALL ABOUT CARROTS

On July 8, 2026, at 10:00 am, the Merlin 4-H Field Crop and Garden Club toured Nature’s Finest Produce LTD in  PainCourt. Nicole Stallaert gave the introduction for the tour. Nicole is the Director of Regulatory affairs.

She explained that they  grow onions, beets,sweet potatoes,and some sweet corn. Chloe Stallaert showed us a video on the aspects of the pack house. 

We wish to report what we learned about the process of growing carrots from start to finish and from field to table. Natures Finest is the lead carrot growers in Ontario.  They grow 4000 acres of carrots and 100 acres of beets. 

We first observed a semi-load of carrots being dumped at the flume. The carrots rinse up to the conveyor belt to be sized and graded. Boxes of discards were visible which include unacceptable ones. Workers removed unusable carrots from the conveyor belt. The carrots were packaged into 2 lb. bags and put in specific piles to be wrapped in plastic and shipped all over Canada. The source of each bag of carrots is registered on each bag.

We were shown second grade carrots which were for the restaurant trade and placed in 50 lb. bags to be shipped. 

They also grow winter carrots and  protect them with wheat straw, plastic, and hopefully snow. They harvest them in February or March and market them. 

Next, we went into the cooler. The shelves were full of bags of carrots to be shipped the same day. 

We learned a great deal about the carrot industry and all members enjoyed this tour immensely. 

Mitchell Nauta 
Press Reporter

Carrots being dumped into the flume to get washed for processing.

Watching Wildlife – Meeting #6

June 14th, 2026

We went to Wheatley to help with the Horticultural Society’s plant sale.  It was supposed to be outside but it got moved inside because it was raining. We were in charge of helping make bird feeders with pinecones and peanut butter. We also helped to bring plants to the customer’s cars and if you bought plants you got a free purple cone flower, because it is Wheatley’s town flower. There were hanging baskets, trees, bushes, and gorgeous flowers. After a while we went outside after it stopped raining and went for a walk. There was a short trail next door so we went and walked it. Our goal was  to identify poison ivy. We saw so much but the boys were struggling to find some. After we finished the walk we went back to help for a little longer. It slowed down and the plant sale was done so we adjourned the meeting and we all went  home.

Emelia Handy
Press Reporter

Watching Wildlife – Meeting #5

On Friday, May 22nd, the Watching Wildlife club – Trash Eaters, met at Rondeau Provincial Park at 9pm to participate in an Owl Prowl. We sat in on a presentation about owls by the park staff, then we went on a hike in the dark to start calling for the owls. It was the Eastern Screech Owl we were trying to call, after a bit of time, we started hearing the owls respond to the calls, and saw their shadows moving closer to our location through the trees! It was a fun experience!