By John Ammon and Abigail Hemphill
2025-2026 Lassen County 4H Ambassadors
On March 29th Richmond 4-H hosted Small Animal Skills Day at Jensen Hall. At this event, they had five stations focusing on different small animals including rabbits, chickens, goats, dogs, and guinea pigs.
They also had a station which demonstrated the importance of handwashing and biosecurity. For example, at the handwashing station, the kids were able to see the “germs” on their hands and learned whether or not they were washing their hands properly.
We talked about good hand washing skills once they saw how many “germs” were left on their hands.
At the end of the rotations, everyone participated in an escape room activity. The members had to figure out the lock combo based on knowledge they learned throughout the day.
Once they figured out the combination, they were able to unlock the box full of prizes. At the end of the event, they played Chicken Poop Bingo.
For the community service activity, each member brought an item for a dog or cat including food, toys, and grooming supplies to donate to the Lassen Animal Shelter.
Our annual Horticulture Day was a success. During this event, 4-H members were able to learn a lot about horticulture – “the science, art, and technology of cultivating high-value intensive crops including fruits, vegetables, plants, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, and mushrooms.”
The members participated in fun hands-on activities including plant and tool identification, making seed bombs, the importance of earthworms, and a soil station. A volunteer from Rustic Ranch talked about micro grains.
At the end of the event, members took home an assortment of garden goodies and crafts. Horticulture Day was held on Sunday, April 26th and was hosted by Thompson Peak 4-H club.
The Lassen County 4-H program had a big presence at the Children’s fair to share that 4-H is about more than animals. The bicycle project and SABA partnered to provide three bicycles to young people that dropped by our booth.
The LEGO project met and worked on projects. Standish 4-Hers were busy crocheting and exhibited crochet projects and promoted their club by giving away crocheted bookmarks and pig swag bags. The Leadership project made a fun board with green cups that held prizes for booth visitors.
On May 16th Milford 4-H Club hosted Large Animal Skills Day at the fairgrounds. They had several stations each one demonstrating skills for a different large animal.
For example, Sam Medvin and Paiton Hallmark demonstrated how to properly wrap a lamb’s legs using socks and vet wrap as well as using fleece wraps. Other stations included pig ear notching, making soap from goats’ milk, horse body parts, and beef haircare and showmanship tips. Thank you Milford 4-H for putting on this great event!
Lastly, we would like to take a minute to recognize and congratulate some of our 4-H members.
Molly Dickson was chosen to be a 2026-2027 State Ambassador. This position is the highest 4-H service opportunity in our program. She will serve on a team to plan major 4-H events, develop educational platforms, and participate in the leadership conference. Congratulations Molly.
Bailey Adams and Ethan Braille competed in the Regional 4-H Presentation Day held in Fort Jones on March 28th. Bailey placed 1st in Job Interview and received a gold seal for her presentation on “Communication Through Sign”. Ethan received a blue seal on his presentation “Shoot for Hoops”. Congratulations Bailey and Ethan!
Lassen County was invited to participate in Modoc’s Shooting Sports Top Shot competition that was held on April 19th in Modoc County and our rifle members did well. In the senior division, Molly Dickson earned 1st place and Alyson Crosby earned 2nd. For the junior division, Sawyer Crosby earned 2nd and Kileeann Shanks earned 3rd.
This was the first time our members were able to participate in this event. They represented Lassen County well and came home with amazing awards.
The 4-H State Field Day was held on May 23rd. This event featured 4-H seniors, presentations, and fun contests! There were tons of members from all across the entire state of California! These members participated in tons of different fun and engaging activities!
Congratulations to Bailey Adams. She earned a gold seal for both her presentation and job interview. Also, congratulations to Kacee Howe and Bailey Adams for their participation in a healthy living state project. They will be presenting their project at the State Leadership Conference this summer for the Food Academy.
South County 4-H members Layton and Liam Allen had a successful day at the Washoe County 4-H Small Animal and Static Exhibit. Layton and his dog, Finley, received blue ribbons in agility, showmanship, obedience, rally and tricks. They were named Overall Best Showman and Grand Champion dog.
Liam earned 1st place in Intermediate Showmanship, Best of Breed with his New Zealand Rabbit and Best of Show with his Mini Rex rabbit.
Congratulations to Molly Dickson, Megan von Helf, and Abbie Hemphill for receiving the Lassen County 4-H Council Scholarship! They each received $1,000 for their hard work and dedication they have for 4-H.
Congratulations to Molly Dickson and Abbie Hemphill for receiving the $5,000 Milano Scholarship! They were two out of five recipients selected from all the applicants from Modoc, Siskiyou, and Lassen counties.
Promotion Day is upcoming on July 7th at 9:30 at Memorial Park. It is mandatory for all kids; 4th grade and older who will be showing market animals at the Lassen County Fair. Make sure to show up in your whites (white pants and a white shirt) and a tie or a scarf.
We will be going around the community promoting the Lassen County Fair and the auction.
The Lassen County Fair will be held from July 13th to the 19th. The Lassen County 4-H will be represented through our animals that will be shown, our high spirits, and our 4-H Barbeque.
Make sure to have your fair entry forms turned in by June 15th. You must have these turned in to be able to show at the fair, as well as enter projects into the fair!
Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted on more exciting news in the future!
