CHAPTER SCOOP

News,Notesand Nonsensefrom ChaptersAroundtheNation.Send yourstotheEditors.

Found two goodideasintheMansfield, Texas, Chapternewsletter.Every

member

signeda greetingcard "fromthe advisors and

members

of the chapter," then reproduceditin theirnewsletter.Alsothe nextissuewillbe published during

FFA Week

and mailedtoalleighth graders.

Members

in Mt. Carroll,Illinois,

FFA

Chapterputup200yards offence around the footballfieldand alsoraked the

field inpreparation for thefirst footballgame.

Officers of the

Fleming

County, Kentucky,

FFA

had a 3.4 cumulative gradepoint for thefirstgradingperiod.

And

12ofthe20seniors

made

thehonor

roll.

•••••••

KristyYarbrough

won

firstplaceinthe Lincoln, Arkansas, Creed speaking contest and was presented a

new FFA

jacket.

HamiltonCity,California,

FFA

parked

1,000carsatacraft fairtoearn

money

fora

new

stereosystemattheschool

&A farm.

•••••••

FFA

in

Wayne

County,Tennessee, builtthefloatforthe

homecoming

queen.

Forthisyear's Greenhand

Work Day

inFullerton,California,28 memberscleanedandpainted the livestockarea.

A

barbecue then wasservedbythechapterofficers.

AdvisorGranberry makesthechilifor the chapter'sannual supperformembers.The recipeisa secretandallhewillconfessis thatheused 100poundsofgroundbeef.

Guest speaker for

Cameron, West

Virginia,Chaptershowedslidesandtold about adventuresinAustralia.

At afall

Bon Homme,

South Dakota, Chapter meeting,Greg

McCann

showed

slidesfromamoose andcaribou huntin Alaska.

Mohawk,

Carey and Upper Sandusky, Ohio, Chapters combined their degree ceremoniesthisyear.

A

slideshowabout the triptonationalconventionrounded out thedinner meeting.

Alumni membershelpedLand O'Lakes, Florida, members haul livestock for a exhibit for the kindergarten.

Bainville,

Montana,

held its annual Turkey Party for thecommunity. They rungamessuchasminiaturegolf,bingo, darts,roping,basketball shoot.Winners got turkeys.Neartheendoftheevening, the

member

work dayauctionwasheld.

Wall,

South Dakota, members

participated in the communitytree fair andcreated atreewithornaments

made

of wood.

An

annual Christmas lunch for 600 childrenisservedbytheRubidoux

FFA

inRiverside, California.

FFA

donatesthe meat from twomarket hogsraisedbythe chapter to support the lunch and gift

exchangeforneedychildren.

The Gilbert, Arizona,

FFA

Chapter sponsoredaback-to-school luncheonfor allthe administration, teachersandstaff,

welcomingthembackfromvacationand thanking

them

fortheir ,?£D ^rJ) £^s „£**

support.

An

assemblylineof

FFA

pizzamakers

was

set up by Columbus, Kansas, Chapter.Theysold the

homemade

pizzas and customers boughtthemas carryout.

TheCrestview,Ohio,

FFA

wentto soil judgingona rainydayinOctober.Even thoughitwas

muddy

thememberstried

their best.

Marysville,Ohio,Alumnisponsored an

FFA

workdayat

Camp Muskingum

and 40 members,parentsandAlumni worked

alldayatprojectssuchascuttinghedge from the fencesand adding borders to flower beds.

Members

also got some playtimeintousethe

camp

facilities.

Fresh cornwasapopular^sellerandgood fundraiserforManteca,California,FFA.

A new

catfish farm for the Rayne, Louisiana,

FFA

willbecompletedinthe summer.

Members

of LeFlore,

Oklahoma, FFA

toured a center for sustainable agriculture.

•••••••

Educationalfarmtours forpre-schoolto third grade children was organizedby Heritage

FFA

inMonroeville,Indiana.

Essex,Massachusetts,

FFA

washiredto stuffa4,000 envelope mailingasafund raising project.

DelRayFox,reporter for Sentinel,Ohio,

FFA

has publishedachapternewsletter^- thefirsteverfor hischapter.

A

golfholeisbeingaddedtotheschool groundsbySilverLake

FFA

atKingston, Massachusetts.It'stheonly par3holein thestatelocatedata school.Itwillbe used bythegolfteam.

Two good

ideas sent in by

Aram

Donigian, reporter for Elgin, Orgeon, FFA. The chapter helda banana split partytowelcomeoldand

new

members backtoschool.Plus theypickeduprocks infarmers' fieldsand soldfirewoodto financetheir trip tonationalconvention.

36 FFANewHorizons

A Honey

of a ^Project

Bryan Ashurst continues a

family tradition of beekeeping

By

KermitandEvelyn Kliewer

It's

summertime ontheSouthernCali- fornia desertand temperaturesare ex- pectedtoclimbto 115degreestoday.

BryanAshurst'salarmbuzzesat6a.m.

He

yawns, climbs out ofbed,andprepares foralongday ofworkat

RJA

Pollinating Co.whereheandhiscrewbuildand

move

shadesfor10,000coloniesofbees.

Thetent-likeshades,a necessityinthe desert,coverthebeesastheyare

moved

fromfield to field,pollinatingmelons and

alfalfa.

The shadesare only onephase ofa family businessbegunintheearly1900's byBryan'sgreat-greatgrandfather.Bees, pollinating,honeyproduction,queensand stings have beena partofBryan'slife since he boughthis first colony seven years ago.

That colony waspurchasedfromhis dad, Richard Ashurst,

who

bought his firstbeesfromhis father,

who

boughthis firstbeesfromhis father...andso on,back fivegenerations.

TheAshurstslive inWestmorland,an Imperial Valley community of 1,000.

Bryan,a senioratBrawley Union High School, hasthesameagriculture instruc- tor,KermitKliewer,as his

Dad

did.

Ashurst'sbees produce400,000

pounds

ofhoneyduring the

summer

asaby-productof pollinatingalfalfa.

Busy As a Bee

During hisfirstyearinFFA, Bryan bought200coloniesofbees,bringinghis total

owned

to236colonies.Forhis su- pervisedagriculturalexperienceprogram, heworkedextractinghoneyfor

RJA

Pol- linationCompany,thefirm

owned

byhis father. During his second year, Bryan drovea truck,

moved

bees,operated a forklift and became head ofthe shade crew. Hisexpertise as abuddingapiarist (beekeeper)earnedhimtopplaceinIm- perialValley's ProjectCompetition,which involves severalhundred

FFA

students.

"Iearnmostof

my

incomerenting

my

hivestofarmersfor pollination,"Bryan explained.

"We move

thebeesfromIm- perialValleytocentralCaliforniainJanu-

ary and Februaryto pollinatealmonds.

Then

we move

themtoSanDiegocounty inearly spring,wheretheypollinateavo- cadosandalso multiply.They

come

back toImperialValleyin latespring topolli- natemelonsandalfalfaduringthesum- mermonths."

Bryanexplained,"Beepollinationin- creasesproductiondramatically. Under the right conditions, you can get 700 poundsofalfalfaseed peracreonapolli- nated field, only 100pounds per acre without pollination. Likewise, melons become odd shaped

when

they arenot pollinated. Sofarmersneed beekeepers andapiaristsneedfarmers."

Incomevaries, aswithallfarming,but in 1990 Bryan's grossincomewas $82 per colony on both rentals and honey production. The netincome percolony was$17.

Expensesinclude hauling,equipment, shadesandbee replacement.

"We

loseup to30percentof our bees each yearmov- ingthem," Bryan'sfatherstated."Ibuy bulk bees from northern California to replenish

my

colonies, aswell as travel- ing to North Dakota every fall to buy bees."

Bryan has to keep the bee hives shaded fromtheCaliforniasun.

Bryan's beestravel withhisfather's andhismajorprofitisfromsub-pollinat- ing.

He

payshisshareofthetraveland replacement expenses,butisn'tinvolved inthe labor. Allofhisout-of-schoolwork timeisspentbuildingandmovingshades.

Bryanre-investsallprofitfrompolli- natingbackintohisbees.However,heis

on a salaried income

when

he works building shades. "Mostof this

money

goesinto

my

pickup,"Bryansayswitha grin.

Fatherly

Advice

Bryan'sfatheradvises that

when

man- aging a business, "Therewill be good yearsand badones.Don't spendallyour

money when

youhaveagoodyear,but save for the lean ones."

He

speaks as ownerof10,000coloniesof beesand one whose company^is

among

the largest single beeowneroperationsinCalifornia.

Mr. Ashurstisoneoffiveadvisorson the StateApiary Board, giving adviceto California's DirectorofAgriculture.

Richard Ashurstemploysninework- ers year-roundand fifteenin summer, includingseveral

FFA

students.The

FFA

students work withBryan constructing andmovingshades.

Itisduring

summer

monthsthat alfalfa honey, 400,000poundsofit,isproduced asaby-product ofalfalfaseedpollination.

Pollination earns approximately three timesthe income thathoneydoes. Mr.

Ashurstsays,"Pollinationcoverstheex- penses.

Honey

istheprofit."

BryanwillgraduateinJuneand hopes toearnhisState

FFA

Degreethisyear.

He

willspendthe

summer

workinghisbees, thenbegincollegeinthefall.

He

plansto majorinmarketing.Aftergraduationfrom college,hewillbea full-timeapiarist,like hisfather,grandfather, greatgrandfather andgreat-great grandfather. ...

February-March, 1991 37

You Make ^It Happen

A ^series of articles to help FFA members

get the most out of

life

You Gotta

Have Goals

^{ByZig Ziglar}

The

^dictionarysays a goalisanaimorpurpose.

It'sa plan,somethingyouexpecttodo.Iwant

toconvince you,as a

member

ofFFA,wherever youareand whateveryoudo,youshould have goals. J.C.Penneyexpresseditbeautifully

when

he said,"Give

me

astock clerkwitha goal,andIwillgive youa

man who

will

make

history. Give

me

a

man

without a goal, andI will give youa stock clerk."

Everyone should have goals. Mothers should have goals.Salespeople should havegoals. Students, labor- ers,doctorsandathletesshould havegoals.

To

stressthenecessityofgoals,imagineSir

Edmund

Hillary,thefirst

man

toclimbMountEverest,explaining

how

hewasabletoaccomplishthat feat.Supposehe explained hewasjustoutwalkingaroundandone day hejusthappenedtofindhimselfatthetopofthetallest

mountainintheworld!

Of

courseyou'dthinkthatwas ridiculous

—

butisit anymore ridiculousthan you thinking you can accomplish anything significant withoutspecificgoals?

Do

mostpeoplehavegoals?Well,mostpeopledo expectto"makeit"inlife,buttragicallymostofthese peoplehave never takenthe stepstoproperlysetgoals forthemselves. Statistics showthat ifyoutake 100 young

men

atrandomand followthemuntilthey are65 yearsold,onlyfiveofthemwillhave achievedfinan- cialsecurity.Onlyonewillbe wealthy.

A

1953 Yale Universitystudy oftheirgraduatingseniorsdiscovered thatonly3percentofthemhad takenallthe stepsto settinggoals.Twentyyearslaterthe 3percent

who

had takenallthe stepshadaccomplishedmorethanthe97 percent

who

hadnot.

Do

youneedgoals?Ithinkyou cansee theanswertothatquestionisabsolutely yes!

When

youhavedefinitegoalsyoureleaseyour

own

power,andthingsstarthappening. Goals, however,are notreachedby merelythinkingabout them. Theremust bea clearcut planofaction. JeanNidetch wasn'ta doctorornutritionist,shewasjusta lady

who

wantedto

FFANewHorizonsisaskingsomeof thecountrystopexperts inmotivationandpersonal developmenttosharetheirideas ofhowFFAmemberscan achievetheirdreams.Thisnew

serieswillcovertopicssuch ashandling peer pressure, strengthening yourself-esteemandwiththisarticle,setting personal goals.

Premieringthisseriesismotivationalspeakerand author Zig Ziglar,whohasspokenat the nationalFFAconvention three times, including the1990conventionlastNovember.

38

bethin.Shesuccessfullylosttheweightthatshewantedto lose,sosheseta goaltohelpothers lose weight.Herobstacle wasthatshewasnot arecognizedauthorityinthefieldof weightcontrol.Jeandecidedtodesignapackagethatcon- veyedto others thatshewasjustlikethem, onlythinner.She turned her goal into a multi-million dollar business

—

Weight Watchers

—

despite theobstaclesshefaced.Jean Nidetch reached hergoalbecauseshehadaplanandfollowed aprocedure.

A

partofsuccessfullyachievingyourgoalsisnotonly workinghard, but alsoworkingaccuratelytoward yourgoal.

People

who

reachgreatheightsofsuccess are those

who

carefully layouta definiteplantodoso.Theynotonlyseta goal,but also establish acourse ofactiontoreachthatgoal.

As

a

member

ofFFA,whatareyourgoals?

Why

areyou a

member? One

ofthegreatestmistakesyoucan

make now

orlater in lifeistogetbusy without accomplishing anything through these efforts. Don't be amember, just tobe a member. Have specific objectives that you are working toward andput actionstothese objectives.

Jean succeeded because she applied aformulato her dream.

You

candothesame.Herearesevenstepsyouneed totakeinorderto

make

yourdreamsrealities.

First,identifywhat youwant.Second,clearlyspellout

why

you wanttoreachthatparticular goal. Third,listthe obstaclesthatstandbetween you and yourgoal. Fourth, identifythegrowth process

—

thethingsyouneedto

now —

inordertogettoyourgoal.Fifth,identifythepeopleyou need to work withto reach yourgoal. Sixth,develop a detailedplanofactiontoreachsuccess.Seventh,setthe date thatyouexpecttoreachthatgoal.Thesesevenspecificsteps will

move

you fromthedreamingstagetotheaccomplishing stageofyour pathtosuccess.

A

salesman can

know

all the techniques involved, a halfback canbe afastrunner, a mothercan haveall the answers,butwithoutagoaleach one^willnotclimbashigh as his orherabilityactuallyallows.

What

aboutyou?Areyou pursuingthatdeep-downdesireofyourlife?Are youtaking the stepsnecessarytoreachthe goalofyour choice?Ifyou

will,thenItrulywill

SEE YOUAT THE TOP!

FFANewHorizons

Happy Campers,,

' (Continuedfrom Page14) between Widrick andthe threeother ponds.The sceneryis breathtaking,but the campers soon find that nature can havearoughedgetoit.

The camp'sleadersadmitthesleeping cabinsandotherfacilitiesarerustic,but theirfocusisonthepeople,not the ac- commodations."We'renot the Hilton,"

says assistant director

Todd

Lighthall,

"but we'renot heretobetheHilton."

The maingoalofthe

camp

istobuild confidence,pride,self-esteem,responsi- bilityandanappreciation for nature.Itis also achancefor

FFA

membersto inter- actwithstateofficers

who

conductlead- ershipworkshops.

The campers' days are filled with leadership classes, sporting events, na- ture workshops, swimming, and

many

otheractivities.Theschedulecan bechal- lenging, especially

when

talkaroundthe campfire lingers late into the evening.

"You're too tired to go on," explains counselor

Mary

Alden, "butthere'stoo

much

goingontosleep.Thereisachance you wouldmiss something."

Aldenisone ofthe20dedicatedcol- lege-agedcounselors,mostlypast state officers,

who

run the entire operation.

Shehasbeencoming^to

camp

for11years, firstas acamper,

now

acounselor.Alden saysthatthat

camp

plays a larger role than justbeingaplacetomeetfriendsand run aroundthewoods. "For

many

kidswitha troubled

home

life,

camp

isanemotional retreatwheretheyfeelloved."Shesays thatabout80percentofthecampersre- turn thenextyear.

Campingcan beaforeignexperience for

many

ofthe

FFA

members,especially thosefrom

New

YorkCity.Advisors say thata

common

questionaskedbystudents

when

they arrive is"where are all the sidewalks?"

One

group ofcampersfrom thecityaskedtobe taken^faraway from

camp

tosee thestars,in totaldarkness

—

something theyhadnever witnessedbe- fore.Itwastobeone of

many new

expe- riences.

Theotherexperiencethatisevenharder toexplainiswhathappens insidethem- selves. CounselorAldensays,"Tosur- viveinthecity,youhavetoprotect yourself

—

beon guard.

You

windupbuilding walls thatdon't

come down

easily.

Camp

restoresyourfaithin

human

beings. It

confirmsyournaturalinstincts."

Aldensaysthatthesuccessof

camp

is limitedonlybythecamper'sdesiretoget involved.

"Camp

isalotlikelife.Ifyou

invest little, you get little. Ifyou grab every opportunity withgusto, therewards are endless. Itisall inthe individual's attitude." Thatis the real secretto the legendary "Oswegatchie Magic."

At camp,these

FFA

membersare cut offfromtheir safe,normalcircleoffriends and comfortable surroundings ofhome.

It'slikemovingto

anew

town, onlyinthis town, everybody is

new —

andthat is

whatbringsthemtogether.Theyhaveall

shared a

common,

frightful experience andhave

come

out friends. Intheend, they

come

tofindoutthatthemagicisn't inthe lake orstars or the pines, butin themselves andinthepeoplearound them.

SoYou Wantto

Go

to

Camp?

Many

stateFFAassociationsoperate summer

camps

fortheirmembers,Any FFA

member

interested in attending summer

camp

should asktheiradvisor forinformation. Ifthereisnosummer

camp

in yourstate,consider yourself invitedto

Camp

Oswegatchie. Starting inJuly,the

camp

runsfour tosixone-

week

sessions,depending ondemand.

Costforthe

camp

is$100, Formore information, write to:

Camp

Oswegatchie, c/o FFA

New

Horizons, PO. Box5632, Alexandria,VA, 22309- 0160,

People-To-PeopleMarketing

(Continuedfi

You'llneedtohaveregularhours of operation; allocateyour timebetweenla- borandmarketing;diversifyyour cropsto

meettheneedfor ayear-roundinventory;

comply with building codes and local ordinances;anddevelop merchandising, advertising,promotional andcustomer- relatedskills.

InU-Pick,orPick-Your-Ownopera- tions,the customercomes to the farm, does the harvesting, pays cashfor the produceharvested,andtransportsithome.

U-Pickoperations are a naturaltoaddtoa roadsidestand or other typesofsmall- scalefarming.

By

letting your customers dothepicking,youlowerharvest-labor, shipping, packagingand storagecosts.

The customer buys peak-of-freshness produce at low-cost, while enjoying a countryouting.

Special challenges include a large parkingarea, potentialdamagetocrops byinexperiencedpickers, gettingenough pickerstoharvest the entire crop,andthe needforincreased accidentandliability insurance.

U-Pickrequires top levelfieldman- agement,includingcustomer check-inand check-out.Another challengeismatching volumeofproduceavailable for salewith thenumberofpickers.

om

Page17)

Restaurants which feature regional specialties, vegetarian dishes orunique cuisine aregoodprospectsfor directfarm sales.Restaurantsarewillingtopaytop dollartoget high-quality, specialtyitems toaddto theirmenu.

Mostrestaurantshavelimitedcooler space,however,andrequire daily deliv- ery.Consider goinginwithyour neigh- borssoyoucanoffer awidevarietyof produce,andsetupasmalldelivery route withseveral restaurantsinonetrip.

Retail Outlets:Direct salestogrocery storescansucceedifthefarmer hasenough

productionona regular basistoprovide for the retailers' needs. Farmers must convince the retailer that they will be reliableinsupplyingqualityproduce over theharvest season.

Ifyouonlyliketogrowcrops, indirect marketingisthe

way

to go.Ifyou like merchandising anddealingwithpeople, however, such as with customers at a farmersmarketorchefsata restaurant, or ifyouhave familylabor availabletohelp withafarmstand orfarmers market,you

may

prefer amoredirect sales route. •••

eUF&&Ge4—

One

mustbevery quietaroundHenry'slocker.

Loud

noiseshave beenknownto startanavalanche.

February-March, 1991 39