4-H Volunteers Receive Sweet Reward

From MSU News Service

11/7/01 –

 BOZEMAN--When Montana 4-H Foundation Executive Director Terry Wolfe was looking for a way to recognize longstanding 4-H volunteers, a certificate and a pat on the back just didn't seem like enough. How do you thank a person who has given over 25 years of commitment to Montana youth? Wolfe--a one-time 4-Her who credits his own success to the volunteers who helped him along the way--wanted to give something from the heart. So he and his staff came up with a plan to create an unusually sweet reward: peach cobbler.

               This is not just any peach cobbler. It's cooked camp-style, over coals in a Dutch oven and served to the honorees in their home county by 4-H  staffers. Wolfe has pursued an interest in Dutch oven cooking for years, following in the footsteps of his ancestors who came West in covered wagons. He has offered workshops on the subject to 4-H leaders, who can then share this folk-style culinary art with 4-H members.

               "In this state we do a lot of outdoor things: float trips, camping, hunting," explained Wolfe, "Camp cooking is an opportunity to learn a lifetime skill and have fun doing it."

               The summer of 2001 was the first round of "You're a Peach" presentations at county fairs in Chinook, Shelby, Lewistown, Columbus, Great Falls, Glasgow, Scobey, Culbertson, Sidney and Hamilton. So far, the 4-H Foundation has honored more than 200 volunteers who have each given 25 or more years of service.

               "That's over 50 centuries of volunteer service," said Wolfe.

               Dane Dugan, an MSU sophomore in Agricultural Education who interned with the 4-H Foundation in summer of 2001, got the program off the ground, setting up camp to cook peach cobbler outside exhibit buildings, in livestock arenas or wherever space allowed.

               At first Dugan, a former 4-H ambassador and state 4-H officer who grew up in Stevensville, didn't know the magnitude of the effort he had taken on. He mapped three routes that would take him from fair to fair throughout the summer and took off in a motor pool Chevy Suburban packed full of camp cooking equipment and 4-H Foundation displays.

               The first route took him on the road for a week. The second was a tour that lasted 26 days. Terry Wolfe took the third and final route of the summer.

               Even when his travels took him to the far reaches of the state, Dugan was pleasantly surprised that many of the people he spent time with were folks he had already met in his 4-H years.

               "The MSU Extension agents are amazing people. They stepped forward to provide places to stay and make us feel at home--which is what 4-H does. Having been one of those kids who had 4-H leaders that impacted my own life, it was nice to be able to give that thanks back to them," he said.

               Honorees in each county received special invitations to the award presentation and, to go with their serving of cobbler, they got a medal and a certificate to take home. After the event,  staffers sent a personalized photo collage to each recipient as a memento of the day.

               Wolfe estimates that it will take three or four years for the 4-H Foundation to make "You're a Peach" presentations throughout the entire state. And by the time they finish, there will be new 25-year volunteers to honor. According to Wolfe, it's well worth the effort.

               "When I started 4-H, I remember well, it was at the Belfry school and we started this thing called a 4-H club." Wolfe recalled. "I learned everything from being an officer to being a committee member, how to do community service, identify weeds and range plants, raise a steer and give a demonstration. It was the efforts of those volunteers that made it all possible. Because of them, it's important to do this. The only thing I regret is that we missed the chance to thank some of the people who were around in the early days."

 Sidebar:

4-H "You're a Peach" Cobbler

Line a Dutch oven with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking oil. Pour in a large and a small can of sliced peaches with syrup. Save 1/4 cup of syrup and mix it with 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Add cornstarch mixture to the peaches, along with the juice of half a lemon and a sprinkling of cinnamon. Using a large zip-lock bag, fix a yellow cake mix according to the instructions, cut a corner out of the bag and squeeze the contents over the peach mixture. For a 12-inch Dutch oven, cook the cobbler for 25 minutes with 15 hot charcoal briquettes on top and nine on the bottom. (The rule of thumb for 350-degree cooking is to use as many briquettes as the diameter of your oven plus three briquettes on top and minus three on the bottom.)

 For a list of individuals honored in your county, please contact the Montana 4-H Foundation at (406) 994-5911.

Photo one: Caption: With two generations of 4-H service between them, Louise Langton of Victor and son Brian were honored at the Ravalli County fair.

Photo two: Caption: MSU Agricultural Education sophomore Dane Dugan (center) and friends Joel LaLiberty and Molly Jimmerson serve up a peach cobbler they cooked over hot coals behind the youth exhibition hall at last summer's Cascade County fair. 

Please send  questions or comments (plus your name, location and the subject of the story you read) to Marla Goodman  and Carol Flaherty, MSU Communications Services, Bozeman, MT 59717 or email us at: carolf@montana.edu.

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