4-H Achievement Night!!

Mark your calendars...Friday 11/20 is 4-H Achievement Night!!

Potluck, Awards, Auctions, Fun, etc..

Come Celebrate with your fellow NKOA members!

Contact Tamra or Valerie For More Information!

Upcoming Bake Sales!

There are two bake sales coming up this month. Baked good donations are needed for both sales.

11/20- Lisbon Credit Union is holding a bake sale to benefit our county's 4-H program. Donations can be dropped off on 11/19 there or the morning of 11/20.

FMI: Ashley Webber, Member Service Rep
325 Lisbon St, P.O. Box 878
Lisbon, ME. 04250
(207) 353-4144 x103
a.webber@lisboncu.org

11/28 NKOA's 1st Bake Sale--We are having our first bake sale!!

11am-1pm at Tractor Supply on Lisbon Street in Lewiston.

Donations needed!!

We will let you know more ASAP.

Recipe for Lip Balm

During our meeting on 11/4/2009 we spent time in the kitchen making lip balm. It is a very simple process and can easily be made at home!

You will need oil, beeswax, and a container to pour your lip balm into ~ that's it! Use any kind of oil that you want, you can blend several together or use just one! Examples are; olive, soybean, canola, sunflower, etc...

The recipe is a 4 to 1 ratio;

If you use 4oz oil use 1oz beeswax.
If you use 8oz oil use 2oz beeswax. (this will make a lot of balm!)

On low heat melt your beeswax into your oil blend, add essential or fragrance oil if you would like to scent it, and then pour into your containers.

That's it! Enjoy!

November 4th Meeting

On November 4th we had a lot of fun with all the rocks we collected at Mt Apatite.

Here is a recap of some of our activities:

Make an Inuksuk
Check out Mary Wallace's Book 'The Inuksuk Book' to learn about how the Inuit used rocks to leave impressions upon the land.

Build your own Inuksuk:

Ranger Rick-Make an Inuksuk




Wearable Rock Crafts
We took inspiration from the following sources to make headbands and necklaces

Crystal Necklaces and Princess Headbands

Rock Necklaces

Nature Inspired Art

Our members had fun using their rocks, colored clay, branches, and googly eyes to make rock creatures.

Taking inspiration from a book about Henry Moore, a sculpter, who got his inspirations from items from nature (rocks, bones, wood, etc), members could sketch their rocks on paper and then make their drawing come alive with clay.

Rock Identification
Given assorted Rock guide books, members could research their rocks
Once identified, it is a good idea to label the underside of your rock or mineral with the following information:
Your initials, the date you found the item, the name of the item, and where you found it.

Studying Rocks & Minerals

If you are interested in studying rocks and minerals further here are a bunch of websites and videos to get you started. Have fun!

The Dynamic Earth
Information on gems and minerals, with maps, close-up photos and slideshows. (Click on "Multimedia Version", then on "Gems and Minerals" or "GeoGallery".)

Virtual Quarry Interactive
View rock samples with a virtual microscope then see fossils found in limestone. (Click on "Young Geologist" to see the fossils.)

Rock Hounds
Slide show on how to collect rocks safely, with online quizzes. (Click on "Rock Hound Collection Safety" and to test your knowledge of rocks, click on "Discover Earth's Treasures".)

Earth Our World in Motion
A fun introduction to Earth science, with lots of ideas for things to do.

Mineral Matters
Games to test your mineral knowledge, and useful information on starting a collection. (Click on "Mine Games".)

Geo Mysteries
Find out more about rocks by solving some "geomysteries".

Tour the rock cycle
Join Rocky on his amazing journey around the rock cycle.

Rocky's rock cycle games
Test your knowledge of the rock cycle with fun games.

Geologic Time
Find out more about the different periods of geologic time.

Hillman Hall of Minerals and Gems.
Carnegie Musuem of Natural History's Collection

Mineral and Gemstone Kingdom (click on "Gallery").
Minerals A-Z, Gallery, etc

Bill Nye the Science Guy- Rocks & Soils Videos
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Photos ~ Mt. Apatite Field Day

Click here to view pictures from our 10/28/09 field day hike at Mt. Apatite.

Reminder; when you are finished viewing the pictures and would like to return to the blog, click - LINKS - in the left hand side bar & choose RETURN TO BLOG.

Mt. Apatite Hike & Rock Hunt

Mt. Apatite holds a bounty of natural beauty; foliage, trails, and an abundance of crystals and minerals!

We enjoyed hiking up the mountain with the ledges and boulders surrounding us loaded with geological wonders! This impressive old tree was one of the first things we explored; it took 16 4H members standing side by side to make it around this tree! We still need to go back and measure for its age!

We spent time sorting through one of the many quarries, with the kids pounding away and collecting rocks. Most had collected many rocks before they even reached the quarries!

Capri (pictured here), found several larger stones that were absolutely beautiful! By the time she was finished, her aunt's backpack weighed a ton!

Ehric found this crystal, he was thrilled and had a wonderful story to share about it!

The afternoon went by very quickly as usual; the weather held out for us which was a great relief!

Look forward to heading back to Mt. Apatite again to explore other quarries buried deeper up the mountain!