4HOnline Enrollment

To enroll in 4-H go to v2.4honline.com or click on the QR code below. If you have never enrolled in 4-H using 4HOnline, click DON’T HAVE AN ACCOUNT and answer the questions. Once you complete your family’s information, click CREATE ACCOUNT. Enter your family’s address information and click VERIFY. Then continue to the section for adding a new member to the family and answer all questions until you finish and pay. If you already were in 4-H and have a 4HOnline account, go the website or click the QR code and enter your email address and password to sign in. Click the blue +ADD MEMBER button to add a new member, then select the program the member is joining. Click NEXT. Complete the information about the member and click NEXT. Continue answering the questions until you click FINISH and get to the payment section.

National 4-H Week

Join 4-H'ers around the country in celebrating National 4-H Week during the week of Oct. 5-11, 2025. The school week kicks off on Monday, October 6^th with National Go Green Day! Schools and clubs are encouraged to celebrate the beginning of National 4-H Week on this day! Reminder: Judging of school displays will begin October 7^th for our Show Your 4-H Pride Contest. The theme is Beyond Ready. Some of the things the judges will look for are creativity, involvement of the 4-H’ers, appeal, and originality. The Executive Committee elections and officer and leader training will be held Thursday, October 9^th beginning at 9:00 a.m. at the Ag. Building in Raceland. The event should conclude by 12:00 noon. Lunch will be provided. We look forward to seeing all of the wonderful ways our schools and communities celebrate National 4-H Week.

4-H Spirit Poster Contest

Create a poster that shows your 4-H Spirit and love of Lafourche

4-H! The guidelines for the contest are (1) Poster must be an 11 x 14 white poster board. No foam boards. (2) Do not attach anything to the poster that is more than ½ “thick. (3) Be sure to place your name, grade, and school on the back of the poster in the upper right-hand corner. The posters will be picked up at the October club meetings or can be dropped off at the 4-H Office by October 13^th.Recognition and awards are in the following divisions: Elementary Division- 4^th – 5^th grade; Middle School Division- 6^th – 8^th grade; and High School Division- 9^th – 12^th grade. Every 4-H club member that makes a poster will receive a ribbon! Everyone’s a winner!

Junior Leader Times

We are off to a great start in Junior Leaders! Our October meeting will be held on Thursday, October 29^th, from 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. in the Raceland Ag Building. New members who are at least 13 years old by December 31, 2025, are still welcome to join the club! Dues are $20.00, include a t-shirt, and are non-refundable. Attendees are asked to bring a pair of new socks for our “Socktober” service project.

Camp Catch Phrase

What’s a great theme for 4-H Summer Camp?4^th – 6^th graders can send in your most creative ideas for a slogan that is brief and “catchy,” capturing the spirit of

4-H Camp—in 7 words or less along with illustrations. Illustrations must accompany the phrase and will be part of the contest. The winner will receive a $50 monetary award, and it will be used on all publicity for camp and on the camp T-shirt. If the winning catch phrase of an approved Lafourche 4-H member is selected, that person will automatically be awarded a spot for Lafourche 4-H camp. Think fast...the deadline is October 31st. Your submission must include your full name, grade, age, parish and 4-H Club, complete mailing address, and phone number. Individuals may submit multiple entries (please submit together) by this date to Grant Walker 4-H Educational Center, Camp Catch Phrase, 3000 Hwy. 8, Pollock, LA, 71467, or email to CampGrantWalker@agcenter.lsu.edu .

Sugar and Seafood Contest Day

The upcoming Sugar and Seafood Contest will be held on November 1 at Galliano Elementary with registration from 9:00-10:00 a.m. Cooking can be a great opportunity to teach life skills such as kitchen and food safety, nutrition, and even math. It can give a sense of accomplishment, and you get to enjoy the reward of eating the delicious, finished product! Your dishes can be brought to the contest by another person. Elementary, Middle, and Senior High school members will compete separately for purple (1^st), blue (2^nd) and red (3^rd) ribbons. Overall Champion dishes will receive trophies. Members may enter one seafood and/or one sugar dish. Categories for Seafood are Oyster, Crab, Shrimp, Fish/Other Seafood and Crawfish. Sugar categories are Cakes (homemade or mixes), Candies, Cookies, Pies, and Other Sugar Dish.

***New Safety Rules for Sugar and Seafood Cookery***

Food Safety – Food safety is an important consideration. The risk of food-borne illness is greatly increased when foods are held at room temperature for extended periods. Therefore, the dish should be prepared and chilled to refrigerator temperature and transported on ice in an ice chest to the contest. Dishes not chilled and transported in this way will be disqualified by contest officials. Dishes intended to be served hot will be warmed before the tasting. Thank you for adhering to these food safety guidelines.

Rules for this contest are:

1. Sugar dishes must use at least one-half (1/2) cup of sugar. May be granulated, brown, powdered or any combination. Mixes are permitted as long as 1/2 cup of additional sugar is added to the recipe. Seafood dishes must use at least one (1) cup of seafood. The seafood must be fresh, frozen, pasteurized, or dried. Canned seafood is not acceptable. Surimi, an artificial crab made from fish, cannot be used. There can be no raw seafood in the final dish. Entries may contain a small amount of a second seafood but not more than ½ the amount of the primary seafood. All seafood used in the contest must be Louisiana Seafood. It is not necessary to send the entire dish. Only a couple of servings are needed for the judging.
2. A copy of the recipe must be submitted with the dish.
3. Print name, grade and school on the back of the recipe on an index card.
4. The food should be sent in a disposable container that can be thrown away after the judging is complete.

New This Year! Healthy Living Illustrated Talk

The Healthy Living Illustrated Talk contest allows youth to present an illustrated talk on an area within child development, food & nutrition and health. Illustrated Talks will also be held that day beginning at 10:00 a.m. There will be three divisions in this contest:

Division I– (Grades 4-5) Contestant designs (a) standard poster 22” x 28” or PowerPoint, (b) presents a 2–3-minute explanation of poster subject or PowerPoint relating to healthy living and (c) responds to questions from the judge.

Division II – (Grades 6-8) Contestant designs (a) standard poster 22” x 28” or PowerPoint relating to healthy living, (b) presents a 2–3-minute explanation of poster subject or PowerPoint and (c) responds to questions from the judge.

Division III – (Grades 9-12) Contestant designs (a) standard poster 22” x 28” or PowerPoint relating to healthy living, (b) presents a 5-minute explanation of poster subject, or PowerPoint and (c) responds to questions from the judge.

Sew with Cotton

This year’s Sew with Cotton Contest will be held in conjunction with the Sugar and Seafood Contest on Nov. 1, 2025.Garments will be modeled by the 4-H’ers that day in front of a judge. Please have the child’s name, school and grade on an index card attached to the garment. Ribbons will be given out that day (purple (1^st), blue (2^nd), and red (3^rd).The rules for the contest are as follows:

1.Contestants may be in the 4th-12th grade. There will be three divisions: Elementary, Middle, and Senior.

2.7^th – 12^th grade contestants must make and model a complete outfit of any style appropriate for any occasion and any season of the year, including a pair of pajamas. Elementary and Middle School students may enter the following:

4^th Grade - drawstring apron (on our website), barbecue apron, or Eco-Friendly Tote Bag (from commercial patterns)

5^th Grade – sassy (elastic waist) skirt (on our website), elastic waist shorts or elastic waist pajama pants (commercial pattern)

6^th Grade - A-line or gathered skirt or variation with a waistband and zipper, robe, duffle bag or computer bag (from commercial pattern)

3.Outer garments must be 100% cotton or cotton blend. Interfacing, underlining, tape, trimming, etc. can be of any compatible fabric.

Any garment entered into this year’s contest must not have been entered into a previous Lafourche Parish Sew with Cotton Contest.

Round Robin Activities

During the Sugar and Seafood judging process, there will be various presentations/activities for those attending Sugar and Seafood Contest Day. For example, if you would like to learn more about all the possibilities in 4-H, you will want to attend 4-H 101! This and other options will be available starting at 10:00 A.M. at the Sugar and Seafood Contest on November 1^st!

Book Drive at Sugar and Seafood Contest Day

Access to books is an important component to helping children read proficiently. In line with this year’s environmental awareness theme, and to help us ensure children in our community have age-appropriate books at home, we are conducting a book drive at Sugar and Seafood Contest Day on November 1^st.Please donate new or gently used children’s and young adult books. There will be boxes at the entrance. Thank you in advance for supporting this important service project.

Livestock Validation

As in past years, all market animals and commercial breeding animals are required to be validated through a process of collecting hair samples. The animals are then tagged and “validated”. You will be responsible for contacting the 4-H office to get your validation kits, validating your own animals, and returning the kits to our office with your fees before November 10, 2025, for commercial beef, commercial dairy, market lambs, commercial ewes, market goats and commercial does. Market and commercial hogs will have to be validated before December 1, 2025, using the same process. If you need assistance or have any questions, please call the 4-H office at 985-446-1316.

Regional Rabbit Show

There will be a Regional Rabbit Show held November 24, 2025, at the Agriculture Building in Raceland. Entry forms are due by November 19^th, but entries will be accepted the day of the show. Animal check-in will begin at 8:00 am. Showmanship will begin at 9:00 a.m. Judging will begin at 10:00 a.m. The entry fee is $7 per rabbit and $12 per meat pen. Please call the 4-H office if you have any questions. In an effort to stop the spread of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease Virus and to prevent cases in our state the Louisiana Department of Ag and Forestry Animal will require Health papers on all rabbits attending a show in Louisiana. This includes out of state and in state rabbits attending a show in Louisiana. Health papers are good for up to 60 days. Before the show you can obtain a health paper from any vet or Anna Ozio, DVM, will be in the parking lot prior to the Rabbit Show issuing health papers. If using Dr. Ozio, you must submit the rabbit vet form to her office by November 17^th or a late fee will be charged. The form can be found on our parish website at www.lsuagcenter.com. Health papers must be submitted with rabbits on show day. Contact Ms. Abbie for information at ahalley@agcenter.lsu.edu.

Southwest Region Challenge Camp

Are you in 7^th or 8^th grade and up for some fun challenges? If so, don’t miss our Challenge Camp on November 18–19, 2025, at the Acadian Baptist Center in Eunice! Priority will be given to first-time campers. This is a fun, overnight camp with lots of challenging activities with 4-H members from across the Southwest Region! Please use the attached QR Code to sign up! You can mail or drop off your payment to the 4-H Office at the 115 Texas Street, Raceland. The cost, which includes travel, lodging, T-shirt, and meals at the camp, is $125 per person and is non-refundable. We will be traveling by chartered bus with Assumption and Terrebonne Parish 4-H’ers as well. All checks can be made payable to the Lafourche 4-H Foundation and are due to the 4-H Office by October 27^th. Hurry! Registration is limited to 12 campers and two junior counselors and is first come, first serve! Don’t delay! Register today! This information has also been sent out via 4HOnline.

Shooting Sports

The first Shooting Sports Fall Classic was a huge success! Thanks to all who participated. It is still not too late to join. Disciplines available are Air Rifle, Archery, BB, Hunting Skills, Muzzleloading, Rifle, and Shotgun. Please use the QR Code to register. Payments can be mailed or dropped off to the 4-H Office (115 Texas Street, Raceland, LA 70394).

Bash on the Bayou Tailgate Update

The 2025 Louisiana 4-H/FFA Bash on the Bayou is now Breakfast on the Bayou! Kickoff is now expected to be between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00 noon on November 15, 2025, against Arkansas! The tailgate will take place at the 4-H Mini Farm on the LSU campus, and the registration fee is $5.00 per person. Tailgate tickets can be purchased until November 7^th. Free food and drink will be available for the first 250 people. Doors to the 4-H Mini Farm will open at 8:00 a.m. and will close one hour before kickoff. Sausage biscuits, donuts, coffee, milk, and juice will be served. Game tickets are available starting at $35 per ticket. If you are interested in ordering game tickets, please contact the 4-H Office for the promo code. Please note, parking passes will not be provided by Louisiana 4-H or FFA. Parking will be available on a first-come, first-served basis near the 4-H Mini Farm and Parker Coliseum parking lot. Come hungry, wear your colors, and get ready to cheer on the Tigers!

4-H Volunteers

Volunteers are what keeps our thriving 4-H program running! Without the support and devotion of the great people of Lafourche parish, we would not be as successful as we are. If you are interested in being a 4-H volunteer please create a profile and enroll here: https://v2.4honline.com// All volunteers, such as cookery judges, overnight camp chaperones, club leaders, speaking contest judges, and shooting sports parents must be enrolled. Thank you in advance for being a 4-H volunteer!

Lucky Clover Tickets

We will again give Lucky Clover tickets to 4-H’ers for participation in all 4-H club contests. Each time you participate in a contest, poster contest, etc., you will receive a Lucky Clover ticket. All tickets will be given to 4-H’ers prior to Achievement Day, and a drawing for the prizes will be held that day. You will have to be present at Achievement Day to win the prizes. Earn those tickets! Start participating now to win!

SEWcial Club

Attention 4^th-12^th graders! It’s not too late to join our new 4-H SEWcial Club. Club members will learn lots of stitching and sewing skills, sewing safety, and create fun projects! Use the QR code below to register! Non-refundable yearly membership dues are $25 and can be dropped off or mailed to: Lafourche 4-H Foundation, Attn: SEWcial Club, 115 Texas St., Raceland, LA 70394. Use the QR Code to register.

Robotics Club

If you are interested in learning how to design, build, and program robots, join our new Lafourche 4-H Robotics Club! Use the QR code below to register! Our non-refundable yearly membership fee is $25 and can be dropped off or mailed to: Lafourche 4-H Foundation, Attn: Robotics, 115 Texas St., Raceland, LA, 70394. The club is open to Lafourche 4-H members in grades 4-12!

Junior Leader Sweet Potato, Rice & Pecan Sale

Our Junior Leaders are conducting our annual sweet potato, rice, and pecan sale. Don’t miss out on these delicious Louisiana commodities. Orders can be placed with any Lafourche Parish Junior Leader or by calling the 4-H office at 985-446-1316.All money and orders are due to the 4-H office by October 17^th.No orders can be placed without payment.

Monthly 4-H Focus - Building Healthy Relationships: Trust

This year, the Health Rocks! program curriculum will be used for monthly meetings. This month’s focus is building relationships. Youth are heavily influenced by their circles of friends, and they will learn how to evaluate the health of current friendships. Recognizing peer influences is an important skill to lead youth down a positive path. The individuals will discover qualities of a good friend and relationship.

For more information on any of the activities listed, please contact Suzanne Troxclair at stroxclair@agcenter.lsu.edu or Abbie Halley at ahalley@agcenter.lsu.edu or call 985-446-1316.