4-H Projects at the Waukesha County Fair

Meet Apple Jack, a  7-year-old mini lop rabbit, who after six years in the rabbit hop project can still bring home ribbons.

And although rumors of his retirement are building due to his advanced age (for a rabbit), Apple Jack can still hop the bunny trail with speed and ease. He just needs a nap afterward, preferably in the arms of his owner, Kaylee Wolff.

Kaylee started in 4-H after buying Apple Jack, whose owners told her about the program and encouraged her to become involved.

“He got me into it,” Kaylee said, gesturing to Apple Jack, or AJ for short.

Six years later, Kaylee’s involvement has grown. This year, she entered projects in the categories of drawing, ceramics, archery and photography, just to name a few. As a member of the Menomonee Falls Busy Beavers Club, she’s living up to the club name.

Mother Nora Wolff is a 4-H mom and she’s quick to admit that she got involved in 4-H because of her daughter. Now she’s a leader, helping with meetings, coaching basketball in the fall and doing other things with the club.

She’s happy to help 4-H, which she said isn’t only about judging projects and competitions. They also do monthly community service projects and family-oriented activities, making the program fun and useful for all involved and the community.

“People sometimes wonder why one project gets a ribbon and another doesn’t but it’s not just about the final project," she said. "There’s face-to-face judging where they evaluate what the student learned. That’s what it’s about, that and the final project."

With more than 75 different project areas and many different categories within the project areas, the multitude of diverse projects at this year’s Waukesha County Fair are spread over two buildings.

At one table was a display by Brookfield Central student Kelsey Fox, whose project on mussel monitoring earned top honors and will be going on to be judged at the Wisconsin State Fair next month.

Kelsey’s project came about from her interest in marine biology. The project was collecting dead mussels and shells and reporting results to help monitor Wisconsin’s mussel population. In conducting her project, she found a partially-formed pearl, a rare find in freshwater mussels.

She spent many late nights on the mussel project but also did other projects, one of which was window farming, “like hydroponics,” she explained for a layperson. Her mom, Pam Poglitsch, another 4-H leader, hopes it will help her eat healthy when she goes away to college in a few years.

Across the room from Apple Jack are two different train set-ups, with diorama boards created by children and parents adding to the scenery of the railroad.

For youngster Daniel Harmon, in his second year participating, the hardest part of the project was making the aquarium for his train diorama board of the Ten Wonders of the World. He enjoyed putting it all together, though, and “putting the finishing touches on it,” he said.

The hard work was worth the effort, earning him a merit award.

At one of the tables are some projects that weren’t judged this year. There was a display of previous years’ works by long-time 4-H student Andy Telford of Elm Grove, who had autism and who died last year as the result of a seizure.

Andy and his father Gordon did many projects together, presenting an opportunity for Gordon to learn about his son, working together and “having a ball doing it,” Gordon Telford said, something he now appreciates even more.

“I don’t have to look back and say I wish I would have done this or that with him because I did do it," he said. "I just wish more parents could feel that way about their kids."

Beyond the father-son time the projects presented, Andy enjoyed doing the projects. Andy, who started doing the dioramas when he was 12, tackled each project with intensity.

“Doing dioramas just clicked with him. I don’t know why,” he said.  “But it’s a great way to learn about your child. I loved that intensity."

Every year, the father and son built on abilities learned the previous year. Their style, which they developed together was “nothing store-bought,” Telford said.

“Only thing I wouldn’t let him do was use the Exacto knife," Telford said. "I would cut the basic structure and he would do the rest. Only thing he had a problem with was conceiving what we would do.”

Telford is particularly proud of the roof tiles on the project from 2006 of a Scottish church. The tiles are made out of individually hand-cut, quarter-inch balsa and were laid out layer by layer. He’s also proud of Andy’s Splash Mountain, especially the bridge which Andy decided at the last moment needed more work for it to be perfect. That project earned an Honorable Mention in 2008 at TrainFest, billed as “America's Largest Operating Model Railroad Show.”

And while there is a strong emphasis on meticulous work for model hobbyists, something Andy strived to accomplish, the minor imperfections that Telford can see are signatures of Andy for his dad.

The last train diorama Andy did was of the Wizard of Oz, complete with poppy fields and an Emerald City. This year, Andy’s family did a diorama in honor of him, The Tree of Life, because Andy loved Disney World.