Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.

FAIRFIELD – Jordan and Taylor Miller are two youngsters who are exploring all 4-H has to offer by participating in livestock showing, presentations, horticulture and day camps.

Taylor is a sophomore at Fairfield High School, while Jordan is an eighth-grader at Fairfield Middle School. They are two of the three children of Eric and Kala Miller of rural Ottumwa. The Millers’ youngest child is Morgan, a 7-year-old second-grader who is in Clover Kids, and will be for a few more years until she turns 10 and can join 4-H.

Kala said both she and her husband are veterans of 4-H, and her father was a member of 4-H, too, in Downing, Missouri, making her children third-generation 4-Hers. This past county fair, Jordan and Taylor tried something new in 4-H by showing pigs for the first time. They were part of a new class that Jefferson County ISU Extension created called the Single Source Class.

“Everybody bought animals from the same livestock producer and showed them in one class together,” Kala explained. “All of the individuals had never shown pigs before. It was a new experience, which we had not done previously.”

Kala said the Millers had all the infrastructure on their property they needed to show pigs because their family raised them for meat, but never to show at the county fair until this year.

Jefferson County ISU Extension and Outreach County Director Courtney Burkhalter explained that there were 10 pigs in the Single Source Class, and that they were all purchased from the same farm at the same time.

“Our swine superintendents worked with volunteers to source the pigs and bring them to the fairgrounds for swine identification day,” Burkhalter said. “Exhibitors registered ahead of time and purchased the pigs. They then picked up their pigs on the identification day and took them home to raise until fair. Many exhibitors were interested in this option, and this allowed several 4-H members to show swine who had not previously done so.”

Taylor and Jordan got to show one pig each, and that was just the tip of the iceberg of all the other 4-H activities they’ve been involved in. Taylor and Jordan are in the Leading Hands 4-H Club, and they’re on Teen Council. Teen Council was responsible for the Ag Olympics during the county fair, and the group helps with Trunk or Treat, an annual Halloween tradition through Jefferson County Extension. This year’s Trunk or Treat will be from 5-7 p.m. on Oct. 18 at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.

Taylor has participated in a national 4-H Ag Innovators Experience program called “Protect the Plate,” which according to the organization is a challenge that tasks young people with applying critical thinking and STEM skills to real-world agricultural issues. Taylor participated in one Protect the Plate initiative called the Honeybee Challenge, about the role honeybees play in food production.

Jordan put together a presentation for the county fair and state fair on “how to hunt with hounds.” Jordan and Eric have seven coyote hounds that they hunt with, and Jordan’s presentation was about what he’s learned about hunting dogs. Another 4-H project Jordan did was showing how a paracord bracelet could be made into a dog lead, which he uses on his hunts.

The two older Miller kids have shown vegetables at the county and state fairs including tomatoes, watermelons, pumpkins, herbs and lots of peppers. Jordan said he’s excited about expanding the range of vegetables they grow, and he’s already got a few different varieties of peppers and watermelons in mind for next year’s state fair. Though it wasn’t through 4-H, Jordan grew an enormous eggplant weighing 6.6 pounds, when a typical eggplant is perhaps 1 to 1.5 pounds.

Taylor said she wants to continue doing her sewing projects. Her grandma started sewing baby blankets for cousins, and a few years ago Taylor did the same thing for her baby cousins. For last year’s fair, she sewed a pillowcase, too.

Kala said she’s proud of her children and what they’ve done in 4-H.

“What they’re able to accomplish with a little bit of help is great,” she said.