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Last month I took a 4-H volunteer training class to begin preparing for our new 4-H club. We have been members in another club for two years, but it has since stopped meeting so we needed to find another closer to home. We didn’t have one, unfortunately, so we decided to create our own. In recruiting new members for this club, the most frequent question I have run across is, “Isn’t 4-H about farming?”

In a word, no! It is true that 4-H club has its roots in farming, but that’s because we used to be a largely agrarian society. The main interest of people—as well as their main interest—was farming. Now, however, as we have grown and diversified, so has the program. It’s really all about helping children develop their interest and leadership qualities by making friends.

Even the 4-H projects you might have been familiar with as a child have changed. Sure, there are still projects that include raising rabbits or cows, but there are also many others—from fashion design to robotics, cooking to Legos, and anything else you can imagine. 

There are even independent study projects for children who wish to explore something that may not already be covered in the 4-H curriculum. Your child wants to write a novel, create a Dungeons and Dragons role-playing group, or travel to every state as a project? He or she can totally do it! The only limit is your child’s desire and imagination—and, of course, your bank account if the dream does require that much travel.

We had our first meeting tonight and already I can see a great group of artists and engineers shaping up. So far no one in our group has really indicated interest in agriculture; the closest interest listed tonight was in animals—specifically, turtles. I can’t wait to see what kinds of projects our kids want to do and get started in doing them! Visit the website above to locate the 4-H group nearest you and you can get started in your own community.

4-H dues are very reasonable—ours are under $20 per year, per child, while adult volunteers are free—and if you have a financial hardship you can apply for waived fees as well. If you do live too far away from another group to meet, you can always start your own group or even do projects as a family, too.

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Why do we rush the seasons so insistently in America? International folks, I want to know if you do this, too. Do decorations and food ideas and other seasonally inappropriate items show up in shop windows a good two months before a holiday even begins?

Do you have Santas and candy canes adjacent to Halloween skulls and candy corn (or comparative October holidays) on your store shelves? Do stores begin playing Christmas tunes in early November, nearly two entire months prior to the holiday itself, rendering everyone crazy and hateful of such music by the time the holiday actually arrives?

Because that’s how we do it in America. My husband works in retail and comes home in Christmas glitter from whatever reindeer or snowman or glitterized decoration he had to unload that day. I have neighbors who still have Halloween decorations up—indeed, we still have one slowly decomposing jack o’lantern on our own front porch—while right next door, there is already an inflatable sled or snowman.

This is just messed up! Folks, stop rushing these holidays and enjoy what’s here while it’s here! Not only does it sadden me that we can’t live in the moment; it also just makes me sick and tired of Christmas before it even gets here.

And I love Christmas. I love Yule. I’m a hippie pagan happy-dance girl who loves hot chocolate and caroling and glitterific pine cones and watching It’s a Wonderful Life and the whole shebang. But this whole Western rush to get the holidays going and over with is a total buzz kill.

So much for your “personal responsibility” call, Republican woman across from me on Election Night who “borrowed” throat lozenges from me! Ha! I came prepared. You may have had gloves on that cold night, madam, but you did not have cough drops! An ex choir girl, I know to preserve my best instrument and weapon.

Seriously, though, when I heard these hoarse auctioneers talking about how “they treat us like we’re the bad guys”—speaking not of the two congenial gentlemen and my family holding our Democrat signs, but of Democrat voters who angrily shook their heads or even called out to them angrily—I had to offer my throat drops across the aisle—or, in this case, the entryway to our local recreation center. Most declined, save for a woman who claimed candidate materials filled her car. Why, I’m not sure, but she and her friends seemed to be quite anti-woman’s choice, ironically enough.

So I learned that it really is easy to reach across the aisle.

But I also learned that you catch more flies with honey. These three woman had their chant down—“So and so for such and such! So and so for such and such!” It was the same monotonous, cheerleader-like refrain for every person who walked up, and nearly no one appreciated it. In fact, most people stared straight ahead, mumbling to themselves or opening telling a spouse how irritating this was.

Catching on quickly, my slogan instead was, “Hi there!” or “How are you?” The most frequent call I used was “Good afternoon!” I smiled brightly beneath my hoodie and umbrella beneath the rain, making eye contact, and nearly every person would look at me instead, smiling back and yes, glancing at my sign. I’m a visual person, and I think a lot of other people are, too, so I’d like to think that I made an impression.

Of course, my candidate didn’t win, so maybe I didn’t make as big an impression as I’d hoped. Still, upon each person’s exit, I said, “Have a good evening!” instead of the terse “Thank you for voting” my candidate’s opponent said as they exited—the man who now sadly represents me, or will next year, since they rezoned my district. The man who, like a complete tool, implored people to “enjoy your workout!” if they carried a duffel bag, because we know how much people love working out—particularly on election day, with a man holding a “Pro-Life” sign in front of their rec center.

I also learned that being a working, homeschooling mom is no excuse. My rep does not represent me in any way, shape, or form anymore—something I had become comfortably accustomed to in the last few years. Had I got off my butt to really campaign for the man I wanted as my rep rather than simply filled in at a polling place on Election Day—a day when everyone pretty much already knows who they are going to vote for—perhaps I could have narrowed that 600 vote margin, or even helped him win. I won’t make the mistake next time around—and I’m sure my experiences to come with this politician will fuel this vow.