‘She bleeds 4-H green’

DENTON – Charlotte Brown knows green – 4-H green, that is.

Last week, the Caroline County native was still recording numbers and catching up on chores at home following what she called a “really good fair this year, especially when the weather cooperates like it did.”

While the 4-day Caroline Dorchester County Fair wrapped up Saturday, Aug. 9, at the 4-H Fair grounds on Detour Road south of Denton, the work continues as Brown, the livestock chairperson, logs statistics in her office there. About “60 to 75 kids” entered animals for judging this year.

Brown has been at it a long time. She reckons she’s been volunteering with 4-H as, variously, a club member, club co-leader, 4-H mom, Fair Board member and 4-H Park Board member for over 30 years.

Alluding to the 4-H pledge, former Fair Board member Beverly Saathoff said Brown “embodies the 4 Hs – head, health, heart, hands – and the meanings behind them. She truly lives it out. She bleeds 4-H green.”

The 4-H Pledge is "I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, and my health to better living, for my club, my community, my country, and my world."

That pledge has been a commitment for five generations of Brown’s family.

Brown’s grandfather Dallas Neal was 4-H leader of the Sour Apples 4-H Club. Her father Wheatley Neal was a member of that club and showed Guernsey cows. Brown’s mother Ann also was a 4-H club leader; Charlotte and her sister Cindy Clopper were members. Brown and her husband Michael’s children Dale and Lindsey were dedicated 4-Hers, as are Dale’s two daughters.

Brown herself is co-leader, along with Barb Carrow and Becky Brown, of Pure Country 4-H Club. Carrow has been involved in 4-H over 30 years, Brown said.

As livestock chairperson, Brown knows her job inside and out – literally. She grew up on the Neal Farm on Federalsburg Highway. She showed horses and completed other projects. She still has her ribbons and trophies. She was a club member from middle school until she aged out at 18. When her children came along, they showed cows and pigs.

Brown’s knowledge of the fair, the grounds, the livestock show and auction and what’s required of 4-Hers is so comprehensive, 4-H Park Board President Lori Bishop calls her “amazing.”

“She does everything for 4-H,” Bishop said. “She devotes so much time.”

Bishop’s children also were members of Pure Country 4-H Club, a livestock club which currently has about 65 members.

“Anything that has to do with 4-H, the person that everyone goes to is Charlotte. I mean, everything,” Bishop said.

However much Brown is credited for her volunteer work and contributions, she is quick to deflect the praise. “I could not do what I do without all the volunteers that help fair week and before the fair,” she said.

“I mean, it's not just me, it's a group of us that all volunteer and make sure all the kids are prepared, and if they need help, they know they can go to any of the adults that are down here helping,” Brown said. “And anybody that wants to volunteer and help, the door’s always open. We'll find a spot for them someplace.”

Brown sets an example for others, Saathoff said, with “all the time that she's dedicated and given, and financial resources that she's supplied and never expected anything in return.”

From “getting the fair ready and getting entries submitted and entered into the system, she just has made a lot of things happen,” Saathoff said. “And they've donated … definitely countless hours – time that she's volunteered over the years to make all that happen for the youth.”

Brown also works closely with the two counties’ University of Maryland Extension staff who oversee the 4-H program.

This year’s fair featured a 4-H fashion review for the first time in about a dozen years, at the suggestion of Dorchester County program assistant Karli Abbott, who helped organize it. Caroline County Extension agents take care of the many indoor entries. Winning entries earned cash premiums and ribbons as the best examples in each category.

In the barns, 4-Hers entered their animals for judging, and a variety of animals were shown, including sheep, dairy and meat goats, beef, swine, horses, rabbits and cavies, and poultry and waterfowl.

The poultry show, which was suspended during an avian flu outbreak several years ago, returned about three years ago. “You have to pay attention to that kind of stuff, because if (avian flu is) still around come fair time, you're gonna have to cancel your poultry show,” Brown said.

Nearly 60 animals were sold at auction this year. While most animals go to local butcher shops, some are donated back and sold and “that money goes to our Livestock Auction Scholarship,” Brown said.

Youth caring daily for their animals – grooming, feeding and especially, watering them – “teaches them responsibility,” Brown said.

It also teaches them character skills, Brown said. “You stand back and watch the older kids,” she said. “A lot of times they'll go help the younger kids at the fair. Most of the time, they don't have to be asked – they just see it and they go do it.”

“4-H is an awesome, awesome thing to get your kids into, just the responsibility, the whole thing, the whole nine yards of it,” said Bishop, whose daughter raised pigs. “That was one of the best things ever. I would never take that time back.”

4-Hers learn leadership and public speaking skills, as well, as their officers run their own meetings according to Robert’s Rules of Order and manage their treasury. Some join the Ambassador program and help extension agents.

“I think 4-H helps them interact with all ages a lot better and participate in more things throughout the community,” Brown said.

Caroline County has several themed 4-H clubs: livestock, STEM, woodworking, health and crafts, for example.

For more information about Caroline Couny 4-H, visit extension.umd.edu/locations/caroline-county.

Update: Brown's father's name was corrected to Wheatley Neal.