Interview with Makenna Barker
AIS-V-L-2008-098
August 14, 2008
Interviewer: Mike Maniscalco
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Maniscalco: Today is August 14, 2008. We are standing the 4-H building and we’re standing here with Makenna. How are you doing?
Barker: Good.
Maniscalco: Great, great. Now Makenna tell us your age and date of birth to start out.
Barker: Umm. I’m twelve; I was born January 30th of ’96.
Maniscalco: Great, and where do you live?
Barker: Lewistown.
Maniscalco: Lewistown, alright. Now we’re here in the 4-H building; you just got judged. Can you tell us a little bit about your project?
Barker: Umm, this is my horticulture project. My grandma and grandpa have a garden so they helped me with it. All these vegetables are home grown.
Maniscalco: Great. So what’s special, what’s the real special ones in there that you’re proud of?
Barker: Umm, this one.
Maniscalco: That one? What is that?
Barker: That’s a golden hubbard squash.
Maniscalco: Okay, and what did you have to do to make sure it was the best?
Barker: Well, we had three of them and it was the cleanest and the prettiest.
Maniscalco: Okay, so what makes it the prettiest? What makes it look the best?
Baker: Well the others had bumps and bruises and everything all over them and this had the pretty little ring around it.
Maniscalco: When you get done with your project today are you going to bring that home and eat it, or?
Barker: Probably.
Maniscalco: Probably. Are you looking forward to that?
Barker: Yeah
Maniscalco: Alright. What other vegetables do you have in there?
Barker: Texas Super Sweet Onions, Walla Walla’s, [sweet onions], Beef Master tomatoes, Golden Yukon Potatoes, and Kentucky Pole Beans.
Maniscalco: Now you did this as a project for 4-H. What did you have to do to make sure it was a project for 4-H?
Barker: Well, we enrolled for horticulture in 4-H…
Maniscalco: Ok.
Barker: …because they had a big garden so they could help me with it.
Maniscalco: Did you have to keep track of things or…?
Barker: Umhuh, yeah
Maniscalco: What sorts of things were you keeping track of?
Barker: Keeping track of, making sure all of the vegetables were uniform and that we had enough of them to use.
Maniscalco: Oh really? Oh wow, okay. So how big was the garden?
Barker: Their garden is pretty big.
Maniscalco: Do you have any idea of the size? Give me a number or..
Barker: It’s..no
Maniscalco: No, it’s just real big.
Barker: It’s big
Maniscalco: So was it a lot of work?
Barker: Yeah, kind of, but it was fun.
Maniscalco: What were some of the jobs you had to do?
Barker: Cleaning all the vegetables, and the hardest part was arranging them in the basket.
Maniscalco: Oh arranging them was pretty hard. What about while they were in the garden? Any specific chores and anything you had to do?
Barker: Well, we had to get them up out of there, digging them, pulling them, getting the weeds out from them.
Maniscalco: Was there a lot of weeding?
Barker: Uhumm, there was a lot of weeding.
Maniscalco: Great, what about fertilizers and things? Did you use fertilizers or..?
Barker: Not really. Grandpa and I used straw for our potatoes so that helps them.
Maniscalco: And you said you had to do a lot of weeding? Did it get pretty bad at sometimes?
Barker: Not really bad, but we just wanted to keep them safe.
Maniscalco: Now you know, it rained a lot this year. Was that a problem?
Barker: No, it wasn’t a bad problem.
Maniscalco: Not at all?
Barker: Hmm-umManiscalco: Really?
Barker: Not too much
Maniscalco: Oh wow. So tell us about your involvement in 4-H. What sorts of things have you done?
Barker: I was in a lot of projects this year, some of which I didn’t do, because there was so many. I used to show cattle, in 4-H. Then we quit that, so now I’m doing horticulture.
Maniscalco: Great. So what kind of cattle did you show?
Barker: Angus.
Maniscalco: Angus. And why did you end up quitting?
Barker: Well, it was just a lot of work.
Maniscalco: It was a lot of work.
Barker: A lot of work.
Maniscalco: Well what was the hardest part about it?
Barker: Breaking the calves to lead…
Maniscalco: Really?
Barker: …trying to lead it by the rope.
Maniscalco: Really? Well how did you do that?
Barker: Put the halter on it and lead it around the yard.
Maniscalco: Oh, okay
Barker: Sometimes it decided to be stubborn and didn’t want to go.
Maniscalco: What would happen then?
Barker: We twisted its tail and then it went.
Maniscalco: [laughs] That works, huh?
Barker: Yup.
Maniscalco: Ok. What were some of the fun parts that you miss doing about cattle projects?
Barker: Umm, I liked, I liked, cleaning them, giving them a bath actually.
Maniscalco: Oh really?
Barker: Uh huh.
Maniscalco: Good.
Barker: I liked that and brushing them.
Maniscalco: Can you tell us how you did that?
Barker: Washing them?
Maniscalco: Yeah.
Barker: Yeah. The hose. They just have special soap you use, shampoo and stuff. And you brush them out while you’re washing them. Just a regular hose and soap.
Maniscalco: Great. Now what about 4-H. Is 4-H through your school?
Barker: Unh uh
Maniscalco: No. It’s after school
Barker: Yup. It’s usually at 6 o’clock on Mondays.
Maniscalco: Great. And what do you do?
Barker: We have the meeting and they cover all the points and stuff of what we’ve done, and then they tell us what we’re enrolled in.
Maniscalco: Oh, So you have to give an update on your project then? On a weekly basis?
Barker: Yup.
Maniscalco: Oh wow.
Barker: It’s every, well, it’s just once a week, once a month, I mean.
Maniscalco: Once a month, okay.
Barker: Every Monday.
Maniscalco: Well what sorts of thing would you report?
Barker: That the garden is doing great and the vegetables are very nice.
Maniscalco: Great. And what about some of the other kids? What were some of the other projects that they did?
Barker: Um, some of them did dogs in shows, and cats,
Maniscalco: Really?
Barker: So they talked about their dogs and cats.
Maniscalco: That’s cool. So what do you think you are going to do for your future projects?
Barker: Probably flowers. Probably horticulture.
Maniscalco: Really, and will you grow them in the garden then?
Barker: Uh huh
Maniscalco: Oh wow. That will be cool, that’ll be cool. I’m sure we are going to look forward to that. So do you know how you did in the contest yet?
Barker: Not yet.
Maniscalco: Not yet. When will you find out?
Barker: Probably at nine or a little after.
Maniscalco: Ok, well great. Have you been at the fair all week?
Barker: Nope this is the first day.
Maniscalco: This is the first day? Are you going to be able to do any of the other stuff that’s around here?
Barker: Yup.
Maniscalco: What are you looking forward to doing?
Barker: The Conservation World.
Maniscalco: Conservation World. Why?
Barker: Umm, because my friend told me you can make candles and stuff there, and watch the people ride on the log in the water.
Maniscalco: Great. So are a lot of the kids in your school involved in the 4-H?
Barker: Not a lot, no.
Maniscalco: No? How many do you think there would be?
Barker: Probably just a handful out of my grade.
Maniscalco: A handful? Really. How about some of the other grades?
Barker: Not very many.
Maniscalco: Not very many at all? I guess you’re kinda special then out of your school that you get todo this.
Barker: Yeah, our, our 4-H club is out in Checkrow(?) I’m the only Lewistown there.
Maniscalco: Really?
Barker: Umhmm.
Maniscalco: Wow. Who’s the person in charge? Is it a teacher, is it--?
Barker: It’s just a 4-H leader, Sharon Spangler.
Maniscalco: Ok and what is she. I mean, what does she do besides run the meetings and stuff? Does she help you with our projects and stuff?
Barker: She does sometimes.
Maniscalco: What kind of things did she help you with on this project?
Barker: She said that I really should do it, because she knew my grandma and grandpa had a really big garden and it would be fun, because she’s done it before.
Maniscalco: Did she give you any other advice?
Barker: No not really.
Maniscalco: She just said ‘Go to it’?
Barker: Yup.
Maniscalco: Great. So who in your family helped you with your project?
Barker: My grandma and grandpa
Maniscalco: Your grandma and grandpa mostly.
Barker: Yeah
Maniscalco: Did your mom or your brother help you at all?
Barker: My mom helped too.
Maniscalco: Your mom helped too.
Barker: My brother got in the way
Maniscalco: [laughs] Your brother got in the way.
Barker: Yes
Maniscalco: Great, well thank you very much for doing this.
Baker: Thank you.
Maniscalco: They look tasty.