4-H has been a family tradition for Maxine Muske. Her mother won a trip to Fargo State Fair with her 4-H chicken project. Maxine still has one of the pins her mother won at Awards Day. She has incorporated it into a costume jewelry Christmas tree wall hanging. The pin was dated 1919.

Although Maxine’s mother was involved in 4-H during her youth, neither Maxine nor Herman were youth members. Maxine noted that when she came home from school she went to work.

Still, Herman and Maxine Muske, LaMoure, ND have a long tradition of volunteering for 4-H. They got started when their son, Glen joined. Glen joined at the age of nine which would have been in 1961. Herman got involved when Glen was a member and Dennis Just needed an assistant leader. He continued as a leader for about five years, but even after he quit serving as a leader he continued to help out the 4-H program in other ways. He was recognized a few years ago for 15 years of service.

Maxine became a leader when the leader of the Berlin Bluebells moved away. She commented that she thought it was easier to be a leader when you didn’t have kids in the club. Back in the days when Maxine started out as a leader there were girls’ 4-H clubs and boys’ 4-H clubs. Generally girls participated in home making projects like foods, home management, sewing, etc. and boys participated in livestock, motors, grain, crop judging, etc. After the girls had completed the cycle of foods, home management and sewing they could expand to other interest areas like photography. The same went for the boys. Maxine commented that 4-H taught members practical living skills – how to clean, how to sew on a button, care for clothes. Maxine explained that when kids took projects other than the standard cycle they worked on them on their own. 4-H did have manuals the kids could use to learn to do it the 4-H way.

The Berlin Bluebells met in members homes. Meetings were held once a month. Following the business meeting there were always a couple of speeches and demonstrations given by members. They usually revolved around projects they were working on. When Maxine started with the club they had 14 members for several years. Maxine said she usually limited her club members on the number of projects they could enroll in. She explained her philosophy was to learn to do fewer projects and do them well. But she also supported kids, because not everyone earned a blue ribbon on all their projects. She would say to them, "If you don’t get a blue ribbon, but you have done your very best, then you have won a blue ribbon."

Maxine recalled that Joyce Wald, daughter of Irene Wald started attending 4-H meetings when she was three years old because he mother was a leader. She stayed involved in 4-H through high school. She said kids usually stayed involved through high school. She also noted that 4-H was one of a very few extra activities to participate in and it didn’t have to compete with sports and other school activities. She said it was never a problem finding a time to meet. In fact, meetings were usually held at the same time each month.

Maxine said she had several assistant leaders over the years. She usually worked with the older kids and let the assistant leaders work with the younger kids.

Her club held an annual Mother’s Day Tea. The girls had to dress in their Sunday best and learned to set up a nice tea with decorations. The mothers were given corsage. Maxine said they held it either at church or at her house. She said on another occasion they cut their meeting short and the girls hosted a baby shower for Sonja Anderson. They always had a big Christmas party too. They would go caroling in Berlin or LaMoure and return for hot chocolate and treats.

4-H also offered kids a variety of county level activities. Among them were Speech and Demonstration Contests, a softball tournament, Achievement Days, Talent Shows, Pancake Feed and Family Fun Night. Talent Nights were held in various locations – Dickey, LaMoure, etc. – wherever it was the club members would travel their and participate. Sometimes they had musical numbers and other times they worked up skits.

Another county event was a banner contest. Each club was instructed to develop a banner to be displayed at achievement days. The winner of the banner contest received a ribbon. Maxine said she remembers one time they did a banner on outdoor grilling.

Maxine said as enrollment got smaller in the rural area around Berlin, the Bluebells started having kids from LaMoure join their club.

Another fun day Maxine recalled was Bread Baking Day. She said they went to the church in Grand Rapids to bake bread. She said the girls quickly learned the importance of kneading. Some had beautiful loaves of bread and others learned the need to knead.

Maxine recalls when 4-H implemented microwave cooking as a food project. She said her club worked through the manual and prepared all the recipes. She said the roasted chicken recipe was delicious.

When questioned why she continued with 4-H leadership long after Glen left home, Maxine said she likes to work with kids. "I like to see kids do things… make something of their lives. I like to work with kids – plain ordinary kids – like to see them accomplish something."

Even after Maxine no longer served as a 4-H leader she continued to volunteer in the 4-H program. She served as a judge at Achievement Days in LaMoure and Dickey Counties and was chairperson of Achievement Days in LaMoure County. Maxine was recognized in 1994 for 30 years of 4-H work. She was given a plaque for 35 years of service in 1999.

"4-H ain’t just cooking and cows." That phrase has a lot of meaning to Maxine. 4-H has evolved as kids can now study aerospace, computers and other areas as well. But more importantly, when kids participate in communication arts contest they learn to be at ease speaking in front of a group. They learn life skills – how to develop a speech or demonstration to capture the audience’s attention. They learn to incorporate an opening, the body, a closing and learn the importance of eye contact. Teachers have told Maxine they can tell when kids have been involved in 4-H because they are more at ease in front of a crowd.

Maxine said the implementation of interview judging at Achievement Days has been a real plus. She said kids should be told if they make a mistake in a constructive way. It adds to the learning process.

4-H opens other opportunities to youth and adult leaders. The Muske’s have taken trips and met people from around the world through 4-H. They went to Washington D.C. on a leaders tour that departed from Fargo. Craig Montgomery at NDSU served as their guide.

The Muske’s have hosted several international chaperones that brought youth to the area on LOBOE trips. They hosted two groups from Canada – Anita Dickson and her husband and on another occasion Gary & Elaine Alumberg, Hughenden, Alberta. In 1992 they opened their home to Kayoko Mivaka from Sappro, Japan. The next year they hosted Riko Akiyama, Hokkiado, Japan. Their most recent 4-H guest was Nishimo Miya, Tokio, Japan. Prior to this they had also hosted Charolette from Scotland.

The Muske’s have continued to keep in contact with many of their international 4-H friends. They even took a trip to Europe and spent two weeks with the Charolette from Scotland. She said they were treated like royalty. The 200 year old house was made of rock and had 7 fireplaces – one in every room. But the bathroom was very cold. At 4:00 p.m. an electric blanket was turned on to warm their bed but instructions called for it to be turned off before sleeping.

The exchange chaperones they hosted all cooked authentic Japanese food for them. Maxine remembered one time one of the Japanese guests prepared a soup. It smelled really good until she put in some dried fish. Maxine said she had to leave the room the fish smelled so bad. Later the cook removed the fish and the soup was quite delicious – the fish was intended to flavor the soup. Another Japanese cook treated them to deep fried vegetables. While the vegetables were very good it was a chore to clean up the grease that covered the walls and counter. She said another guest did a demonstration on flower arranging in LaMoure. She used weeds she had gathered from ditches.

In Japan, the generations live together. But one of the women was particularly interested in nursing homes. The generations are finding it harder to live together, there are more clashes and Japan was starting to build facilities for the elderly. Her guest shared it is difficult to get used to because it is considered a disgrace to not take care of their parents.

Maxine said whenever they have hosted others they always tried to give them a flavor of North Dakota. They took them to visit chicken farms, dairy farms, Melroe at Gwinner and Medora and the Peace Gardens. Their guests have brought them gifts from their home countries. Maxine proudly uses and displays these things.

Last winter they were visited by one of the Canadian families while they were in Texas.

A few years ago Maxine decided to make a quilt with a 4-H theme. She sent blocks to 90 people she had met through 4-H. She said she gave each person complete freedom in the design of the block. She received back 50 blocks – each uniquely different – and developed it into a queen size quilt.

Maxine said a few kids have expressed appreciation for her time and effort as a 4-H leader. She also said she still uses many of the 4-H recipes as well as her scissor case, needle case and wrist pin cushion she made while a 4-H leader. She said her son Glen used his 4-H laundry bag all through college. It was made of two Turkish towels and a drawstring.