Parks in Partnership: MSU extension- 4H

November 26, 2025

By: Mary Barnes, Park Interpreter

“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.” These words written by Otis Hall in 1927 have become the official pledge of the national 4-H organization. When you combine this with the Huron-Clinton Metroparks’s vision of Access, Commitment, Diversity, Equity, Leadership, and Stewardship; you might just have yourself a partnership with a real impact. Wolcott Mill Metropark Farm Center has rekindled a partnership with the Macomb County MSU Extension 4-H program and kids are at the center.

4-H Provides Opportunities for Students to Explore

Many people think 4-H is for farm kids and exclusively farm kids. But it isn’t.  It’s for everyone. 4-H provides opportunity for growth in leadership skills, financial literacy, arts, public speaking, and so much more. However, one of the most rewarding and educational experiences that only some kids can participate in is animal projects.

When you live in a subdivision or urban area, keeping and showing sheep or chickens isn’t usually realistic. Wolcott Mill Metropark had the dream of being a home for those kids and exposing them to the lessons you can only learn in the barn, caring for livestock, braving the weather, suffering the losses, and celebrating the successes. Housing animals at the farm creates the opportunity for equitable access for urban and suburban kids to learn these lessons.

In November of 2024, 4–H Meets Wolcott, Farming 101: Animals in Agriculture kicked off a series of educational events that took students from all over SE Michigan into not just the world of farm animals, but into 4-H and a land of learning opportunities. The inaugural visit included a farm tour of Wolcott’s working dairy farm and a group gathering in the pavilion to talk about what 4-H is and the different types of clubs and opportunities available. This 8-part series concluded and a new Special Interest (or SPIN) Club was born.

The Wolcott 4-H Small Animal SPIN Club was centered around rabbits, bred and raised on the farm for the Armada Fair. Peas and Carrots, the Farm Center’s resident rabbits, served as the breeding does for this new club. Participants were present and hands-on for the entire process.

Ten kids, ages 5-14, completed the program year and presented projects at the fair. More importantly, they learned a lot along the way. They were present for breeding, kindling (the term for when rabbits deliver their young), and to watch the new kits venture into the world for the first time.  They learned about the care and keeping of their rabbits. They built nesting boxes and completed educational and artistic projects. They succeeded in ways well beyond the ribbons they won at the fair, though ribbons were plentiful too. They also created new friendships and have since started a full-fledged 4-H Club.

At the annual County Awards banquet, Macomb County MSU Extension 4-H program coordinators presented the “Friends of 4-H Award” to the Wolcott Mill Metropark Farm Center. This friendship has just begun. The farm is excited to see where it will go.  As we look to the future of this impactful friendship, we see a day when all the animals born on the farm will be leased to 4-Hers who are passionate about their pledge. They will use their heads to make strong decisions on market projects and educating themselves about the care and keeping of their animals. They will pour their hearts into the animals they raise, practicing and training, caring for them when they are sick, and putting the animal’s needs above their own wants. They will engage their hands in acts of service not just to the labor of their animal’s welfare, but in volunteer service to the parks and community. They will lead a healthy active life on the farm, engaged in outdoor activities and too busy achieving goals to engage in habits that take away from mental and physical health. They will be the leaders of tomorrow, stewards of our land and animals, committing to being a role model for the youth around them. All of this because they were given equitable access regardless of the diversity of where they live and the resources they have available. It is a partnership built from a strong foundation with a promising future.