Pitchforks and Buckets 4-H Club

Hi, my name is Trinity Hamann. I am 15 years old and I just finished my freshman year at Cape May County Technical High School. I am our club secretary and have held this position for the last three years. I am also a former club president of two years. I have been a member of 4-H since 2007; I was 6 years old then, almost 10 years ago. This is my story on our club, the Pitchforks and Buckets Horse & Livestock Club.
First, a little history on our club. The Pitchforks and Buckets is the oldest club in Cape May County. My dad, John Hamann (most know him as Duke), was once a member of our club in his youth. Over the years, my dad has brought this club a long way as the leader, with the help of our girls and their parents.
Club members include my sister, Allison Hamann, treasurer, Kelly Hunter, president, Cadence Golley, vice president, Lizzie Hunter, Antonia Howard, Sophia Hess and little Emma Gotwols. We couldn’t do anything without the help of our parents, from driving to the Fairgrounds or all the way to Gettysburg, Pa.: Duke Hamann (leader), Patti and Edward (Ed) Hunter, Clara (CJ) and Ryan Golley, Debbie Hess and Christy Gotwols.
Our club members and parents may disagree from time to time, but when things get hard and things need to get done, we all come together as a big family.
When we all come together, we can accomplish great things and MAKE THE BEST BETTER! On May 20 and 21, we hosted our 4th Annual Cape Rabbit Show. This year, we had 270 exhibitors and over 2,300 rabbits showed! Our entire club put a lot of time, sweat, pain, tears and hard work into the preparation of this show. We would also like to thank the local businesses and restaurants who donated to our raffle and kitchen, it was greatly appreciated!
Our club has had the opportunity to travel and visit a wide variety of places. Our animals have taken us as far west as Ohio, as far south as Maryland and as far north as New York State. Our club has been so lucky to do the things we do and travel to the places we go. All of our club members’ favorite place to visit for rabbit shows is Apple Country, Pa. The show hall is about 20 minutes from Historic Gettysburg. In November, we took the self-guided auto-tour of all the battlefields and historic sites – it was really cool! We climbed the watch towers, and visited the huts and camps, “Little Round Top” and “Devils Den.” It was so cool to see all these places. Once the sun went down, we visited some old “haunted places.” It was so creepy, but awesome!
A few weeks ago, our club members all got to compete in the first New Jersey State Rabbit & Cavy Breeders Convention in Gloucester County! All our members did really well! Several had Best of Breeds, and our little Cloverbud Emma had a BEST IN SHOW with her Cavy!
And finally, it’s just about time for the Cape May County 4-H Fair! We have a big announcement for this year’s 4-H Fair: Our club will be doing a PHOTOBOOTH! That’s right, get your photo taken with one of our goats or rabbits, right up between the Pizza Booth and Fair Office! Now onto another important note: This year, five of our members have raised hogs to sell at our annual market auction. Yes, the hogs are raised by us and then auctioned off for meat. If you like fresh meat, please come out and support our club during the auction and throughout the Fair. This year, every one of our members has at least one rabbit on display. Several of us have goats, too! And then there’s me, I’m the girl who is bringing 10 English Lops (long floppy-eared rabbits), six goats (two adults and four adorable babies) and a hog. But that’s not all of my animals. I have about 65 rabbits, 20 chickens, two ducks, three dogs, a cat, two pigs, six goats and a horse.
To wrap this up, our club has its challenges, but in the end we are all a big, crazy, animal lovin’ family!