By Elliot Hussack
CANFIELD–Hi, it’s me again, Elliott Hussack, Press Secretary for 4-H Potato Club. This is my last report as the club has been completed. I want to start by saying a huge thank you to the leaders: Karen Allen, Marie Peart, and Marie Stoneman. This has been one of my favourite clubs of the year and I wish it could keep going. I want to share about our last three Potato Club meetings, which were held at the Canfield Community Centre.
In meeting 4, President, Walker Hedley began with our 4-H pledge. We then talked about upcoming summer plans. We learned about dumplings and then broke into three cooking groups.
In the first group, we made sweet potato mac and cheese and Kluski Śląskie (potato dumplings). My dad had the mac and cheese the next day for leftovers and we can’t wait to make it again.
Group 2 made gnocchi and chocolate potato cake. Who knew potatoes could go in cake? The things you learn some days.
The last group made pierogies and German potato salad. These were amazing! I guess when my Oma makes her potato salad I’ll have no excuse not to eat it anymore.
In meeting 5, our achievement night, we joined the Cloverbuds group, who are ages six to nine, and helped with their meeting.
We broke into four groups. The first group read the Cloverbuds a story about potatoes and had some colouring pages for them. The second group had potatoes, cut in half and dipped in paint, and the Cloverbuds used these to make pictures of ice cream cones. The third group watched a presentation from a youth who participated in the Trash to Treasure Club and learned about recycling. Finally, the last group – which I was in – made and served poutine to the Cloverbuds while our President Walker gave them trivia facts about potatoes.
This was my favourite group that I was in and all I have to say is: so many Cloverbuds, so many dishes…
I loved this night for many reasons: 1. I like to talk to people; 2. My mom is a Cloverbud leader, so she got to join me at my meeting; 3. My youngest brother is a Cloverbud, and I got to spend the night with most of my family.
Our last meeting was on June 16, 2025 at Canfield Community Centre. We started the meeting with Walker stating the 4-H pledge. We then named three things we liked about the club. My three were that I learned about potatoes, there is a tool called a potato grater, and I learned how to use it.
We then started cooking. We cooked beef for Irish nachos and combined it with cheese and waffle fries. We made mac and cheese; I wasn’t paying attention so I can’t say how it was made. We also made gravy to eat with fries. We then played trivia and I won some green sunglasses. We had treats, which were chocolate pudding with gummy worms on top.
After this, we started to clean up and two of the leaders told me to use ‘elbow grease’ when cleaning and I didn’t know what this was. You want to know what doesn’t need elbow grease? A dishwasher, which Canfield still doesn’t have.
Thank you for reading my articles and thank you to The Haldimand Press for publishing them. Now I will complete my remaining clubs of Beef Club, Field Crops, and Rabbit Club. Come see me show my animals at the Caledonia Fair!
