FFA Alumni and Supporters dinner and auction coming our way

First organized in 2019, a group of local FFA alumni and supporters is planning its third biannual Farm Gate to Dinner Plate dinner and auction, the proceeds from which will continue to fund Weiser High School’s FFA chapter members travel and leadership opportunities.

 Set for Saturday, Oct. 12, at the Weiser Activity Center for Seniors, the doors will open at 5:30 p.m., with dinner served at 6 p.m., followed by both live and silent auctions. Tickets for the dinner priced at $30 per plate can be purchased from any current FFA member or at Weiser Classic Candy, whose owner, Patrick Nauman, is also a proud Weiser Chapter alumnus.

 “We started the Alumni group in 2019 and had our first dinner and auction in September, 2021,” group President Jennie Walker said. “We decided to plan it for every other year, with it falling on opposite years of the Cambridge FFA Chapter’s fundraising dinner.”

 In addition to supporting travel and meal expenses, Walker said the Alumni also provide chapter t-shirts and jackets for FFA officers.

 “We want to provide opportunities to our Weiser FFA members to help them learn, grow, and explore possible career choices,” she said.

 Touching base with WHS ag instructor and FFA advisor Robi Salisbury, two current Weiser Chapter officers, President Claire Matthews and Vice-President Telsyn Hawker, talked about  the variety of activities they’re involved in, plus the reach of the Alumni group’s fundraising efforts.

 Salisbury said the Weiser Alumni and Supporters dinner takes place on even years, with Weiser members going to the National FFA convention in odd years. The live and silent auctions will hold a nice line of items worth bidding on, and Matthews said chapter members will be serving the meal. 

 Both Matthews’ and Hawker’s parents are FFA alumni, with Matthews’ mom, Patti, having been a member through her high school in Delaware. Patti is also the other half of the ag teaching team at WHS.

 “One of our most active alumni members, Lisa Horzen, is catering the dinner,” Salisbury said. 

 Matthews and Hawker both enjoy being on the chapter’s livestock judging team. Matthews said she has delved into entomology, and is thinking about doing soils this year. Hawker said he has done forestry the last couple of years.

 “They have a workshop and we go to Cambridge or Council to do a little more hands-on learning, rather than just competing,” he said. 

 He added he wants to go into a trade after high school, so gets into all of the “ag-mech” competitions he can. 

 “We’re trying to get a team, but it’s electrical, welding, small engine, and there’s a couple of other portions to it,” Hawker said. “But, definitely, welding or small engines.”

 Both teens have taken project animals to the Washington County Fair, Matthews with sheep and beef animals, and Hawker with market swine.

 Matthews just recently returned from showing her sheep at the Western Idaho Fair, where she won the Supreme Champion Ewe over all breeds with one of her Texels.

 “Which is pretty fantastic,” she said. “It’s the first time a Texel has ever won at the Western Idaho Fair. Now the Texel Association wants me to do a story for their magazine, because that’s a big thing. And, in Idaho, for sure.”

 She said she started CM Texels in 2018, and now has 75 sheep. She describes the Texel breed as one of the most popular for cross breeding, “because the loin chops and racks are bigger, even though they are a white faced sheep. They’re going to be bigger than Suffolks and Hamps, which are some of the most popular breeds.”

 “The Texel Association secretary, and who is now the vice-president, got me started with Texels and gave me some ewe lambs and has helped me grow my business,” Matthews said. “She lives in Payette, so she was local. Then, I’m just a sheep person. You go to big sheep things, you meet sheep people, so it just happened to be that she was from Idaho and sort of a neighbor, Gene and Niki Fisher. They are great people.”

 Hawker said he buys his market pig projects from producers in the area. He bought his first year’s project pigs from CJ Barnett, another Weiser FFA alumnus. 

 “She raises really, really good pigs. And she just keeps getting better,” he said. “But this last year I bought from a guy in Kuna and he had some really good pigs. They were a little bit cheaper, which is nice when you aren’t going and showing all the time, trying to get really big paychecks every weekend. It was nice for a market pig. I will get them in March or April in the spring. That’s when they like to eat a lot, because it’s still cool, and they’re small.

 “I always look for a pig that wants to be near the food, isn’t squealing the whole time, walks good, and isn’t getting in fights,” Hawker said. “When you see a little piglet, you can see the way they’re shaped or if they’re going to be really tall, or really long. I like to get a little bit longer one, and not so tall, because you get a little more meat out of them. They walk better, and look a little better, I think. It’s nice to have a good looking pig when you’re trying to get someone to buy it.”

 Salisbury said they ended the last school year with over 100 dues-paying FFA members.

 “We’re looking to either have or surpass that number this year, with Patti being up here full time,” she said. “That’s exciting because it offers one more class for her to be able to teach, and another group of students that can join FFA.”