We invite you to catch up on the impactful work our Extension Iron County educators and staff provide to the community in the form of this monthly newsletter! Below are highlights from each of our program areas.

It's been a few weeks since Chopped! 4-H Day Camp and we finally have time to share some photos from this fun experience! Youth participants dove into the world of food, starting with a special tour and hands-on experience at Don and GG's Food and Spirits restaurant, where they helped prepare their own delicious hamburgers and chicken strips.

Throughout the week, teamwork was on the menu as participants learned new recipes daily. They even toured Pat's Foods Grocery Store, mastering the art of creating a shopping list and sticking to a budget.

Huge thanks to Tina Stella for teaching everyone to whip up amazing banana pudding layered dessert, homemade brownies, and fruit pizza with a sugar cookie crust! And a shoutout to Joseph Miller, Extension Iron County Community Development Educator, who showed us how to "upscale" simple dishes like ramen, transforming them into elevated culinary creations.

The program wrapped up with an exciting challenge: teams worked together to create an appetizer, entrée, and dessert to present to our judges. We're so proud of all the skills learned and the delicious memories made! A huge congratulations to all our hard-working participants, and a special shout-out to Maddie Stuhr, Hadleigh DuFrane, and Azaylia Jewell for winning the competition!

We are already looking forward to offering this program again next summer so stay tuned!

If you would like to check out more photos from this program, visit our Iron County 4-H Facebook page. 

Photo credit: Don & GGs Food & Spirits, Ironwood MI

Outpost Camp 2025 is in the books! 15 middle school youth from Mercer and Hurley attended Iron County Outpost Camp from July 10th-13th.

Campers headed to Lake of the Falls County Park-Iron County Forestry & Parks Department for a week of tent camping, leadership development and fun! Campers participated in a Real Colors training facilitated by Youth Development Educator, Neil Klemme. Through this activity youth learned about their own leadership style as well as how to better understand the leadership styles of others they may work with throughout their lives.

Rayona Suelflow, Heather Palmquist and their staff from Iron County Land & Water Conservation Department came out to camp to teach the campers about the health of our water systems. They learned about the relationship between plant life, invertebrates in in our water system and how they affect the fisheries in our area.

Campers spent 4 hours paddling down the Manitowish River in Canoes. Outpost campers are also required to prepare meals for the camp, participate in team building sessions and help around camp when needed. They are given plenty of free time to fish or swim or hang out with their friends and in the end we hope they are better prepared to serve in future leadership roles at the Iron County Summer Youth Camp.

Join the Penokee Range Livestock Club for their annual market sale at 4:00 pm on Saturday August 2, 2025 at the Iron County Fairgrounds Livestock Pavilion. Club members will be showing and selling their beef, hog, lamb, and poultry projects!

Consider being a supporter or buyer for them! Come before to check out the animals and do a meet and greet with refreshments and cookies.

For more information, be sure to follow the Penokee Range Livestock Club Facebook page here! 

The Iron County Extension office is buzzing with activity as the annual Iron County Summer Youth Camp program rapidly approaches! 4-H Youth Development Educator Neil Klemme, Summer Assistants Emily Moore and Serena Tauer, and Office Manager Rebecca Holm have been working tirelessly over the past few months, orchestrating our biggest youth program of the year.

With a grand total of 57 campers, 30 youth camp staff members, and 11 dedicated volunteers, there are certainly a lot of moving parts to coordinate. As camp kicks off next week, it's crunch time, and the energy and excitement are palpable if you stop by the Extension office!

Get ready for a fantastic week of summer camp fun!

SET Running Club 
Mondays, June 9-July 28 - 6:00 pm
Location: Hurley School
SET Running Club Schedule

Iron County Summer Youth Camp 
Tuesday-Friday, July 22-25
Location: Trails End Youth Camp

Iron County Fair Happenings... 

4-H Silent Auction
Begins on Friday, August 1 - 12:00 pm
Bidding closes at 3:00 pm 
Items can be picked up after the pie auction
Location: Iron County Fairgrounds 4-H Building

4-H Dairy Booth Fundraiser
Friday-Sunday, August 1-3 
Location: Iron County Fairgrounds Dairy Booth

Penokee Livestock Club Market Sale
Saturday, August 2 - 4:00 pm
Location: Iron County Fairgrounds Livestock Pavilion

4-H Pie Auction
Sunday, August 3 - 3:00 pm
Location: Iron County Fairgrounds Pavilion

The Hurley School District Summer Kids Club and FoodWIse Educator Deb Leonard are giving youth a hands-on learning experience about gardening and where nutritious food comes from—thanks to the generous bedding plant donations from Lake's Flower Cabin and Mercer Garden Center.

It’s great to see the students are enjoying themselves while learning how plants grow and how to care for them. Activities like this can spark a lifelong interest in nature and healthy eating!

Want to stay up to date on what the Ashland, Bayfield, Iron County FoodWIse team is up to? Be sure to check out their monthly FoodWIse newsletter, designed in partnership with Extension Iron County Office Manager, Rebecca Holm. 

Pictured above: Joseph and a very large cranberry on the Wisconsin River. Central Wisconsin grows over 10% of all cranberries on the global market.

On June 16, Community Development Educator Joseph Miller traveled to Wisconsin Rapids to attend Extension’s Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities (CEC) Conference. The CEC conference is a little different than most conferences—designed to get attendees out and about in the host city, conference sessions and events took place at several locations in downtown Wisconsin Rapids, including City Hall, the McMillan Memorial Library, South Wood County YMCA, I Heart Art Gallery, and lunch on the Wisconsin River at Veteran’s Memorial Park.

The conference kicked off with a Wisconsin Rapids Rafters baseball game at Historic Witter Field, which has hosted players of every caliber, from the Clown Prince of Baseball Max Patkin to 1983 World Series MVP Rick Dempsey. While Joseph loves a good ballgame (and the helmet full of nachos that comes with it), he didn’t stick around to see the final runs batted in during the Rafters’ 12th inning loss to the Traverse City Pit Spitters. Although Joseph asked several other conference attendees who were at the game, nobody seemed to know the final score.

Conference sessions were grouped into four tracks: Entrepreneurial Ecosystems 101; Rethinking Rural; Local Roots, Big Impact; and Generations of Growth. After a networking breakfast, introductions, and opening remarks by a veritable parade of folks including Wisconsin Rapids mayor Matt Zacher, the hilarious and poignant conference keynote was given by mother-daughter duo Jamie Biegel Dempze and Rochelle Biegel Hoffman of Rooted in Red/Dempze Cranberry Company.  Joseph’s day 1 sessions were

-Repurposing the Mill: Redirecting Rural Economies After Economic Shock

-Strong Foundations: How Focusing on Community Infrastructure Fuels Entrepreneurial Success, and

-Entrepreneurial Ecosystems in Action

The first full day ended with a  reception at Rooted in Red on the Dempze Cranberry Farm. The space was elegant, historic, and abuzz with entrepreneurs and economic development professionals networking over tacos, Wisconsin brews, and the sound of local band The Antonettes.

Day 2 kept things focused with a single breakout session and a closing session. Joseph attended Track 1’s Driving Economic Change: The Impact of REV on Rural Development to learn more about the Rural Entrepreneurial Venture program, which Hurley has joined for the second cohort. The conference concluded with a keynote from Molly Pyle, Director of Tech-Based Economic Development at the Center on Rural Innovation, and a slew of thank-you speeches from Extension’s conference planners Maggie Cornelius, Kayla Rombalski, and Katie Livernash.  

Wisconsin REV is getting ready to kick off in Hurley! Joseph made it to Wisconsin Rapids a little early for the CEC Conference to meet with and learn from Wisconsin REV Cohort 1 participants. If you would like to learn more about Wisconsin REV, check out this zine, which gives a brief introduction to the program.

The overarching goal of Wisconsin REV is to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem in Hurley.

This month, we’re proud to highlight Deb Leonard, who has dedicated the past 20 years to improving the health and well-being of Iron County residents as the FoodWIse Nutrition Educator.

Deb’s work spans generations—from energetic toddlers to wise nonagenarians—delivering engaging, research-based nutrition education rooted in the University of Wisconsin’s latest findings. Her outreach touches many corners of the community through strong partnerships with organizations like Hurley Head Start, Mercer School, Hurley School, Iron County Health Department, ADRC, Highline Corporation, and the Bad River Boys and Girls Club.

Her mission? To empower low-income individuals and families with the knowledge and tools to make healthier food choices and lead more active lives.

When she’s not in the classroom or community, Deb is soaking up the great outdoors with her husband, Bill. Whether it’s biking, kayaking, paddleboarding, cross-country skiing, gardening, or snowshoeing, Deb brings the same energy and passion to her personal life as she does to her work.

Thank you, Deb, for two decades of dedication, compassion, and impact. You truly nourish our community—mind, body, and spirit!

If you would like to learn more about the Iron County Mobile Food Pantry program or other food security resources available to community members, visit our website! 

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