This was my third time attending Ag Day at the Capitol on behalf of California 4-H. I always enjoy sharing about 4-H with legislators, their staff, and the general public. I also like visiting the booths of other agriculture organizations. This year, I was pleasantly surprised to see two 4-H members, Jayna and Josiah, at the California Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom (Ag in the Classroom) booth. They were signing copies of the book, Imagine this… Stories inspired by Agriculture 2025.
Both Jayna and Josiah were named winners in the statewide Story-Writing Contest sponsored by Ag in the Classroom. The contest was for California students in grades 3-8 to write a creative story about an agriculture topic. This year was the first time that members of a 4-H club submitted stories, rather than a school. They had worked on their stories for months in their Story Writing 4-H project in Turlock Eagles 4-H Club. Students had to choose an agriculture topic, research it, and then write a creative story–real or imaginary. Jayna and Josiah gave huge thanks to their project leader, Sheila Amaral, for putting her “magic sauce,” as Josiah called it, to good use by supporting the members to submit their stories to the contest last November.
“4-H members learn about agriculture in 4-H. [4-H members] would be able to give good stories that can help other people learn more about ag.” ~ Jayna
At the recognition ceremony at the end of Ag Day at the Capitol, the authors were invited to read an excerpt from their stories and share what inspired them. Despite their nervousness, Jayna and Josiah put their best foot forward. The siblings attended Ag Day at the Capitol with their family. Though they were stationed at the Learn About Ag booth for most of the day, they had a chance to walk around and visit the California 4-H and UC ANR booths.
“Not Just Another Nut Story” by Josiah W.
Josiah was the winner in the fourth grade category for his story, “Not Just Another Nut Story.” This is the first time that almonds have been featured on the cover of the book! “The Almond Alliance commented on one of the posts that I saw online. They were excited to see almonds being featured on the front because they’re such a big part of California,” said Josiah’s mother.
Josiah: “My story is about two nonpareil almond brothers that are playing cards. They go from playing cards, then they get shaken off the tree. So, they go 'to the tree, to the store'. Two, two,"
The junior 4-H'er was inspired by his father's almond hauling business. "Our dad...always gives us tours, so I thought 'why don't I do how an almond goes through the process'.” His goal was simple: make it fun and something that anyone could understand. Josiah hopes readers understand that there's a process behind all the ways we consume almonds. Almond milk, for example, has its own process. It's more than just someone squeezes an almond and milk comes out. Josiah learned a great deal about these processes after having special tours of his family' hauling business. Working with his family, Josiah took footage of the stations and even interviewed his dad to ensure he had his facts straight. In addition to adding facts, Josiah put a little of his own life in his story. For example, the almond brothers' names are a combination of his brother's name and his dad's name. Josiah also had the two almond brothers playing cards in his story, taking after his family's many competitive game nights.
“Chasing a Dream” by Jayna W.
Jayna’s story, “Chasing a Dream,” about California aquaculture, won the seventh grade category. "It is about a college girl that loves the ocean and finds aquaculture as a class that she can take at her college that she...is going to that next school year. She takes the class and learns that she loves it. She finds a deeper love for [something] that she already loved and finds a way that she can be with it and do more things with it in her life," explained Jayna. Why aquaculture, you may ask? Jayna said that she has always liked the ocean and has been intrigued by aquatic plants. "Seaweed, there's got to be a way to farm that cause we eat that sometimes. I did some research and figured out that [it's] called aquaculture." Just like Kate, the main character in "Chasing a Dream", Jayna discovered something she did not know existed, and it turned out to be exactly what she needed.
"Lucky’s Life" by Ava
We also would like to highlight another 4-H’er, Ava, whose story won Honorable Mention. Ava's story, "Lucky's Life", tells the story of when Ava rescued a chick, raised her, and completely fell in love with chickens. "Rescuing Lucky, my beloved chicken, inspired me to join 4-H when I was nine years old. I'm now [the] junior leader of the poultry project," Ava explains in the author's note of her story. Ava was also at Ag Day at the Capitol to be recognized for entering "Lucky's Life".
Q: After people read your story, what's something that you want them to feel, learn, or do?'
Both Josiah and Jayna were over the moon to have written stories that they connected with on a personal level. From the love of the ocean to the heartfelt gameplay, each story showed the readers a glimpse into their authors' lives.
Jayna: "I hope when readers read my story, they feel like they've learned something that's not just random knowledge or something that they're not going to use, but something that then they can teach others. Something that others would think is cool. You sometimes don't know what's going to happen in life or where you're going to go, but you'll end up where you should be. Everything happens for a reason. [Kate] just loved the ocean in the book. She found something that ended up being her life and something that she got to look forward to."
Josiah: "At the end of my story, I say a ton of stuff that [the almond brothers] can be. So, the story says, 'We will either be kept whole, sliced, dipped in chocolate, flavored, or churned into flour or milk.' So, they can imagine like almond milk or a ton of different ways to use almonds. At Blue Diamond, there's tons of different flavors [of] almonds."
Q: What was it like to be at Ag Day at the Capitol?
Josiah: “It was an unforgettable experience that I will never forget.”
Jayna: "It was a great opportunity to meet a bunch of important people and get recognized in front of all of those people."
Jayna and Josiah exclaimed that this was a "once in a lifetime" experience. Jayna compared this year's participation to the first time she entered the Imagine This… Story Writing Contest in 2021. "There's a big difference between then and now," she said. The biggest difference—beyond the in-person visit to the State Capitol that was impossible during the COVID pandemic—was how Jayna came up with the topic for her story. "[The first time], I was watering the garden with mom, and I thought, 'Hey, cauliflower. That'll work for my entry.’ We had just [tried] cauliflower pizza from Costco [for the first time]. I thought, 'That tastes good and we had cauliflower in the garden. That's Ag. Let's do this.” This time, since aquaculture is not something she had in her backyard, Jayna had to spend a lot of time researching aquaculture and how her main character would experience it for “Chasing a Dream”. Though Jayna won the contest both years, she cherishes this year in particular because she learned about something new that she could share with the world.
About the Illustrations
The illustrations in Imagine This... Stories Inspired by Agriculture 2025 were created by high school students in the Sacramento area. Jayna and Josiah's mother shared how the illustrators for Josiah’s story reached out to the family: “[The illustrators] said, 'We loved how we learned so much from this 4th grader. We had to research how to draw it.' And, the drawings are spot on. They did an incredible job. Here, a fourth grader is teaching high school kids about agriculture. I love that part!"
Most of the state winners were able to meet the high schoolers that illustrated the art in their stories at Ag Day at the Capitol. Unfortunately, the illustrators for Jayna and Josiah’s stories were unable to attend, but they were able to connect afterward. Josiah shared that his illustrators didn't know that one of their images from “Not Just Another Nut Story” was used for the front cover of the book; the front cover art is revealed at Ag Day at the Capitol. So, when they connected with their illustrators afterward, their conversations were overflowing with cheers and excitement!
We are so proud of the California 4-H Grown winners of the story writing contest. Using their creativity and personal experience, they created state-of-the-art stories and inspired readers to learn more about agriculture. Check out the stories written by these 4-H youth leaders using this link: learnaboutag.org/programs/contest/. You will enjoy every second of reading this stories inspired by agriculture.