New opportunities for social interaction and friendly competition are provided each year when young farmers vie for success in NCFB’s Achievement, Excellence in Agriculture and Discussion Meet competitions.

Did We Mention Prizes?
In addition to good company, new ideas and social interaction among peers, winners of various YF&R competitions at both the state and national levels receive several nice prizes.

Winners of NCFB’s Achievement, Excellence in Agriculture and Discussion Meet competitions receive an expenses-paid trip for themselves and their spouses to the 91st Annual American Farm Bureau Federation Convention in Seattle, Wash.

In Seattle, AFBF’s Achievement Award winner will receive a 2010 well-equipped Dodge pickup truck.

The winner also receives paid registration to the AFBF YF&R Leadership Conference in Tulsa, Okla. Four state runners-up will also receive prizes, which have yet to be determined.

The AFBF Discussion Meet winner will also receive a 2010 well-equipped Dodge pickup truck. The winner of this competition will also receive complimentary registration for the YF&R Leadership Conference. Finalists will also receive valuable prizes.

The winner of the AFBF Excellence in Agriculture award will take home a 2010 Dodge well-equipped pickup truck, and finalists for the national prize will also receive significant awards.

North Carolina Prizes
During NCFB’s 74th Annual Convention to be held in Greensboro in December, the Achievement Award and Discussion Meet winners will each receive an ATV or equivalent in prizes and gifts, as well as $500 from Dodge. Runners-up in the two categories will each receive $500. The Excellence in Agriculture state winner will receive $500 from NCFB and $500 from Dodge, while runners-up will each receive $200.

Collegiate Discussion Meet
The winner of NCFB’s college-level Discussion Meet will receive $500 and a trip to the AFBF YF&R Leadership Conference in Tulsa, Okla. Runners-up will receive $100.

To learn more about these rewarding competitions for young people and opportunities for personal growth, contact a county Farm Bureau office.

Anyone who savors a sweet pastry, sips on a smoothie, munches some potato chips, chews a stick of gum, sucks on a lozenge, eats a bowl of cereal or drinks an espresso is most likely benefiting from the many custom-flavor products and extracts invented at this family-owned and operated company.

“Though we distribute products to 23 different countries, we just may be one of the best-kept secrets in North Carolina,” says David Wilhoit, vice president of sales and marketing.

“People in Greensboro think we’re a bakery,” adds Kris Hudson, advertising and marketing manager. “They tell us we sure smell good.”

Mother Murphy’s dates back to 1946. That’s when Kermit Murphy, a local insurance agent, teamed with Richard Stelling, a Greensboro doctor, to install a mixer in the back room of a drug store and begin concocting food flavorings on nights and weekends.

That partnership led to the launching of the Southern Laboratories Company the following year, and in 1948 the two moved their backroom operation to a plant they built on Arnold Street.

The company continued to grow, but a more descriptive name was needed. Southern Laboratories was changed to Mother Murphy’s Laboratories.

Kermit Murphy’s brother, L.M. “Pete” Murphy, came on board to help further expand the company. In 1965, Mother Murphy’s moved into the South Elm Street building, which still serves as its corporate headquarters. A 15,000-square-foot warehouse is located nearby. Today, Mother Murphy’s employs nearly 80 people—and counting.

“If everything falls into place, 2009 is going to be our best year ever,” says David Murphy, the current president and son of the late Kermit Murphy.

According to Murphy, the company has developed more than 5,000 different flavors specifically tailored for the baking, beverage, confection, dairy, pharmaceutical, tobacco, grain, snack and pet industries.

“We’ve elevated the science of flavor creation to an art, and flavor chemists are like artists,” Murphy notes. “But our bread and butter, if you will, is vanilla. We’ve developed 300 varieties of that flavoring alone.”

Three hundred variations of vanilla? “We have customers who want something specially designed for them, something unique,” he says.

How about “grass-flavored” deer feed? Or in the jelly bean line, a “pencil shavings” flavor?
The flavor chemists at Mother Murphy’s have come up with those distinct, if not exotic, specialties, too.

“As much as we love to develop these new flavors, personally I like the ones that sell,” Murphy says.

Pat Hutchinson Butler, vice president of research and development, was working on a peach flavoring. After adding one chemical, it all of a sudden turned into a red plum flavoring. She noted it, started over and came up with the peach flavoring, but later was able to resurrect the red plum, which sold.

“I’ve been at Mother Murphy’s for 26 years now. There are a lot of trial and errors involved,” Butler says. “But it’s still a lot of fun to come up with new flavors to meet the needs of our clients.”

The shrieks of joy, the bursts of laughter and the “ooohs” and “aaahs” ring out as many of North Carolina’s kids are playing and having fun—but wait, they’re learning too!

Whether they’re coming with their parents or siblings, or as part of a camp or school group, youngsters are heading in droves to children’s museums of all sizes.

There are more than a dozen museums devoted to children scattered throughout the state. Each museum has its own personality, exhibit focus and program emphasis, but kids remain at the heart.
Museum staff members say they are constantly experimenting with fresh ways to engage their young patrons, while letting kids be kids, but also inspiring them to think, dig deeper, discover and remain curious as they march toward adulthood.

“With such a heavy emphasis in schools on drilling them on a host of subjects, sometimes they lose sight of the fact that children need time just to play,” says Kathy Parham, executive director of the Children’s Playhouse in Boone. “Children’s museums are a fantastic place for kids to have fun while learning. They grow up fast enough. We don’t need to hurry them along.”

Jack, a spunky 4-year-old from the Boone area, knows exactly what Parham’s talking about. While having fun in the Playhouse’s downstairs Romp and Stomp Room, Jack had rearranged some large vinyl foam shapes into an obstacle course. After proudly navigating the course, the youngster boasts, “I like to walk on this and climb here and slide. It’s awesome!”

Pretending: the Gateway to Learning
Many of the exhibits and programs at children’s museums across the Tar Heel State are designed to enhance classroom education with hands-on entertainment. Kids are given the freedom to let their imaginations run wild while role- playing constructively.

At the Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem, favorite childhood storybooks come to life. Tommy, who’s from the area, was having a grand time in the Three Little Pigs house and build-it room. He let the staff there know exactly what he was thinking after his visit when he said, “I love the Children’s Museum! It’s the bestest place ever!”

When Sherry, a Virginia resident visiting Winston-Salem, brought her family to the museum, the kids raced to the doughnut factory, where they worked as a team, placing the doughnuts on the climber and watching with amazement as they went up the conveyor belt before dropping down a funnel, where the kids had to catch them in a basket. Children then frost the doughnuts and put them in the truck for delivery to the stores.

Upon completing their doughnut delivery, Sherry’s kids wander over to Mother Goose, who is gathering lots of children around her for story time. They listen in rapt attention as Mother Goose reads and then plays interactive games with them.

After her kids are finished, Sherry comments, “We were visiting from out of town, and this was one of the highlights of their trip. I wish we had such a place at home.”

At Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh, one of the most popular exhibits always abuzz with activity is the Around Town gallery. Totally enthralled, one child boldly declares, “I want to live here!” Another was playing in the post office area, pretending to direct the mail room, when he blurts, “Hurry up, move those packages. Time is money!”

Hands-On Activity Adds to the Fun
Down on North Carolina’s coast is Play Wilmington, where children can dress up like pirates, jump aboard a two-story ship and swab the deck or fire foam balls from an air cannon. In the Science Center, they can become budding scientists and concoct all kinds of liquid potions. Or they can strut their stuff by belting out a karaoke tune at the Star Maker Sound Stage.

For those kids who like to put their creative juices into action, they can visit the art studio and fashion imaginative masterpieces, from macaroni posters to life-size portraits.

Kendall, of Wilmington, says, “I think the art room is a very cool room. I like to do art. I like to paint, and I like to do tape pictures and also coloring. I will come back to the children’s museum a lot.”

Though a little older, Holly voices a similar comment. “I thought that because I was 14, I would not like this place, but I was wrong. I enjoyed my time here more than you could know. I most enjoyed the art room. ”

High-Tech, High-Touch Working in Tandem
From the IMAX Dome at Discovery Place in Charlotte and the IMAX Theater at Raleigh’s Marbles Kids Museum to Cummins Planetarium at the Rocky Mount Children’s Museum and Science Center, technology is in the limelight and augments the educational experience.

The Rocky Mount Children’s Museum and Science Center exhibit on microbes is supplemented by a Planetarium program on microcosms. It allows the child to “shrink to the size of a microbe for an incredible roller-coaster voyage into the human body that features genetic weapons, laser battles and surprises at every turn.”

At the same time, children can discover wildlife up close in the live animal gallery. That was certainly the case with Tyler, an animated 7-year-old, who says, “I had fun doing all the stuff at the museum, but I really liked petting Buttercup best.” Buttercup, a 14.5-foot albino Burmese python, is brought out onto the exhibit floor, where kids, like Tyler, get to pet the snake.

“Our goal is to help children discover how to live more effectively and efficiently on our planet and to be better stewards of it,” notes Candy Madrid, executive director. “We don’t want to tell them what to think, but we are passionate about helping them discover how to think. And we want them to become lifelong learners.”

Children’s Museums in North Carolina
The Children’s Playhouse, Boone
Kidzu Children’s Museum, Chapel Hill
Discovery Place, Charlotte
North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, Durham
Fascinate-U Children’s Museum, Fayetteville
Greensboro Children’s Museum
Marbles Kids Museum, Raleigh
KidSenses Children’s InterACTIVE Museum, Rutherfordton
Iredell Museums, Statesville
Play Wilmington
Children’s Museum of Winston-Salem
Old Salem Children’s Museum, Winston-Salem

One way young farmers can force their way through the doors that might block their paths to greater prosperity includes the garnering of new knowledge through the experience of networking with participants of North Carolina Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers and Ranchers program.

New opportunities for social interaction and friendly competition are provided each year when young farmers vie for success in NCFB’s Achievement, Excellence in Agriculture and Discussion Meet competitions.

Did We Mention Prizes?
In addition to good company, new ideas and social interaction among peers, winners of various YF&R competitions at both the state and national levels receive several nice prizes.

Winners of NCFB’s Achievement, Excellence in Agriculture and Discussion Meet competitions receive an expense paid trip for themselves and their spouses to the 90th Annual American Farm Bureau Federation Convention in San Antonio, Texas.

In Texas, AFBF’s Achievement Award winner will receive a 2009 Dodge Ram 3500 pickup truck.
The winner also receives paid registration to the AFBF YF&R Leadership Conference to be held in Sacramento, Ca., in 2009. Four state runners-up will also receive prizes, which have yet to be determined.

The AFBF Discussion Meet winner will receive a 2009 Dodge Ram 2500 pickup truck. The winner of this competition will receive complimentary registration for the YF&R leadership conference in Sacramento. Finalists will also receive valuable prizes.

The winner of the AFBF Excellence in Agriculture award will take home a 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck and finalists for the national prize will also receive significant awards.

North Carolina Prizes
During NCFB’s 73rd Annual Convention to be held in Greensboro in December, the Achievement Award and Discussion Meet winners will each receive an ATV or equivalent in prizes and gifts, as well as $500 from Dodge. Runners-up in the two categories will each receive $500. The Excellence in Agriculture state winner will receive $500 from NCFB and $500 from Dodge, while runners-up will each receive $200.

Collegiate Discussion Meet
The winner of NCFB’s college-level Discussion Meet will receive $500 and a trip to the AFBF YF&R Leadership Conference in Sacramento. Runners-up will receive $100.

One way young farmers can force their way through the doors that may block their paths to greater prosperity includes the garnering of new knowledge through the experience of networking with participants of North Carolina Farm Bureau’s Young Farmers and Ranchers program.

New opportunities for social interaction and friendly competition are provided each year when young farmers vie for success in NCFB’s Achievement, Excellence in Agriculture and Discussion Meet competitions.

Did We Mention Prizes?
In addition to good company, new ideas and social interaction among peers, winners of various YF&R competitions at both the state and national levels receive several nice prizes.

Winners of NCFB’s Achievement, Excellence in Agriculture and Discussion Meet competitions receive an expense paid trip for themselves and their spouses to the 90th Annual American Farm Bureau Federation Convention in San Antonio, Texas.

In Texas, AFBF’s Achievement Award winner will receive a 2009 Dodge Ram 3500 pickup truck.
The winner also receives paid registration to the AFBF YF&R Leadership Conference to be held in Sacramento, Ca., in 2009. Four state runners up will also receive prizes, which have yet to be determined.

The AFBF Discussion Meet winner will receive a 2009 Dodge Ram 2500 pickup truck. The winner of this competition will receive complimentary registration for the YF&R leadership conference in Sacramento. Finalists will also receive valuable prizes.

The winner of the AFBF Excellence in Agriculture award will take home a 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck and finalists for the national prize will also receive significant awards.

North Carolina Prizes
During NCFB’s 73rd Annual Convention to be held in Greensboro in December, the Achievement Award and Discussion Meet winners will each receive an ATV or equivalent in prizes and gifts, as well as $500 from Dodge. Runners up in the two categories will each receive $500. The Excellence in Agriculture state winner will receive $500 from NCFB and $500 from Dodge, while runners up will each receive $200.

Collegiate Discussion Meet
The winner of NCFB’s college-level Discussion Meet will receive $500 and a trip to the AFBF YF&R Leadership Conference in Sacramento. Runners up will receive $100.

To learn more about these rewarding competitions for young people and opportunities for personal growth, contact a county Farm Bureau office, or visit www.ncfb.org.

NCFB Mutual Insurance Company
Each insured of the North Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, Inc. is hereby notified that by virtue of the insured’s policy or policies with the North Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, Inc., the insured is a member of the North Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, Inc. The 2008 annual meeting of the company will be held at the Four Seasons (Joseph S. Koury) Convention Center, 3121 High Point Road, Greensboro, N.C. 27407, Mon., Dec. 8 beginning at 1:30 p.m.

Reconvened Session
The reconvened session of the annual meeting of the North Carolina Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company, Inc. and annual meeting of affiliate corporations will commence at 8:00 a.m. Wed., Dec. 10 at the Four Seasons (Joseph S. Koury) Convention Center, Greensboro, N.C.

These include:

· North Carolina Farm Bureau Service Company, Inc.
· North Carolina Farm Bureau Insurance Agency, Inc.
· North Carolina Farm Bureau Marketing Association, Inc.
· North Carolina Farm Bureau R. Flake Shaw Memorial Scholarship Fund.
· North Carolina Farm Bureau Investment Corporation
· North Carolina Farm Bureau Legal Foundation, Inc.
· North Carolina Farm Bureau Political Action Committee, Inc.
· North Carolina Farm Bureau Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom, Inc.
· Farm Bureau Insurance of North Carolina, Inc.
· North Carolina Farm Bureau Foundation, Inc.
· North Carolina Farm Bureau Support Services Corporation.