LET’S GROW!

Ready for spring? Warmer weather brings fresh adventures for Scouts everywhere.

It’s also a fine time to plant a few seeds in a pot or cultivate a couple of rows in a garden. Scouts have been doing that for a very long time.

A collector’s edition embroidered patch celebrating the BSA’s 100th Anniversary commemorates gardening as one of Scouting’s national Good Turns. The patch shows Lady Liberty sowing seeds and asking, “Will you have a part in Victory?”

The idea arose during World War I when the Boy Scouts of America was still very new. “Every Scout to Feed a Soldier” became the slogan that encouraged boys to plant gardens and help provide America and its people in uniform with plenty of food. Those early Scouts showed that young people could make a real difference.

Scouts stepped up again throughout World War II by planting “victory gardens” all over America. The vegetables they produced help feed their families and the nation.

Today, Scouts continue to discover the satisfaction of growing gardens. Many start by tending potted plants on windowsills. Some cities have transformed vacant lots into “pea patch gardens,” where people without space of their own can grow vegetables and flowers. In rural areas and communities with more open land, gardens can be shared fun for Scouts and their families.

Through your efforts, you can make the world a little greener, and perhaps even provide some fresh vegetables for the table. That’s a victory garden any way you measure it!

To learn more, check out the Gardening Merit Badge. Passing the requirements can give you a good understanding of gardening basics.

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The television show “Jeopardy” recently celebrated Scouting’s Centennial Year with a special category, The Boy Scouts of America. Contestants were asked to identify a teepee firelay, a tomahawk, a way of using shadows to find north, and the first American president to have been a Scout (John F. Kennedy).

Here’s your chance to match wits with the latest Be Prepared Scouting quiz. (The correct responses are at the end of this section.)

And as they say on “Jeopardy”, make your answers in the form of a question.

Ready? Begin!

1. The words “Silver on the sage, starlit skies above…” are sung by Scouts visiting this BSA High Adventure Base in New Mexico.

1. What is Philmont?
2. What is a Pinewood Derby?
3. What is Brownsea Island?
4. What is Virginia?
5. What is Venturing?
6. What is the Order of the Arrow?
7. What is Reverent?
8. What is a blister?
9. What is Cardio-Pulmonary-Resuscitation?
10. Who is Pedro?

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LEATHERWORK

An early Boy Scout Handbook included these instructions for making moccasins:

-Boy Scout Handbook – 3rd edition, 1927

It’s a pattern still found in the Moccasin Kit sold on Scoutstuff. The moccasin is also the image on the Leatherwork Merit Badge.

Making useful items from leather is a skill that fascinated Ernest Thompson Seton, Daniel Carter Beard, and other founders of the Boy Scouts of America. Learn about leather work and the projects you can complete, and you might discover a terrific new hobby.

Punch It Out!

A punch kit is all you need to imprint messages and designs onto leather items. Figure out what you want, then use a small hammer to tap letters, numbers, and designs into your projects.

Check www.Scoutstuff.org for leather tooling letters, numbers, and designs.

There are plenty of leatherwork projects to choose from, too, including keychains, rounders, and neckerchief slides:

The neckerchief slide with the longest history in Scouting – the woggle – is also made of leather, but it is tied rather than stamped.

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WOGGLE

When Robert Baden-Powell wore a neckerchief, the founder of the worldwide Scouting movement often held it in place with a neckerchief slide called a woggle.

Technically, a woggle is a cord tied as a Turk’s Head Knot:

You can see the shape and weave of the woggle replicated in today’s metal neckerchief slides for Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts:

The woggle also plays important roles during Wood Badge courses, Scouting’s advanced training in leadership skills for all adults in BSA programs.

Every Wood Badge participant learns to tie a woggle with a piece of cord. At the completion of the course, a graduate receives a Wood Badge neckerchief and a permanent leather woggle.

Wearing the woggle is one way adult leaders can acknowledge that they are living by the values of Scouting. The same is true whenever Scouts perform Good Turns, from planting gardens to being leaders. Guided by the Scout Oath and Law, members of the BSA continue to make positive differences every day for their families, communities, and country.

Wood Badge Emblem