The County Fair

You gotta love the county fair! I intend my entry today to convince all who read this that you are living a second class life if you have not made the time to participate in your area county fair. After you go see INCONVENIENT TRUTH (see Vicki's Blog), attending your area county fair is the second most important thing you should do this summer! Both of these activities are almost as important as your civic responsibility (like jury duty) . Vicki will tell you why you should see the movie, I will tell you why you need to take yourself and/or a little one to the fair.
Picture1 : These are bottle fed cows. These children are being instructed on the importance of taking care of your animal. They have already been given the experience of raising the cow from birth. This portion of the competetion judges how healthy the cow looks and how the cow responds to the handling of the children, all but one did well. Imagine if ALL cow owners (including factories) had to get to know all of their animal like this.

Next we move to the woodworking section where Dave entered his mirror and recieved a red ribbon. The judge said that the finish he used on it was rough. Dave agreed that he did not like the polycrylic that he used and it was rough. The little orange semi was constructed from wood by a teenager, it was made to scale and won the outstanding overall award. Personally I think I was the winner because this nice little piece handcrafted by the one I love now hangs on my living room wall.

My dilled cauliflour did well. I watched the food judging. My favorite part is when a young person enters something and they watch in anticipation while the judge slowly and thoroughly talks about the item. The judge this year really played it up big for the younger class entries if they were watching. I noticed that she also really enjoyed the personal stories attached to some of the items and read them out loud completely before judging the entry. The girl that took a purple included a little "story" card with her recipe, a memior to grandma... I would have given her the big prize to (a ribbon, no money is passed here, but it is fun to see what everyone else has done and sometimes pick up a new recipe or two.) The entries were set up to allow for fair goers to sample.

This is a great way to get little ones to bake or cook something and to hear a "grandma" type offer them excellent feedback about their work.

Here's the sewing entry table. I want to enter this class someday. I want to, yes I do. I am learning how to sew right now. Yes, I am. Someday day I will be good at it. The state requires that I have a entry level sewing class to be certified in FCS. Just because one of my class labs was the poster child of backwards and my fly zipper was sewn in 1/2 inch to high does not mean that I will never be able to grow up and make a quilt to enter at the county fair someday.

Last, a horticulture entry. I love these.

Dave's dad has 10 acres of a variety of colors that he grows and sells to a variety of places. Isn't it lovely!

Can you tell what kind of flower it is?

I didn't plant any this year, but I will next year. I miss the cut flowers. We decided to cut our garden back considerably this year and those didn't make the cut. Fortunately I can buy a bouquet or two from Rebecca my other favorite market vendor. I bought flowers and her raspberry jam a couple of weeks ago.