Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Bonding at the Ohio State Fair

Our family has been exhibiting at the Ohio State Fair for years, decades actually, and we look forward to our annual trip to the swine barn. Now that the boys are in 4-H, our annual trip has turned into multiple trips to the swine barn. 

Last weekend we exhibited our purebred Yorkshire gilts and boar at the fair. In a rare break in the action, Justin and I snuck out of the barn to see some fair attractions. And the kid who normally HATES pictures, agreed to be photographed all over the fair!

Our first stop was the the Ohio Farm Bureau Land and Living exhibit.


Justin was just the right age to enjoy this little remote control tractor area. He enjoyed his turn driving through a farm scene--even though he knocked over a cattle trailer. Oops.


This barn features a number of attractions, farm puppies, flower displays, pedal tractors kids can ride, a station to plant your own sunflower seed and much more. There were scarecrows with the theme "Christmas in July" and this tree from the Ohio tree growers that Justin agreed to be photographed in. 



After our visit to the Farm Bureau attractions, we visited the Ohio Department of Natural Resources park. A big highlight of any visit to this section of the fair is the chance to talk to Smokey the Bear. Smokey and his "helpers" make sure that each kid is greeted by name. Even at age nine, Justin was fascinated by Smokey's ability to "remember" him from previous visits.


When we visit the ODNR park at the fair, we always have to stop at the butterfly house. This holds a special place in my heart because it opened the year I was a state fair PR intern, many, many years ago. At the park, we also saw a number of Ohio native animals and checked out the opportunities for kids to fish and kayak for free.



We were a little tired from all that walking and decided to ride the free fair tram back to the hog barn. Just before we got back to the barn, Justin fell asleep on my lap. Instead of waking him, I just rode around another time and got another great look at the fair.


After his nap, Justin was ready to head back to business in the swine barn with more hog showing.


After a great weekend at the fair, we headed home to do laundry, repack our bags with jeans and our trailer with pigs to head back to Columbus for our second round of showing.

Just another August for our bacon farming family.

Monday, July 15, 2013

Sign of the Farmpocalypse

Every issue of Sports Illustrated has a brief quote titled Sign of the Apocalypse, a humorous but true sports news item that makes you wonder--have we gone too far? In that spirit, I present another installment of Sign of the Farmpocalypse, because I just can't make this stuff up.

According to USA Today, a Brazilian man died when a cow crashed through the roof of his home. A tragic story, with this compelling quote: "I didn't bring my son up to be killed by a falling cow," says the grieving mother.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Snapshots on the Farm

We now have bunnies on the farm! Bunnies! Three of them will be headed to the fair late this summer.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

What Farm Kids Do for Fun: Kick Ball Edition

Our kids have created their own Field of Dreams between the hay field and the corn field.

Old boar semen catalogs serve as the paper bases.



Husband sometimes joins in the fun, even though he still has state fair pigs in the barn to feed tonight.
 

Thursday, July 4, 2013

The Glamorous Life of a Show Pig

I am comin' atcha LIVE from the swine barn of the National Junior Summer Spectacular swine show in Louisville, KY.

As I mentioned in my last post, we are here with our Yorkshire gilts (females) who both happen to be named Holly.

I thought I would share a few photos that show what life at the hog show is like.

Don't worry. Holly is just sleeping in this picture. She is stretched out, enjoying the air conditioned barn and fresh, soft shavings in her pen.


She enjoys a special mix of feed that includes oats, powdered milk and specially created pellets for show pigs.



When it comes time to show, Husband and Justin gave Holly an extra drink of cold water and then brushed her off.


After the show, both Hollys (and this one) couldn't wait to take a nice long rest.

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Encampment

We are currently at our second hog show of the season. This time, we decided to save money and bring some food. We will be eating our lunches out of the cooler.

I mean, who doesn't want to eat ice cold ham inches away from the poop of the species that created it? Joking aside, it should be a way to eat healthier and cheaper. We'll see how it goes.


We brought two purebred Yorkshire gilts (females). Since they have registration papers, the kids were able to gleefully point out that both pigs are named Holly.

Sometimes the jokes just write themselves.

Stay tuned for an update on the Hollys at this show!

Appointment Pooping

  NOTE: If you do not want to read about my healthy bowel movement, well too late you just did. I recently became you-better-get-a-colonosco...