the county fair -- always a great day =)

     

 three amigos
 

blue ribbon winner in "most winsome" contest =)

presumed progeny of "most winsome," basking in those adorable genes...

Gorgeous black and white lady.

Had a nice chat with their owners, and met their son, who raised this cow. Nice work!

The conservation biologist (cb) in me says "hm...."

This exhibit won "most educational"; cb says "Really?"
Water conservation means very different things to different people.

 Verrrrry serious agriculture going on around here. MA-jor.

Not a good shot, but this is the auction arena. Very interesting insight into the world (about which I know NOTHING). LOVE to watch this. There's major money flinging around. And it seemed that the farm bureau (hope I have that right) bids on animals people weren't bidding on. And I think that's nice.

Oh, and I learned the signals for whether you want the animal that you just bought processed (hand chopping the neck move), or for resale (finger pointing towards sky and making a circle). Never saw the signal for "live pick up" but I imagined maybe you pretend you're driving a truck? =)

Anyhow, I noticed different kids would get VERY different prices (per pound) for what seemed to be equally healthy animals (to my exceedingly untrained eye). So, I asked a woman who was there what determines the price. She said a) if you call a number of buyers before, so they arrive and bid against each other, that's very helpful, and b) it's who you know.

I was guessing that (b) might be part of it, but then that it also made sense. If your best friend's kid is selling his sheep, why not bid heavy on it? Of course I hope if you're not super connected you can still get a decent price. Anyhow, that was all very interesting to me.

And God knows I love the cowboy hats, inside jokes (from the auctioneer), and most of all the animals and the 4-H kids handling and selling animals that outweigh them, shoveling out corrals, changing water bins, working REALLY hard. SO impressive. Love it.

 coltish
Look how LONG those legs are already vs. the adult! Oh, my.

Last Christmas we went to Mt. Vernon, then I got very interested 'cause GW was an a-MA-zing farmer. Super inventive, methodical, bold. SO impressive. His crops were on a 7 year rotation--jeepers! Read part of his biography when I got back. Such an interesting guy and SO deserved to be our 1st president. I had NO idea. I'm a TOTAL fan, now. =)

And last but not least, the winner of the most coveted and competitive award at the County Fair:

"Best Hair"

biobabbler