Skip to main content

County Fair

Last week was our county fair--a very small one, as county fairs go. I suspect that fairs are a dying breed, and so we participate in several ways just to keep the powers-that-be from looking around and saying "why bother?"

We pick garden veggies to enter in the vegetable competition. We enter our handmade items in the open class needlework competition. This year The Farmer entered a skein of handspun yarn. I also entered a skein of handspun yarn, a crocheted scarf, and one of my rugs.

And our kids show animals through the 4H program.


4H participants spend 2-6 months (depending on the animal shown) working with their animal, caring for it daily, getting it used to being handled. This teaches them responsibility.


Many of the kids form a close bond with their animals. All of the animals are sold at the end of the fair, and there are always a few tears shed as the kids help load their animals on the stock trailers to be brought to auctions or slaughterhouses.


You might be tempted to think that this process of allowing kids to form an attachment with an animal and then shipping it off to freezer camp is heartless. It is hard on the kids, as well as some of the moms and dads. But it is important that people understand that eating involves the raising and harvesting of plants and animals; food does not magically appear on the grocery store shelves. Some food activists have been raised without an understanding of the food production process, and now as adults believe almost anything they are told. Seeing and participating in the process helps the kids to come to terms with the fact that something must die for another to eat.

Allowing the kids to experience both sides of the love/loss equation also teaches them relinquishment. I was discussing the fair with a friend over the weekend, and she gave me the word. Relinquish. Verb. To give up. To stop holding physically. To give over possession or control of. To leave behind.

I've been thinking about it ever since our discussion. It's part of adulthood--the giving up of something. You give up your summers when you take a job to earn money for college. You give up free time and sleep when you become a parent. You give up the opportunity for a great job because you want to be near family; or the reverse. You give up something you really want because you know it isn't what is best for you, or the time isn't right, or something or someone else is more important than having what you really want. Life is full of these opportunities to live open-handedly. Might as well start learning young.

A final benefit of the county fair is the camaraderie that the kids form with each other. The fair is an exhausting, busy week, full of noise and lights and smells. It is soon over, but some of these friendships and lessons learned stay with the kids long after the week is done.

Comments

  1. How nice to have a small county fair that still has so much of the agricultural side.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bloggy Giveaway--Now Closed

**This bloggy giveaway is now closed** Thanks to all who participated and gave such great comments. Janette is the winner of the $15 gift certificate to our etsy store . I'm participating in the Bloggy Giveaways Quarterly Carnival . Click the link to go to the carnival where you can enter to win literally hundreds of things. The good news is that even if you have no time to play on the computer trying to win hundreds of things, you can still enter to win one thing right here. This week, I will be giving away a $15 gift certificate to be used toward the purchase of an item in my etsy shop . This contest is open to residents of the United States or Canada only. The winner will receive free shipping on whatever item they choose. Items in my etsy shop include handwoven rugs, wool yarns and roving from our farm, and the ever-popular cotton dishcloth! To be entered in this wonderful drawing, you must go to the etsy shop and look around a bit. Then come back here and type a comment that

Haying 101

A few posts back, "deep end of the loom" (love that name!) asked me to tell a bit more about the haying process. If you want my version, read on. If you'd like to read the official wikipedia version, click here . Haying happens in three steps: cutting, raking and baling. This process takes several days, as the hay must be dry when baled. Moist hay molds and heats up and has even been known to spontaneously combust, burning down the barn. Gotta have dry hay. This first photo is of our haybine. The haybine not only cuts the hay, it also crimps each piece of long grass in several places, to allow for faster drying. We usually cut hay in the early afternoon, when the dew is gone. When we're done, long row of cut grass lie waiting. The hay is allowed to dry for two to three days, depending on wind and sun conditions. Obviously, the more wind and sun the days hold, the quicker the hay will dry. When we feel like the hay is nearly dry, we go out with the rake. There are diff

This Giveaway Is Now Closed!

Today starts a giveaway at Farming in the Shade! I am happy to contribute this complete hat kit (needles not included) to someone who has a knitting obsession and a small person in their life. Here are the rules (contest open to US or Canada residents only): Giveaway ends May 1 at 9 p.m. EST. Winner will be announced by Sunday, May 3. Enter by posting a comment on this blog post. Tell me something about your knitting--who taught you to knit, your favorite yarn, the coolest thing you ever knitted. Make sure you leave contact information! Earn extra entries by: 1) Following me on twitter. (If you don't know what twitter is, don't worry. It's another way to waste your time on the computer.)  Add a comment here so I will count it as one entry. 2) Tweeting this giveaway (no more than once daily). Add a comment here so I know you did it. 3) Blog about this giveaway. Add a comment (with link) here so I can go visit your blog. 4) Follow or subscribe to this blog (or tell me if have