The Ashtabula County Fair!

Well, fair week went very well for us! No rain...which I think may be a first! But boy was it HOT! We had 90 degree days! Hadn't had a 90 degree day since June! Figures it would happen the weel of fair! The poor kids and animals too! Our 4-H club members did an outstanding job, which does not surprise me! We have a wondrful group of kids! All of our general project members got blue ribbons! 9 of their projects were chosen to go to The Ohio State Fair! Our animal members did well! Lots of ribbons, trophies and plaques!

As far as my children go, Tori got 2nd place in her weight class for market steers and Cody got 2nd place in his weight class for dairy beef feeders! We were very happy with their results!

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Cody and Speck in the show ring

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Cody and Speck resting in the barn

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Tori and Brutus with the judge


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Tori and Brutus leaving the show ring

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Our club display--

We made scrapbook pages for each member!

The junior fair theme this year was "Red Carpet A-Fair"

Fair week was exhausting to say the least! But it is well worth the exhaustion to see all the kids enjoying themselves and having a great time! We are already looking forward to next year's fair! The kids are getting ready to look for market steers for next year! Tori & Cody both plan to take a market steer next year!

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Getting Ready for Fair!

It seems like forever and a day since I have had a chance to update my blog! Life got pretty hectic here this summer! Bart's brother and his family came up to Ohio for 2 weeks and I had gone down and gotten their daughter 2 weeks prior to that! We went to Reading, PA for my husband's family reunion. I chaperoned band camp for my daughter's high school. We have been frantically trying to get ready for our county fair! Life has just been cRaZy!!

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The Ashtabula County Fair starts next Tuesday, August 11 in Jefferson, Ohio! As 4-H Advisors, we have so much to do to get all the members ready as well as our own kids!! We have over 60 members in our 4-H Club. We have a wide range of projects. Some kids take market animals, some are general projects and some are just cloverbuds! As far as animals, we will have market steers, dairy beef feeders, dairy cows, dairy heifers, pigs, rabbits, goats, lambs, ducks and chickens representing our club this year!!

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Fair week gets hectic! But thank goodness we have a great group of parents! They provide potluck lunches all week! That way you do not have to eat fair food 24/7! Not that fair food isn't good....I crave my fair share of fair food....(no pun intended!!) Oh yum....the sausage sandwiches, fries, cheese on a stick, cotton candy, french waffles....the list goes on and on....

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We bring our camper in on Saturday, our animals on Sunday and then we stay until the following Sunday! We live there 24/7 for 1 week. This year will be great with our new camper! We will have lots more room inside if it rains...which would not surprise me! The weather has been soooo crappy here this year! Rain....more rain....and more rain!! And it would not be fair week with out rain! Which reminds me of a funny story that happened one year at fair with my friend Wendy! I'll have to tell you all about it sometime! Everytime I think of rain at the fair, I picture my friend Wendy telling me, "It's not that deep....come on Kel" She was on one side of huge puddle under the cover of a barn...I was on the other side...in another barn. I had crocs on and she talked me into coming across....ANKLE DEEP I tell ya!!! But the funniest was when I was half way across, she made a point to tell me HOW MUCH ANIMAL MANURE WAS IN THAT PUDDLE--GROSS!!! We both laughed so hard! And still to this day, whenever I picture her on the other side of that puddle, I laugh out loud!!

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BE SURE TO STOP BY OUR MARKET ANIMAL SALE ON FRIDAY, AUGUST 14 at 3pm

at the Ashtabula County Fairgrounds in Jefferson!

Fill your freezer and support a 4-H member at the same time!!!

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Here is Tori getting ready to give her steer a bath!

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This is Cody and his dairy beef feeder!

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Tori working on setting up her steer

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Cody working with his dairy beef feeder!

Ashtabula County 4-H Week!!

Head, Heart, Hands, Health

This week is Ashtabula Co. 4-H Week!! Our club really goes all out for 4-H Week! We have a locker decorating contest for all the 4-H members at our elementary school. On Thursday, we will be having a huge assembly at the school. Our 4-H Educator and 4-H program assistant will come out and judge the lockers and then do an awesome slide presentation! We have a great prize pack for the winner! Last night we went to the ice cream social put on by our 4-H Educator and the 4-H Committee. It was wonderful! What a great turn out!! The place was packed!!! Everyone enjoyed it! The custard was to die for! I asked to have the brownie put in the bottom of my bowl and then the custard, then carmel sauce and then hot fudge sauce! YUM-MO! Thanks to another advisor for suggesting that! Anyway, the kids played cool games all evening! We learned some cool games to bring back to our club! Our club has really grown in the last few weeks! We may end up with 60 members! It is great working with all the wonderful kids and their projects! Our club is a general club and we have every animal at the fair! Pigs, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, goats, sheep, dairy cows, dairy heifers, dairy beef feeders, steers! Plus we have many general projects such as rockets, archery, woodworking, punchneedle, scrapbooking, cooking, vet science, insects and more! There are 4 advisors that work with the group. It keeps us all very busy! But fair week makes it all worthwhile! We usually have a few members chosen to attend The Ohio State Fair! It is great to see all the completed projects! If you see a 4-H member, be sure to wish them a:

Happy 4-H Week!!

Meet Brutus!

This is our newest addition! He is my daughter's 4-H market steer. Isn't he just the cutest darn thing you've ever laid eyes on?? She just got him a week and a half ago. He was born in March. And boy does he talk! Just ask Beth (Olde Tyme Marketplace)! I bring my phone out to the barn and call her so that Brutus can talk to her! She could not believe her ears! And he is such a sweetheart! My daughter is going to have alot of fun raising him! It is always hard to see them go at the end of fair week! I'll post photos of him as he grows to be about 1100 lbs! I'll post more animals too! You have to meet Kumar, our dairy steer and our dogs and cats! I have lots to share! I also love to do punchneedle and am in the process of getting some patterns copyrighted....so if you love to punchneedle----stay tuned! I'll be sharing those soon too! You never know whatcha'll find here!